It appears as though you may have inside information from reliable sources.:D Please contact the DHS and inform them of your revelation. I am sure they will be interested.

An interesting tidbit from the article
 

Be nice to your local TSA:

Airlines will notify screeners of passengers they want puffed based on a range of factors, such as those purchasing a one-way ticket, but individual screeners also have the authority to direct passengers to the EntryScan.

Emphasis mine.

the device was installed at the EWR concourse A gates...use was voluntary, although the non-english speaking ID checker was grunting and gesturing at pax into the line with the machine, most of them just ignored him.

I saw a woman volunteer to use it and was told not to take off her shoes, so I thought, "what the heck, anything to avoid taking off my shoes"...but then she got the shoe carnival treatment and the WTMD on the other side of the puffer...so I did an about face and went to the regular line.

Thanks, but no thanks.

So, based on bocastephen's experience at EWR, some TSAers there have limited/no faith in these devices, been "informed"/know they don't work (at least for certain things), and/or have a bare foot/shoe fetish that they are not willing to control.

I saw it twice this weekend...on Saturday, I almost went through before seeing the WTMD and show carnival on the other side - but no one was being directed to it (except via the unintelligable grunt from the ID checker, which could have been nothing more than passing gas). On Sunday, the TSA screeners were soliciting people to 'try it out' (without volunteering details of what it did), but most people I saw took a pass and ignored that line.

However, from what I witnessed, the sniffer does not take the place of the WTMD, which in itself (certainly at EWR), requires participating in the Shoe Carnival...it's just one extra step to screen passengers, and from what I have read about the machine, will cause the waiting time to triple or quadruple at peak periods.

I'm editing to add: PBI is a screening horror at the best of times, especially the DL concourse...adding this thing to the mix will get everyone to the airport 3 hours before departure to make it through by boarding time.

I have heard next we are going to have to shake the magic 8 ball and it will tell TSA if they should secondary us or not *smile*

(emphasis mine)

Because, of course, we all know terrorists buy one-way tickets since they won't be using the return flight! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Credit where credit's due.
 

Are you freaking serious? That's one heck of a leap you took there, and your final implication is incorrect.

Naive assumptions aside, these puffer machines appear to actually be an intelligent deterrent, *if* they work and are used efficiently (randomly).

IMO, the WTMDs are a marginal deterrent at best. The ex-military, security clearance holding, Delta Captains making 250K/yr, get conspicuously screened in front of the passengers several times per day, while many of the felony convicted or undocumented immigrant, etc., minimum wage earning, Taco Bell employees have daily, unscreened access to the sterile area (out of passenger sight, of course).

I encourage taxpayer scrutiny and accountability, but disdain for one stupid procedure does not minimize the legitimacy of another. Example...The no-fly list and it's implementation are currently a disaster and should have been fixed a long time ago, however:

Positive bag matching is always a good thing.
The trusted traveler program is a good thing, but it is not being implemented.
ETD screening of luggage is a good thing, but cargo is still high-risk.
The FAM program is a good thing, but it is highly mismanaged.
The body scan imager is a good thing, but not deployed.
Bio-agent detectors are a good thing, but underutilized.
The puffers are a good thing, if used randomly.

Credit where credit's due.

I disagree that bag matching is always a good thing.

I disagree that the trusted traveler program is a good thing.

I disagree with the remainder of your "good things" list as well.

We can agree to disagree.

I disagree that bag matching is disagreeable, to a degree.

I agree to disagree that the trusted traveler program is a good thing.

I disagree to disagree with the remainder of your "good things" as I agree with some. (but disagree with others).

I agree that we can disagree to agree ?!? Wait..where was I.....oh well!

Have a great day all! :p

I agree and/or disagree with everything......;).

Tsa and air marshalls are a waste of money. One steals things from bags the other steals my first class seats. Let's privatize this b*tch and stop intervening in other countries foreign policies and setting up repressive foreign governments and maybe we won't have to waste this money. And instead close the southern border and kick all illegals out.

Perhaps... but what exactly does it prevent? A non-suicidal bomber from sumggling a bomb aboard in luggage that ostensibly has already been screened? It is also very difficult to implement in practice; irregular ops and even slight delays, weather, and weight-and-balance issues sometimes mean bags get routed onto other planes, as do bags that have for some reason missed a flight. We could probably set the system to require that a bag always travels with a pax, but it would have serious repercussions on scheduling and operations.

Hmm, well, I will say that a terrorist may either get himself/herself onto the program (if he/she has a clean enough background--which given the sorts of checks done isn't beyond credibility at all), or might bribe / plant items on someone on the program, so its effectiveness would seem to be fairly limited to me.

Absolutely. Cargo is one of the wide-open security holes that the TSA hopes no one will notice (particularly terrorists). Airlines make a ton of money carrying cargo, too, so it's not like we can simply require all cargo be carried on cargo planes and not in passenger plane holds, too.

I tend to agree. I know there are those on this board that feel that the FAM program as a concept is wrong (no weapons should be on planes, etc.), but I personally feel that if it was properly implemented, it would be worthwhile. You shouldn't be able to spot a FAM from a mile away, they shouldn't always sit in first class, board first (ahead of even first class / VIPs / etc.), and so forth.

Well, as it stands, I would disagree that it is a "good thing." It would need to better obscure the body images (while somehow not obscuring any images of "bad" items like weapons, bombs, etc.), and there's also the issue that it does utilize ionizing radiation. If they could do this in a way that didn't pose any health risks, have at it.

Having worked with some before, I can say that they are very limited and do not work well enough to be deployed widely. Also, what purpose would they serve at an airport? The things they're set to detect wouldn't make a lot of sense to be deployed at an airport, anyway. It's not like they catch an aerosolized mist of highly virulent flu viruses, which would be devastating if deployed where it would quickly spread around the globe (although there's the danger of that even without terrorists)

Perhaps ... but the policies of a positive alarm may need a lot of examination. If a group of terrorists is traveling, all on separate tickets, and one gets selected for the puffer and is "caught," are they going to dump the entire terminal? Probably not--and thus his buddies proceed onward to their goal. Randomness is only a deterrent, not a true catch-all.

It's EWR, what else do you expect? :D Do you really think they're capable of applying common sense at, <gasp>, EWR?

At TPA airside A, it was for secondary only; at TPA - where some sanity & common sense exists - the use of it eliminated the shoe carnival 100%, as by wearing your shoes through the machine, it would test and detect any explosive residue. No need to play shoe carnival.

Why did the TSA even bother to purchase and install a portal for EWR if they're still going to run a shoe carnival in that lane? :rolleyes: :td:

The only justification for shoe removal at TPA in the portal lane was only if you alarmed the WTMD because of your shoes. If you don't alarm, you're free to go.

I'm not even sure the TSA at EWR has hope... A family member of mine who is recovering from breast cancer went through EWR/C yesterday and the treatment she was objected to was deplorable (let's leave it at that).

SDF_Traveler

I agree totally..I can't count the numbers of times I have seen FAMS walking down the concourse carrying a 1st class seat under each arm. It's my belief that they sell them on E-BAY. No wonder the airlines are in trouble..can you imagine how much it costs to replace them? We should put a stop to this immediately by hiring private security FAMS for minimum wage...they will be much more trustworthy, even without the top-secret clearance or background checks.

I also agree that we should kick all illegals out...as soon as I find someone to clean my house for 50 cents an hour. Wait...what if we make the illegals the FAMS?

Have a great day all! :p