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Hapless TSA Symbolizes a Can’t-Do America

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By The Editors • 05/17/16 7:30pm

Last week, the Port Authority of N.Y. and N.J. complained to the TSA that security lines at the region’s three main airports were unacceptable—hitting 55 minutes recently—and getting worse. Between March 15 and April 15 of this year, the average wait time was 21 minutes, up from 11.5 minutes a year earlier—an 82 percent increase. During that same month-long period a year ago, travelers at Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark had to endure security-line waits of more than 20 minutes only 10 times. This year, it was a shocking 253 times.

Such delays are becoming commonplace. The Drudge Report, the country’s foremost authority on what’s angering America, has been detailing the spiraling crisis. Yesterday in Chicago, both airports began recommending that passengers arrive three hours early to allow for lengthening security lines. New York fared slightly better than Chicago, where delays exceeded two hours and thousands of people missed their flights.

In response, the TSA blamed passengers for bringing too many carry-on items. Seriously.

A day after this surreal exchange, we thought it might be prudent to actually sign up for the TSA’s PreCheck program. (We occasionally get diverted to the PreCheck line, though we’re not sure whether it is because we are already members of Global Entry—issued by the same federal agency—or because we shelled out a few bucks for more legroom and early boarding.)

https://observer.com/2016/05/hapless-tsa-symbolizes-a-cant-do-america/

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Complaints Over Airport Security Delays Surged 10-Fold in March

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Frustrated travelers are turning to the complaint box in growing numbers as long lines and delays getting through airport security result in missed flights.

Complaints filed on such topics as courtesy and processing time surged in March to the highest levels in the past year, according to the Department of Transportation’s monthly Air Travel Consumer Report released Monday.

Reports filed over the time it took U.S. Transportation Security Administration to screen passengers grew more than 10-fold, to 513 this past March from 48 in March 2015. Concern about lack of courtesy by TSA screeners increased more than three-fold, to 1,012 in March from 294 a year ago.

Other categories of complaints on the screening process and travelers’ personal property were also at the highest levels recorded in the past year, according to DOT. A spokesman for the TSA didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment on Monday’s report.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-16/complaints-over-airport-security-delays-surged-10-fold-in-march

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TSA Fails 95 Percent Of Airport Security Tests Conducted By Homeland Security: Report

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he Huffington Post  |  By Andy Campbell

Posted: 06/01/2015 2:07 pm EDT

As thorough as the Transportation Security Administration screeners may be as they rifle through your belongings, the agency isn’t performing where it counts.

In a series of trials, the Department of Homeland Security was able to smuggle fake explosives, weapons and other contraband past airport screeners in major cities across the country, according to ABC News. Officials briefed on the Homeland Security Inspector General’s investigation told the station that the TSA failed 67 out of 70 tests conducted by the department’s Red Teams — undercover passengers tasked with identifying weaknesses in the screening process, NJ.com reports.

During the tests, DHS agents each tried to bring a banned item past TSA screeners. They succeeded 95 percent of the time.

The internal investigation was designed to find the TSA’s most egregious vulnerabilities. The TSA has said Red Team agents are “super terrorists” who “push the boundaries of our people, processes, and technology,” but DHS officials told ABC the test results were frustrating at the very least.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/01/tsa-fails-95-percent-tests-homeland-security_n_7485558.html

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Rep Gohmert – DHS Too Busy Importing, Transporting Illegals All Over America To Bother With Security

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by Rick Wells 04/19/2015

Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) doesn’t think much of the job that Jeh Johnson and the Department of Homeland “Security” are doing in protecting us, particularly in light of the recent unauthorized and surprise landing of a small helicopter on the lawn of the Capitol.  In an interview on the Lars Larson program, Gohmert doesn’t pull any punches in his evaluation and criticism of DHS, an agency that is currently little more than an anti-American political arm of the Obama regime.

After directing some sarcasm towards the ineffective bureaucracy, Gohmert says, “The truth is it ought to scare people because Homeland Security is so overwhelmed in trying to bring in and ship around illegal aliens and give amnesty to as many people as they can.” He faults the focus on lawbreaking and circumvention as the reason why, “They can’t do something as simple as protect the United States Capitol.”

