Please show me how that has anything to do with TRANSPORTATION SECURITY?

Your agency is not Immigration nor is it law enforcement. However, since TSA fails miserably at its mission and hasn't caught a single terr'ist, it needs to come up with something to look like it's doing good.

Pitiful. Since when were checkpoints ever supposed to be a dragnet?

Generally one tries to catch illegal aliens when they're entering or staying in the country. Arresting them leaving the country so that you can deport them is, well, stupid. Record their identity and tell them not to bother coming back.

What they are advertising is that another part of the same government agency (DHS) was too inept to catch him when he entered the country.

It's two fold. One is trying to generate publicity for a program that is terribly unpopular. The second is to generate support for Chertoff's Real-ID program by demonstrating that there is value in inconveniencing every American in the hopes of catching the 0.00001% of the population that might be illegal.

Note that they called the SPOT officer when the suspected fake ID was noted.

TheZipper hit the nail right on the head! I can't believe TSA detaining somebody LEAVING the country...If it is indeed a "good day's work" what do TSA do the rest of their 8 hours or so?

As for Chertoff's new "program" for more misuse and waste of $$$. The current news already shows that no matter what, they will find a way to get through. Also, how do we determine who qualifies to get a Real ID and who doesn't? What about the loner in the backroads of Tennessee? Can't base it on race alone or else even Chertoff himself won't qualify.

I witnessed the ID check theater tonight at IAD while waiting for Mrs Flies to come home. Saw several SPOTniks as well. I leave on Sunday, and I will request that the ID checker change his gloves. -- Film at 11.

Three of the 9-11 hijackers had expired visas and thus were in the country illegally.

From Consumer's Reports:

I do not think this is out of the realm of possibility, either.

On a personal note, I had an interesting experience last week ... a gentleman came through my lane presenting an expired Libyan passport as identification. He behaved in a very creepy manner, initially trying to coerce me into letting him pass through, then turning abusive when I insisted on calling a supervisor. Was he in the country illegally, or up to some nefarious purposes? I don't know ... it sure made me wonder, though.

I suppose there are some here that would have been comfortable with just letting him board the plane with no additional screening and no questions asked, though. Right?

Yeah, there's an impartial publication (NOT!). CU is a "safety at any cost" organization.

Clearly suspicious and creepy behavior with an expired third-world passport? I see no objection to checking him out further, even to the point of an SSSS. But if he checks out, no, there should be no impediment to his boarding a plane. The issue comes where SPOT is used - either through interrogation or looking for supposed non-obvious behavior. The trouble is that such behavior is very subjective.

And they all had valid ID.

One could be issued a drivers license as legal alien yet be in the country after their visa expired. They can present a valid DL and still be admitted. Or even just take a secondary without any ID.

Checking ID does not enhance security.

And quite frankly, TSA isn't going to be the one to stop it either.

Not your place to know or care. Your job is to make sure he's clean for that flight. Let the FBI, Intelligence agencies and other LEO's do their job, and TSA should do theirs.

It's this extra stuff that distracts TSA from it's primary mission that it could only questionably complete when it wasn't focused on this other garbage.

Treat him as a selectee if he doesn't have valid ID per your rules. If he's clean, let him pass.

Being Libyan doesn't automatically make him a terrorist, just as being an American doesn't mean you're a good guy either.

Keep looking for your Big Catch�

So, there are two instances of TSA's "partnership with agencies across the Department of Homeland Security." The first one was to TSA dude noticed some guy loitering around the airport looking suspicious. They removed him from the airport. Umm, McDonald's employees can do that themselves. They don't need to cooperate with the FBI or whoever to do that.

The second one was the TSA noticed suspicious behavior by a person who was leaving the country who was not suppose to be in the country anymore. So they detain him in the country forcing him to be in the country longer. The specially trained at detecting fake ID's TSA guy wasn't even the one that detected the fake ID. The FBI was.

Is this an article from The Onion?


Edit: The TSA should really stick to what it's there for. Imagine the coast guard launching the space shuttle. There are reasons why there specialized departments. But most departments actually have something to do, TSA must be board out of their minds...

If you want to broadcast these lame attempts to scare people, call NBC News.

Good thing he didn't have an expired U.S. passport, because that would have really encouraged a major power trip by one of the airport mall cops.

It doesn't matter what you do, because Bush is too afraid to go into Pakistan to get Osama, and wouldn't listen to the FBI Agent in 2001 who said 9/11 was being planned. And Clinton wouldn't take Osama when offered by the Sudanese. So we productive citizens have to pay for more bureaucrats, and useless three letter agencies.

What you guys do is not work. don't insult us. You're not paid by customers who choose to do business with you, or by citizens who think you're necessary. You're simply part of a big government jobs program, for people who can't deal with the realities of the private sector marketplace.