Terrorist at the Gate
Jul 13, 2009 | 11:03 pm
#1
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Join Date: May 2009
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Terrorist at the Gate
I flew OAK - DEN on Sunday, and saw something I had not seen before. It was sort of a passive gate check - 5 TSA screeners stood in various corners of the gate and watched all the passengers, all the while making little "signals" to each other.
It was as if they were a special ops insertion team, sneaking up on the enemy, except it was as obvious as signs the catcher gives to the pitcher.
Stone faced, they stared at the passengers for any suspicious behavior, it was the most amateur effort at playing bounty hunter I could imagine. Two focused on the jetway gate, as if to assure nobody barged it, four stood in opposite corners and scanned the audience.
All wore gloves, and acted as if immediately ready to pounce on the terrorist. Except that immediately after calling the last boarding group, they responded as if the play was over and headed off as a group to the terminal - exactly like an actor might change personality when the scene was over.
Logistically I though it was interesting - unlike the gates, they had no LEO available to address escalating issues. They did not have radio's to call for an LEO and I imagine depend on one of the team to do such in another manner. And a single distraction would cause the house of cards to fall down.
Is this new or am I just noticing?
It was as if they were a special ops insertion team, sneaking up on the enemy, except it was as obvious as signs the catcher gives to the pitcher.
Stone faced, they stared at the passengers for any suspicious behavior, it was the most amateur effort at playing bounty hunter I could imagine. Two focused on the jetway gate, as if to assure nobody barged it, four stood in opposite corners and scanned the audience.
All wore gloves, and acted as if immediately ready to pounce on the terrorist. Except that immediately after calling the last boarding group, they responded as if the play was over and headed off as a group to the terminal - exactly like an actor might change personality when the scene was over.
Logistically I though it was interesting - unlike the gates, they had no LEO available to address escalating issues. They did not have radio's to call for an LEO and I imagine depend on one of the team to do such in another manner. And a single distraction would cause the house of cards to fall down.
Is this new or am I just noticing?
Jul 13, 2009 | 11:47 pm
#2
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Florida
Posts: 3,006
I flew OAK - DEN on Sunday, and saw something I had not seen before. It was sort of a passive gate check - 5 TSA screeners stood in various corners of the gate and watched all the passengers, all the while making little "signals" to each other.
It was as if they were a special ops insertion team, sneaking up on the enemy, except it was as obvious as signs the catcher gives to the pitcher.
Stone faced, they stared at the passengers for any suspicious behavior, it was the most amateur effort at playing bounty hunter I could imagine. Two focused on the jetway gate, as if to assure nobody barged it, four stood in opposite corners and scanned the audience.
All wore gloves, and acted as if immediately ready to pounce on the terrorist. Except that immediately after calling the last boarding group, they responded as if the play was over and headed off as a group to the terminal - exactly like an actor might change personality when the scene was over.
Logistically I though it was interesting - unlike the gates, they had no LEO available to address escalating issues. They did not have radio's to call for an LEO and I imagine depend on one of the team to do such in another manner. And a single distraction would cause the house of cards to fall down.
Is this new or am I just noticing?
It was as if they were a special ops insertion team, sneaking up on the enemy, except it was as obvious as signs the catcher gives to the pitcher.
Stone faced, they stared at the passengers for any suspicious behavior, it was the most amateur effort at playing bounty hunter I could imagine. Two focused on the jetway gate, as if to assure nobody barged it, four stood in opposite corners and scanned the audience.
All wore gloves, and acted as if immediately ready to pounce on the terrorist. Except that immediately after calling the last boarding group, they responded as if the play was over and headed off as a group to the terminal - exactly like an actor might change personality when the scene was over.
Logistically I though it was interesting - unlike the gates, they had no LEO available to address escalating issues. They did not have radio's to call for an LEO and I imagine depend on one of the team to do such in another manner. And a single distraction would cause the house of cards to fall down.
Is this new or am I just noticing?
Jul 14, 2009 | 6:24 am
#3
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^ 
and look here for more on the attack of the gate raping blueshirts:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...rrrhhhggg.html
and look here for more on the attack of the gate raping blueshirts:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...rrrhhhggg.html
Jul 14, 2009 | 6:49 am
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2009
Location: The Middle Kingdom of Kalifornia
Programs: Bombay Club
Posts: 15
^
and look here for more on the attack of the gate raping blueshirts:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...rrrhhhggg.html
and look here for more on the attack of the gate raping blueshirts:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...rrrhhhggg.html
They made no contact with the passengers while they were at the gate, they just made little finger jesters to each other and moved around the perimeter of the folks waiting.
Surveillance like behavior - except obvious as an elephant in the living room.
Jul 14, 2009 | 8:41 am
#8
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Gold, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goalie
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^
and look here for more on the attack of the gate raping blueshirts:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...rrrhhhggg.html
and look here for more on the attack of the gate raping blueshirts:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...rrrhhhggg.html
They made no contact with the passengers while they were at the gate, they just made little finger jesters to each other and moved around the perimeter of the folks waiting.
Surveillance like behavior - except obvious as an elephant in the living room.
. if they don't "see the big catch", the blueshirts stand there and do nothing but wasting their own resources and then move on
Jul 14, 2009 | 8:49 am
#9
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That's the thing - it wasn't a gate search, it was a gate stare-down.
They made no contact with the passengers while they were at the gate, they just made little finger jesters to each other and moved around the perimeter of the folks waiting.
Surveillance like behavior - except obvious as an elephant in the living room.
They made no contact with the passengers while they were at the gate, they just made little finger jesters to each other and moved around the perimeter of the folks waiting.
Surveillance like behavior - except obvious as an elephant in the living room.
Jul 14, 2009 | 9:08 am
#12
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And while passengers are backed up waiting to go through security because six TSAs are playing around at a boarding gate . . . 
Jul 14, 2009 | 9:59 am
#14
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I saw this at ALB yesterday as I deplaned. 2 TSOs were lurking at the podium, and 2 more were on the opposite side of the gate area. One of them even had a 2" 3-ring binder labeled as "TSA ALB PLAYBOOK" - I wonder if it was SSI, and if so, why it was out in plain view to the public.
Jul 14, 2009 | 1:29 pm
#15
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