He continues, saying, “A lot of people thought the fourth plane that those American heroes took down in Pennsylvania was probably going for the White House, information I had was he was going to the Capitol. And there are some surveys that show that the U.S. Capitol is the most recognized building in the world.”

Read more at https://universalfreepress.com/rep-gohmert-dhs-too-busy-importing-transporting-illegals-all-over-america-to-bother-with-security/

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How to spot a terrorist, according to US airport security

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How to spot a terrorist, according to US airport security
By Oliver Smith
11:50AM BST 30 Mar 2015

Leaked document suggests that whistling and excessive laughter could see you singled out for additional screening

Excessive yawning, strong body odour and arrogance are among the suspicious signs that US airport staff are trained to associate with potential terrorists, a leaked document has revealed.

A confidential security checklist used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the organisation in charge of airport screening in the US, was published by The Intercept last week.

Other warning signs, according to the document, include protruding or throbbing neck arteries, whistling, excessive laughter, and “verbally expressing contempt for the screening process”.

Its Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) guidance, used by staff to root out potential terrorists, lists a total of 17 “stress factors”, each of which are worth one point, 15 “fear factors”, worth two points, and six “deception factors”, worth three. If a traveller scores four or more points, they should be referred for selective screening, according to the instructions.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/11503843/How-to-spot-a-terrorist-according-to-US-airport-security.html

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Scientific studies show that airport Ebola screenings are largely ineffective

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Scientific studies show that airport Ebola screenings are largely ineffective

The debate over whether the Obama administration should ban flights from Ebola-stricken nations has been raging for weeks, fueled by fears of an outbreak in the United States and a lot of election-inspired finger pointing.

The Department of Homeland Security last week imposed new travel restrictions for anyone arriving from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, requiring those passengers to come through one of five major U.S. airports in Atlanta, Chicago, New Jersey, New York and Virginia.

Those travelers now have to submit to temperature checks and questioning. But scientific studies published by the National Institutes of Health have shown that similar protocols were largely ineffective during an outbreak of Swine Flu in 2009, as Government Executive pointed out in an article last week.

A study of screenings at Australia’s Sydney Airport during the Swine Flu pandemic found that fever was detected in 5,845 passengers during the roughly two-month period covered by the analysis. Only three of those individuals ended up having the virus, which is known in the scientific community as H1N1.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/10/31/these-scientific-studies-show-that-airport-ebola-screenings-are-largely-ineffective/

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TSA implementing ‘enhanced security measures’ on international flights

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TSA implementing ‘enhanced security measures’ on international flights

By Keith Laing – 07/02/14 03:34 PM EDT

The Department of Homeland Security has directed the Transportation Security Administration to implement “enhanced security measures” at overseas airports where planes fly directly to the United States amid concerns about potential summer terrorist attacks.

The announcement comes after military officials raised concerns about al Qaeda affiliated foreign fighters using Western passports to evade terrorist watch lists.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said the agency would take steps to minimize the inconvenience to airline passengers as the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend approaches.

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/211215-tsa-implementing-enhanced-security-measures-on-international-flights#ixzz36OWIEZpS 

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GOP report on 9/11 anniversary eve: Make TSA ‘smarter, leaner’

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GOP report on 9/11 anniversary eve: Make TSA ‘smarter, leaner’
By Keith Laing – 09/10/12 04:05 PM ET

Republicans are suggesting ways the Transportation Security Administration can be “rebuilt” into a “smarter, leaner organization” ahead of a hearing on the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The House Homeland Security Committee’s Transportation Security subcommittee released a report Monday finding that TSA could be more effective by reducing its number of employees. The report also suggest TSA should consider “enlisting the private sector to modernize and, to the extent possible, automate the passenger screening process to reduce pat-downs, implementing privacy software on all [Advanced Imaging Technology] machines, and sponsoring an independent analysis of the potential health impacts of AIT machines.”

The committee will hold a hearing on the report on on Tuesday, which will mark the 11th anniversary of the hijacking of four U.S. airliners by terrorists.

https://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/tsa/248521-gop-report-on-9-11-anniversary-eve-make-tsa-smarter-leaner-