To give TSA some credit it has done somethings right, unfortunately the same cannot be said of DHS.

What TSA has done correctly.
1) The quality of the screening has gone up. Sure there are some new rules that slow things down, but for the most part the quality of screening has gone up. I know we all hate the shoe thing, the laptop thing and what ever other thing TSA decides to implement on that day. I do however, understand the laptop removal, at least from the main bag. The amount of electronics and wires in the bag makes it difficult to identify other items in the bag.

2) The reduction of the number of items on the prohibited items list is a sign that there are some people with brain cells working in TSA. Granted it is not the list that makes the most sense, but it is an improvement. I understand that inital list was an overreaction after 9/11, but I believe that over time the list will get more reasonable. (unless some idiot on capital hill decides to get involved)

3) Many of the people who work for TSA are people who actually care about doing their job. However, there are those that are rude beyond belief. There should be a mechanism in the TSA to remove those folks from contact with the traveling public. (put them on the employee lines, or somewhere else.)

4) A level of consistency has at least been created. In the pre 9/11 days we didn't complain about the consistency, why because it wasn't consistent. Too many different people running the systems. And they weren't that effective either. TSA at least has some ground rules that almost everyone seems to follow. The problem we have with the system is the rouge screeners who decide to do things their way. We are just more sensitive to the issues now than we were in the past.
Now for what TSA has done poorly (AKA FT gripes)

1) Checked bag screening procedures. The encouragement to leave bags unlocked has lead to a number of problems, and more are sure to come. Be it theft from bags by screeners, or ramp agents an unlocked bag makes it all easier. Further opening a bag outside the presence of its owner does nothing to enhance security. If the passenger is present during screening of the bag it serves two purposes. 1) The agents can gauge the pax reaction to the process, and can imidiately aprehend or otherwise question the passenger if an item is found in the bag. 2) The passenger can ensure that no items are added to the bag to be used for smuggling purposes. Further It should be required that all bags be locked.

2) The whole SSSS thing -- I have asked many times and have not gotten an answer from any screener to the following question -- "Do you find more prohibited items on passengers having SSSS than you do on non-SSSS passegner and passengers randomly selected?" In other words is the percentage of hits on SSSS passengers significantly higher than the number of hits on non-SSSS passengers? If there is a not a significant difference, then the SSSS program is nothing more than the dog and pony show we believe it is.

3) Shoe policy -- In reality it needs to be an all or nothing approach. In otherwords, either all shoes need to be swabbed or just forget about it. It slows down the line, and adds very little to the overall equation.

4) Stupid pilot programs to find the bad guys. These attempts are just a waste of money in an attempt to justify the contiued procedures.

I guess what i am saying is that TSA has been both good and bad. The problem for them has been a bloated management chain that doesn't understand the problems the line folks go through. They respond to the lowest common denomenator (The anything for security folks) and do not consider the real world. The real world needs to realize that there are risks and things will happen. TSA should be risk mittigation and not risk avoidence.

Deleted

No, what the TSA needs to do is only open bags in the presense of passengers, unless the passengers have given prior consent.

Too many bags being opened to do this? Then it's time to stop wasting money on Workfare and get better pre-screening technology.

I don't have much, if anything, to disagree with, so my comments will be short.

I'd take that a step further. Even departments within the same agency have their own agendas, and they will fight to protect them to the death. It drove me nuts that the director was telling us, and the press one thing, but people further down the stream pretty much thumbed their nose at it.

Status quo is the watch word for the government.

I'll disagree with the wait times here Bart.

I flew a good amount before and after 9/11. While I didn't fly out of DCA, I did fly out of IAD, BWI, and PIT fairly often. I rarely saw lines like I do today. Maybe occasionally at IAD, but never did BWI's lines come close to the international terminal from the D concourse like they do today.

Long lines are an indication of kabuki security, not good security.

Bart , Thanks for your detailed reply. What you have described as the process for screening checked baggage differs significantly from what I have experienced. Specifically I have had a number of TSA approved locks cut, or worse yet the bag was cut at the zipper connection point with the TSA lock still on the bag, the indicator was still green and the nice little notice from TSA saying they had been in the bag. My experience up until recently has been that many TSA agents didn't care about the approved locks and just cut them off.

I am glad to hear that there is some discretion given to screeners regarding searching bags. Also I am suprised to learn that if there is a lock on the bag TSA is to page the passenger. I have never heard of that, didn't know it existed, and I don't think I have even heard a page for that. (Is the page, Mr. XXXX please report to the nearest security checkpoint. Or is it, Mr. XXXX please go to the nearest white courtesy phone and dial 201 for a message)

Also I was wondering if you could answer this question as well from my previous post?
Thanks again for your willingness to discuss these things. ^ Hey we may not always agree on things, but an open and honest communication goes a long way towards understanding.

Deleted

I agree with Bart's posts here except his view on the lengthy lines. In 30+ years of frequent flying, I have encountered long lines on occasion prior to September 14, 2001. But the wait times at airports all over the country jumped dramatically (for me, at least) on September 14, 2001.

