Showing posts with label ineffective TSA screeners. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ineffective TSA screeners. Show all posts

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Ex-TSA screener 'spills the beans' on the agency`s shocking endemic practices upon Ameicans

The Most Important Takeaways From the Ex-TSA Screener’s Exposé
Insider confirms shocking level of corruption that infests federal agency

by:Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
January 31, 2014
Image: Jason Harrington’s Politico Magazine Article.
In an article for Politico Magazine, former TSA screener Jason Harrington exposed the endemic corruption which infests the federal agency, including how TSA workers laughed at naked images of passengers, targeted attractive women and harassed travelers who didn’t display the proper attitude.

Although most of his revelations were already known (we were labeled “conspiracy theorists” for saying the same thing), for guy who saw it with his own eyes every day from the inside to go public with this kind of information is huge. Given that Harrington’s article is lengthy, we’ve summarized the key points with relevant quotes from the piece below.

- TSA agents laugh at naked body scanner images;
“Most of my co-workers found humor in the I.O. room on a cruder level. Just as the long-suffering American public waiting on those security lines suspected, jokes about the passengers ran rampant among my TSA colleagues.”

- TSA body scanners don’t work and are a huge waste of taxpayer money;
“We knew the full-body scanners didn’t work before they were even installed….Officers discovered that the machines were good at detecting just about everything besides cleverly hidden explosives and guns.”

- Jonathan Corbett’s video, which exposed how the body scanners could easily be fooled by placing an object in a sewn on side pocket, prompted the TSA to lie to the public while secretly changing their policy.

“Officially, the agency downplayed the Corbett video….Behind closed doors, supervisors instructed us to begin patting down the sides of every fifth passenger as a clumsy workaround to the scanners’ embarrassing vulnerability.”

- TSA workers are concerned about radiation emitted by x-ray body scanners;
“Many of my co-workers felt uncomfortable even standing next to the radiation-emitting machines we were forcing members of the public to stand inside. Several told me they submitted formal requests for dosimeters, to measure their exposure to radiation. The agency’s stance was that dosimeters were not necessary—the radiation doses from the machines were perfectly acceptable, they told us.”

- TSA workers deliberately target attractive women for enhanced screening;
“Then there was the infamous “guyspeak” in my “Insider’s TSA Dictionary.” One of the first terms I learned from fellow male TSA officers at O’Hare was “Hotel Papa,” code language for an attractive female passenger—“Hotel” standing for “hot,” and “Papa” for, well, use your imagination.”

- TSA agents punish people who don’t display the proper attitude with enhanced screening;
“We would also sometimes pull a passenger’s bag or give a pat down because he or she was rude. We always deployed the same explanation: “It’s just a random search.”

- Most TSA workers hate the TSA;
“Most TSA officers I talked to told me they felt the agency’s day-to-day operations represented an abuse of public trust and funds.”

- The TSA does not stop terrorists;
“I hinted several times on the blog that a determined terrorist’s best bet for defeating airport security would be to apply for a job with the TSA and simply become part of the security system itself. That assertion stemmed from personal experience.”

- The TSA is a monumental waste of money and has been incredibly harmful.
“As I saw it, $40 million in taxpayer dollars had been wasted on ineffective anti-terrorism security measures at the expense of the public’s health, privacy and dignity.”

Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and PrisonPlanet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.

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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Feds: Crooked TSA Screeners Arrested in Drug Trafficking Scheme

Editor`s note: yet another TSA scandal, when will they dismantle this inept institution?


By JASON RYAN (@JasonRyanABC) and LEE FERRAN
ABC News
April 25, 2012

Multiple airport screeners have been arrested for allegedly taking handsome bribes to look the other way while loads of illegal drugs slipped through security at Los Angeles International Airport, federal officials announced today.

Two current and two former officials at the Transportation Security Administration were arrested in the last 48 hours in connection with at least five incidents from February 2011 to July 2011 in which on duty screeners took payments of up to $2,400 to allow suitcases filled with drugs to pass unimpeded through X-ray machines at LAX, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr.'s office said in a statement.

According to Birotte's office, the scheme was uncovered after a member of the alleged conspiracy accidentally went through the wrong security line and was busted by TSA screeners who were not in on the plot. In another case, a TSA screener unknowingly arranged with a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration to receive $1,200 for a shipment of methamphetamine to pass through security.

The current TSA employees, 23-year-old John Whitfield and 25-year-old Capeline McKinney, and the former screeners, 30-year-old Naral Richardson and 27-year-old Joy White, are all expected to be arraigned in Los Angeles today. If convicted, each could potentially face life in prison, Birotte's office said. The two current officials have been suspended indefinitely without pay, officials from the Department of Homeland Security told ABC News. The plot also allegedly involved a couple of known drug runners.

"Airport screeners act as a vital checkpoint for homeland security, and air travelers should believe in the fundamental integrity of security systems at our nation's airports," Birotte said. "The allegations in this case describe a significant breakdown of the screening system through the conduct of individuals who placed greed above the nation's security needs."

