Airport security missed live ammo in tourists’ hand luggage. The TSA doesn’t know how
Airport security missed live ammo in tourists’ hand luggage. The TSA doesn’t know how
Exclusive: Louisiana Rep Garret Graves, chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, admits it’s concerning that the TSA has no idea how American tourists are managing to accidentally take ammo onto flights unnoticed. James Liddell reports
TSA has an 80% failure rate during inspections.
Everyone knows the TSA is useless. I know people who have accidentally carried fixed blade knives through security without getting stopped.
But you can be damn sure they'll catch that 5oz bottle of shampoo you've got.
BTW: your link is broken because you have a 9 at the beginning
fixed
Yet they never, ever fail to miss the banana I have in my carry-on for manual review. They very literally only look for the lowest-hanging fruit in scans. And that's not a joke, they focus on the easiest to do and accept or reject.
Perhaps attach the banana more securely so it's not hanging
I brought a 3-inch credit card blade (acquired at a trade show, with some tech company logo on it) through the airport four consecutive times without even realizing it.
I found it while packing for another trip, and I decided to gut my overly-thick wallet and realized that I'd been carrying it around everywhere, including through courtrooms and other government buildings that X-ray everything I bring every time I pass through as a contractor.
So yeah, a knife inside my wallet went through about 50 X-ray machines at federal facilities completely undetected, and I unknowingly carried it through all sorts of places where it is extremely illegal to have a knife. They always scolded me though if I tried to bring anything made of glass, like a coke bottle or something, because it could be used as a weapon.
Pictured:
Yeah, wtf do they mean 'they don't know how?'.
The TSA is probably the only employer in America worse than Boeing when it comes to employees giving a shit about doing their jobs and actually doing them well.
Both organizations promote incompetent ass kissers over those who actually give a shit, and both orgs also have a massive culture of making up excuses for why something that was supposed to happen did not.
Oh right, both also have absurd amounts of paperwork that 'ensures' policy was followed, but seeing as everyone hates you if you actually try to keep up with it, most people just focus on a few main things and sign off on anything.
I flew across country and back twice with a pack of super sharp Olfa snap off replacement blades that if forgotten were tucked into the bottom of my laptop bag.
I once lived and worked in a small store in rural Australia. When I left the job, I threw my box cutter in my backpack at the end of my shift without thinking.
They flew me back to the nearest city when I left, then from there I flew to Bali and back, then eventually I flew home. Every time I flew. I used that backpack as my carry on luggage. It was found when I landed after that final flight. I'd totally forgotten it was in there, and it had been scanned for all of those flights.
I travel a lot for work. US Customs and the TSA are absolutely a sick joke. I could easily write a novella on the extremely poor training of TSA employees. I have a small permanent retainer (read: braces); about 25% of the time, that is considered suspicious, and I get an enhanced inspection. "Ya know, I could just open my mouth and show you what's in there."
The TSA always determines that my juggling balls are suspicious, so I never pack them in carry-on anymore. I have NEXUS, yet I always get an enhanced inspection on return to the US. Literally every other country to which I have flown just waves me through, even before I got Pre-Check/NEXUS/Global Entry.
My partner had her rigging knife in her backpack on a flight out and back. She was unpacking and found it in her backpack after the trip. Good catch, TSA.
And the absolute frosting on the TSA shit sandwich: one of my close friends owns a private security firm. His company was approached by the TSA to assist in security audits at a major international airport. He and his team were contracted to "smuggle" fake firearms through TSA checkpoints, any way they could. The TSA repeatedly failed to detect the firearms for each of five audits. The TSA division (district? regional?) manager, frustrated at his group's 100% failure rate, determined that my friend's company must have specialized criminal training, and everyone who worked that contract were put on the no-fly list. It took him about 18 months to unfuck that mess for him and his employees.
I had written a few more paragraphs about TSA hassles, but I think y'all get the picture.
The TSA division (district? regional?) manager, frustrated at his group's 100% failure rate, determined that my friend's company must have specialized criminal training, and everyone who worked that contract were put on the no-fly list.
What in the fuck?
Oh, throughout the whole thing, he and his employees were treated like garbage. He would get through security, go directly to the person's office, and reassemble the pistol in front of the manager. And then my friend (or one of his employees) would get interrogated for hours on unrelated questions, like it was somehow my friend's fault that the TSA failed their audits.
Juggling balls you say?
I've carried a set of leather wrapped juggling balls on flights off and on since the 90's. They used to make every X-ray reader twitch out. They're about the right size for bad items (explosives, grenades), and I have three, not just one.
Normally it would get a quick search, a moment of confusion, and then no worries.
Once when going through the old airport in Berlin, I got searched at the second checkpoint, they brought out the balls to me, so I started juggling them and did a routine. It was really quiet so I was the only passenger in sight. That was the only time I've performed in front of an audience who was carrying machine guns.
the only surprising thing in this story is that no one got their genitals full on cupped and brushed.
I've had 3 different TSA agents reach down the front of my pants and either full on grab my junk or very heavily brush the back of their hands over it (through underwear)
Of course they don’t know how it got missed! If the knew how, they’d’ve been able to improve their 70+% miss rate
Isn't TSA just a money-grab?
With no actual oversight, requirements, or sanctions, that's just transfer of public money to some random wage-slaves and private subcontractors (like for the all-so-special equipment they must have, as well as tons of gloves and lube they consume daily).
Im sure AI could do racial profiling just as racially biased as them, and also fail at detecting any real threats. And Im sure I've seen some 'cavity search'-like robots online that could be deployed.