Note that I'm not blaming the TSA for the drastic slowdown in checkpoint throughput. Idiot Mineta's "Spend lots of time searching for many non-credible dual use items" policy is to blame.

Problem is, the TSA inherited his prohibited items list lunacy, and his subsequent shoe lunacy (check nearly all of 'em in our risk avoidance strategy), and the lines are still far too long. Only recently has the TSA relented on some of the nonweapon items, and it ignored the most obvious (and most hated, by me) stupid prohibition: small penknives.

In many airports, the TSA checkpoints occupy several times the square footage of the old checkpoints. Example: AA was in the process of remodeling its T-4 terminal prior to 2001, and part of the work was some nice new terrazzo flooring on the upstairs entrance to the concourse, where the security checkpoints have always been. The three x-ray machines and WTMDs occupied, at most, several hundred square feet. There was lots of open space and even newstands and other vendors up there.

Well, along comes the TSA, and that agency now occupies several thousand square feet - it now occupies the entire upstairs entrance to the concourse. It's squeezed up against the stairs and escalators. TSA added several more x-ray machines and WTMDs and hundreds of linear feet of plexiglass holding pen panels. Yet long lines are still typical.

Oh, about that nice terrazzo? Can't see it anymore, as TSA has covered it with numerous machines and plexiglass pens. Holding pens? Never saw them, pre-TSA. Obviously we are safer because of them.

Bottom line: Almost Nobody had to undress in the old days. Belts, shoes, jackets, etc were all ok to go. The cowboys with Dinner-plate-sized belt buckles and the stoners and rural hicks with their huge chain-secured wallets were the exceptions. Now, traversing the checkpoint looks a lot more like a prison intake procedure than it ought to. And that's shameful. I still don't understand how Americans can treat fellow Americans so disgracefully. Perhaps the larger federal paycheck (much larger than under the old system) convinces them.

Deleted

Deleted

In post #16, MSY-MSP refers also to "ROUGE screeners".

OMG! Referring to the screeners, or specifically what they're allowed to SCREEN?

Come clean, screeners! Who are your eyeliner and lip-gloss FSDs trying to fool?

Do we all get to meet you as we pass through SAT on the Fly3 promotion???

Just curious

Bart, Thanks for answering the second question for me. I knew where your feelings stood on the issue of SSSS, but I was really wondering the actual outcome at the checkpoint. It makes me feel that much better what you reported that the SSSS is nothing more than kabuki security, and generally the items that are found are found because of lazy screeners who know the bag will get searched anyway.

Anyway, keep up the good work and keeping us informed as thing change and progress.

Deleted

Yes!

I apologize for not clearly writing the paragraph that disappointed you, but rest assured, it wasn't directed at you. You have previously written that you ran to the airplort and volunteered pre-TSA (IIRC, post-September 11). As retired military, it's not likely that you become a screener to feed your family or because it was the highest paid option available to you.

While I don't understand what motivated you to become an airport screener, you are obviously not a power-hungry punk like the ones who smirk as they yell "assist" when I question their "recommendation" to remove my nonprofile shoes (I'm pretty certain they don't meet the profile given that 95% of the WTMD screeners agree with me). These are shoes I've worn for many years and have consistently worn since Richard Reid's stunt. Pretty low incidence of that particular defect in the ranks.

I served my country with honor and I don't get the connection between your admirable service and your disappointment with my paragraph. I most certainly understand the concept of sacrifice and service to one's country. You aren't equating the two, are you? As in TSA employment = Honorable military service??

We've been over it before, probably hundreds of times, but I don't agree that the checkpoints had anything to do with September 11. Many people did see a connection, and the bad-mouthing of the contractors began in earnest. Mineta ordered airport shutdown after after shutdown in response to well-publicized gaffes (unplugged WTMDs, sleeping x-ray screeners or exit monitors) in his campaign to ensure passage of the Act on Nov 19, 2001. His antics also helped cement a connection in many people's minds that the low-paid foreigners (who didn't even speak English, they kept reminding us) were a contributing factor to the success of Atta's terrorist plot.

Here's the crux of my difficulty: I couldn't be convinced to confiscate/divest/prohibit the silly prohibited items on the prohibited items list (excluding the guns, large knives, real weapons, hazmat, etc) for any amount of annual income. Just a philosophical failure of mine, I guess. I similarly couldn't "recommend" that pax remove their shoes, jackets, and other items under pain of full secondary searches. Not for any amount of money. And I have difficulty understanding how others can do it.

Can't imagine anyone prostituting themselves for a paycheck? I knew enlistees who hated the military and only did it 'cause they were out of options. I realize that you aren't prostituting yourself for the federal paycheck. Which really confounds me - WTH would cause someone as upstanding as you to do it?

In any event, my travels don't take me to San Antonio with any regularity. It would be great if you were manning all the checkpoints, at all the airports, but unfortunately, you're just one cog in a 44k employee (or whatever it is today) mistreatment machine.

Deleted