A spokesperson for the TSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this report, but Randy Parsons, the TSA Federal Security Director at LAX, said in the statement from Birotte's office the TSA "has assured the investigating agencies we will do everything we can to assist in their investigation."

"While the arrests are a disappointment, TSA is committed to holding our employees to the highest standards," he said.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Bombshell from TSA whistleblower: Body Scanners Routinely Fail

TSA Whistleblower: Body Scanners Routinely Fail
Guns, knives, explosive material not recognized by $1 billion dollar fleet of scanners

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Tuesday, April 10, 2012

A TSA screener has lifted to lid to reveal how the federal agency’s $1 billion dollar plus fleet of body scanners is completely useless in that the machines routinely fail to pick up prohibited items such as knives, guns and powder designed to resemble explosive material.



In an interview conducted by Jon Corbett, the engineer who recently exposed how the scanners could be fooled by simply securing an object inside an external pocket sewn on to an item of clothing, “Jennifer,” a TSA screener, also reveals how the federal agency forced people without the necessary training to operate the scanners.

When Jennifer wrote to her Congressman complaining about the problems, the TSA retaliated by removing her from screening duties and began the process to dismiss her altogether.
In the transcript below, Jennifer explains how the body scanners routinely fail to pick up prohibited items, meaning they are nothing less than a complete waste of money and a prime example of “security theater”.

    Jon: Were there specific times where this machine didn’t work, for either someone testing it,  
    or a passenger went through and it was determined that they went through with…
    Jennifer: Absolutely. Yes, absolutely.
    Jon: Metal objects?
    Jennifer: Metal, non-metal.
    Jon: Big, small?
    Jennifer: Both.
    Jon: Things like wallets I think you mentioned to me?
    Jennifer: Wallets.
    Jon: So you’d send someone through the scanner and you’d see a bulge in their pocket, but 
    the scanner would show nothing?
    Jennifer: Mmhmm.
    Jon: Things during training?
    Jennifer: Absolutely.
    Jon: What would you test it with when you were testing the machines?
    Jennifer: There were different props: guns, knives, bags of powder that were supposed to 
    resemble explosive material.
    Jon: Sometimes these would just go through completely undetected?
    Jennifer: Absolutely.

Jennifer then divulges how the TSA forced screeners who had not received the proper 
training to operate the radiation-firing body scanners.

    Jon: They tried to send you to the machines, and you said, ‘Hold on, I’m not certified.’
    Jennifer: Right.
    Jon: And then in December I guess you tried the same thing and they said, ‘Too bad?’
    Jennifer: We were forced to work on these machines. So basically, there were so few of us 
    trained to work on the machines, they basically forced us.
    Jon: So they didn’t care if you were certified or not?
    Jennifer: No, I actually went to my supervisor — or a supervisor — the first day. I and another 
    officer had this concern, that, you know, ‘Look, we’ve never worked on this particular  
    machine, we don’t know what to do’ and his answer was, ‘Sorry, we don’t have enough 
    staffing, you’re going to have to work on it.’
    Jon: Certified or not, just get on the machine and make the best of it?
    Jennifer: Yep, ‘just have your co-workers help you.’

In the interview Jennifer also exposes how she has never even seen a copy of the Screening Checkpoint Standard Operating Procedures manual,...

(click here to read the full article)

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

TSA screener at JFK 'hurled hot coffee at American Airlines pilot who told her to stop swearing'...yea its part of their training

Mail Online
By SUZANNAH HILLS
April 4, 2012

An airport security worker was arrested after throwing a cup of hot coffee over a pilot who told her to stop swearing.

Transportation Security Administrator (TSA) Lateisha El, 30, was in the middle of a conversation with work colleagues at a JFK Airport terminal when she was interrupted by the American Airlines pilot.

Off-duty airman Steven Trivett, 54, was exiting terminal 8 when he overheard El swearing and asked her to tone down the profanity.

Arrested: Airport security worker Lateisha El, 30, threw a cup of coffee over pilot Steven Trivett, 54, when he told her to stop swearing at JFK Airport (pictured)
Arrested: Airport security worker Lateisha El, 30, threw a cup of coffee over pilot Steven Trivett, 54, when he told her to stop swearing at JFK Airport (pictured), credit DailyMail
Trivett, of Butler, Tennessey, told them they should 'conduct themselves more professionally in uniform and not use profanity or the n-word,' according to the New York Post.

One TSA screener told Trivett to 'mind his own business' and swore at him.
Trivett then identified himself as a 'TSA officer' - an armed pilot - before trying to grab the ID tags of screener El to get her name.

But Port Authority police sources told the newspaper that El responded by hurling a 'full cup' cup of hot coffee over the pilot.

Trivett was not seriously injured. El, of Brooklyn’s East New York, was charged with harassment and misdemeanor-assault for the incident at 5am on March 28.