I know this one… it’s because the TSA sucks and isn’t anything more than security theater.
What's surreal is being in a security line that is so backed up that the TSA on duty decide to tell people to keep their shoes on, and they open up the old fashioned metal detector to supplement the body scanner just to get people through faster.
Straight up confirmation that none of what they do matters.
It’s also a
slush fundpork-barrel for screening device manufacturers! (alwayshasbeen.meme)I read an article a little while ago that stated exactly this. That security theater was the actual goal of the TSA.
I put a 5 inch blade in a bag I used for work that I totally forgot about, for 2 full years and flew all over the US without anyone calling me on it. I’m glad that TSA provides employment for so many people but they are in fact a joke
I would probably be fine with TSA as a jobs program, except I really don't like being yelled at by power tripping agents just for taking my laptop out, or for leaving it in my bag. Because no airport is the same and they all seem to make things up when it comes to policy. To be fair most agents are pretty chill, but some out there definitely enjoy the power trip.
Because the TSA Is theatre.
Mmmmm love the smell of security theater in the morning
And yet I've had to throw out a whole bottle of St. Ives lotion. Which country is threatened by me having silky smooth skin?
You ever try to take down a greased up deaf guy?
I think they are quite consistent, as a foreigner, when I travel to the US I get the random inspection every.single.time
/s
Try setting random seed to none
That's it! I had it set to 4
No idea? It comes down to the one person doing the job that may or may not care.
In the only line I've ever remembered from the show Absolutely Fabulous:
OnlyJust the one?
A hypothetical version of myself may have worked in an International Airport as a security lead. That hypothetical version would have to pass through general passenger TSA and Border checkpoint dozens of times a day. They also may have always been carrying dab pens on him and his coworkers might have on several occasions just carried handguns through that they might have forgotten on their persons.
Yeah Airports are to security as Ant traps are to an exterminator. Lotta smoke and mirrors. Most cameras are non functioning or just straight up not wired in the first place.
Can confirm hypothetical dab pens. And joyrides in the electric carts next to the planes taking off.
If you can't keep track of your ammunition, you should not own a firearm.
If you can't keep track of your guns, you should not own ammunition.
Just a few months ago, my wife and I went on vacation, and she had my mushroom hunting knife with like a 4 or 5-inch blade on it in her purse. The purse went through scanners and everything and no one said a fucking thing. Didn't realize we had the knife until we were on the plane in the air, and she went to get gum out.
Yet when I was bringing some fudge home for family, I got hassled on it being too much...
We got harassed because we brought a bag of goldfish for the kiddo. Dude actually dug through the bag.
Pro-tip: Keep your range bag and your travel bag SEPARATE. Problem solved!
I passed through TSA with a pocket knife, a small pair of sewing scissors, and a Leatherman multitool I forgot I put in my work backpack, but had to throw away my solid hand lotion for being 3.4oz. Larger than 3oz was a potential explosive, they told me. I had to toss it in a trashcan filled to overflowing with other potential explosives, located in the most populated area of the airport. I guess so it would take out as many people as possible and do the most structural damage, if my sealed Working Hands lotion was to explode and set off the other containers of lotions, water, and sodas. TSA is a joke.
some people are way too casual about guns and ammo
There's a higher chance Boeing will kill me than anything people bring on board.
American border is like prison border with the world being the prison. They are more concerned about people getting out of the prison than people getting in.
TSA is not in a fun position.
They are literally dealing with "The Most Armed Nation ... In The World." /clarkson And that is not often given to them out loud as the reality of their working parameters. Statistically that gives them a magnified margin of error by sheer volume of gun owners in the USA to my mind.
That said I have been terrorized by some TSA operators and patted down in the Denver airport without being asked or given a chance to have privacy by a TSA in the middle of line.
So won't you at least give the TSA a chance to go fuck themselves ?
It is a mix of "American tourists who are to stupid to consult government service pages about their destination" and "TSA is all about perceived security, but not real security".
The same way all my weed carts make it through in my carry on. X-ray machines are confusing, and contraband in tiny and is easily obscured.
Well, also they don’t give a shit about weed carts. Their job is security, not drug enforcement. Sure if you had a pound of weed they’d probably stop you, but a vape cart or two? Not worth their time. Especially if it ends up being tobacco. And they can’t tell from the scanner.
They're 0-12 for finding the weed cookies I take on vacation lol.
The TSA rarely cares about drugs. I’ve never tried but I have friends who bring them through all the time.
They're looking for explosives and weapons (kind of, badly). They absolutely do not give a shit about drugs unless you're carrying cocaine that has been shaped into a weapon.
Tripping on absolute power the TSA bestows to one & with that being able to steal anything from travelers I would most definitely absolutely care a lot about any drugs.
Who says no to free drugs?!
How would they know there was cannabis in the cookies? You're not transporting flower.
No, cannabis is just a coincidence - the TSA just eats all the cookies they find on any traveler. That's why op hides them. Probably in a gun, so they don't suspect cookies.
TSA screeners get paid less than $50,000 a year and have to deal with entitled assholes who argue with them all day. I'd do a half-assed job too.
I’ve had ammo pass through before. TSA is useless.
I once accidentally bought pepper spray I forgot was in my bag through TSA.
No serious entity can legitimately claim the arts don’t get funding when security theatre this entertaining exists.
I'm pretty sure people who work for TSA are in it for the groping and harassment, catching something every once in a while is just a cover