Security theater

If anyone doubted that what happens at security at airports is only security theater this should cement that that is all it is:


http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/01/politics/tsa-failed-undercover-airport-screening-tests/

"The Transportation Security Administration found that "red teams" with the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General were able to get banned items through the screening process in 67 out of 70 tests it conducted across the nation."


That is a 96% failure rate.



Guess they didn't try to bring a bottle of Poland Spring through.


File under "Duh!" It is also important to know that if you were to add up all the terrorist plots foiled by the NSA's violations of the 4th Amendment you would have a grand total of zero. Good times....


This is going to make flying even more miserable than it has been, though. They are going to become more intrusive and more agressive.


The high failure rate does not mean it is pure political theater. What do you suppose would happen if we eliminated security checks?


I have only once been subjected to an effective security screen procedure and that was at Ben Gurion Airport. There is no way we will implement such procedures here unless the incidence of successful terrorist attacks involving aircraft increases by a lot.


The TSA team at Raleigh Durham must have heard about the report yesterday. The magnetometer's setting for "random" extra screening and patdowns was calibrated so that every other person got extra screening. For whatever random reason, this meant every man got a pat down! Yes, this was also the pre-check line where we are supposedly "safer, trusted" flyers.


Definitely good times for travelers.


They are there to prevent dangerous amounts of breast milk and contact lens solution from getting on planes. You cant expect them to look out for weapons as well.


TSA has been effective at finding a file (that my kid had used to "distress" her jeans and forgotten to remove), a tube of toothpaste, and numerous water bottles in our carry-on luggage over the years.



tjohn said:
The high failure rate does not mean it is pure political theater. What do you suppose would happen if we eliminated security checks?


I have only once been subjected to an effective security screen procedure and that was at Ben Gurion Airport. There is no way we will implement such procedures here unless the incidence of successful terrorist attacks involving aircraft increases by a lot.

Maybe not much. A suicide bomber who wanted to cause a splash could easily do so with an explosion on a crowded security line.



ramzzoinksus said:



Maybe not much. A suicide bomber who wanted to cause a splash could easily do so with an explosion on a crowded security line.

With TSA's failure rate he or she might as well wait unthil they are on the plane.


When they first started using those newer ' not an x-ray' imaging machines it discovered my pants zipper!!! That was not a fun patdown.



tjohn said:
The high failure rate does not mean it is pure political theater. What do you suppose would happen if we eliminated security checks?


I have only once been subjected to an effective security screen procedure and that was at Ben Gurion Airport. There is no way we will implement such procedures here unless the incidence of successful terrorist attacks involving aircraft increases by a lot.

All Hell would break loose.


sac said: "TSA has been effective at finding a file"

I've been told by TSA personnel that files are OK because even though they're sort of pointed, they aren't really a blade. I hated having to check a bag just to have a nail file, so that was good news.


otoh, last month I took a total of 4 flights with a (small) pocket knife in my purse, and nothing was said. Maybe it looked like a nail file? Half a small bottle of water, on the other hand.... I wasn't permitted to drink it on the spot, but had to either go back around outside of security and come through again, or discard it.

"Security theater" indeed, but I suppose better than nothing.

eta: krnl, yes, pants zippers and underwires (but that seems to have been adjusted/corrected?)



tjohn said:
I have only once been subjected to an effective security screen procedure and that was at Ben Gurion Airport. There is no way we will implement such procedures here unless the incidence of successful terrorist attacks involving aircraft increases by a lot.

I was going to point out the same thing. The reason Israeli airport security is so effective is because it does not just rely on looking inside people's bags. The screeners are highly trained in psychological methods and are human lie detectors. They talk to you. They ask you questions. They examine your body language. They also have people scattered around the airport to do the same. And these are not minimum wage jobs.



shoshannah said:
I was going to point out the same thing. The reason Israeli airport security is so effective is because it does not just rely on looking inside people's bags. The screeners are highly trained in psychological methods and are human lie detectors. They talk to you. They ask you questions. They examine your body language. They also have people scattered around the airport to do the same. And these are not minimum wage jobs.

Hey, we get what we pay for. In our case, TSA has an annual budget of $7.4 BILLION.


$7.4 billion is a big, but meaningless number unless you can describe the mission of the TSA and how it can be performed more effectively at the same cost.


from The Onion:

TSA Agents To Now Simply Stand At Checkpoints And Remind Passengers That We All Die Someday

ARLINGTON, VA— Following the release of a report indicating that the agency failed 95 percent of security tests, the Transportation Security Administration announced Tuesday that agents will now simply stand at airport checkpoints and remind all passengers that everybody will eventually die someday. “As part of our new security protocol, TSA agents at every checkpoint will carefully inform each passenger that life is a temporary state and that no man can escape the fate that awaits us all,” said acting TSA administrator Mark Hatfield, adding that under the new guidelines, agents will ensure that passengers fully understand and accept the inevitability of death as they proceed through the boarding pass check, luggage screening, and body scanner machines. “Signs posted throughout the queues will also state that death is unpredictable but guaranteed, and a series of looping PA messages will reiterate to passengers that, even if they survive this flight, they could still easily die in 10 years or even tomorrow.” Hatfield went on to say that the TSA plans to add a precheck program that will expedite the process for passengers the agency deems comfortable with the ephemeral nature of life.


http://www.popsci.com/inspector-general-report-tsa-isnt-keeping-us-safe


In a couple weeks, the Transportation Security Administration, best known as the TSA, will finally be old enough to sign up for an account online. Born in the months immediately after the September 11th attacks, the TSA is meant to serve as a shield against future hijackings, it’s blue-gloved agents and security gates are supposed to be barriers through which no threat can pass. But frankly, it is terrible at its job. Yesterday, Inspector General John Roth testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and his verdict on the TSA was brutal.

From his statement to the committee:

Our testing was designed to test checkpoint operations in real world conditions. It was not designed to test specific, discrete segments of checkpoint operations, but rather the system as a whole. The failures included failures in the technology, failures in TSA procedures, and human error. We found layers of security simply missing. It would be misleading to minimize the rigor of our testing, or to imply that our testing was not an accurate reflection of the effectiveness of the totality of aviation security.

The majority of the Inspector General’s recommendations aren’t disclosed because the “recommendation includes Sensitive Security Information,” some changes are obvious. The Inspector General’s statement and testimony both noted that while the TSA is required to conduct manual reviews of aviation worker records, “due to the workload at larger airports, this inspection process may look at as few as one percent of all aviation workers’ applications.”

The hearing comes on the heel of reports, like this one from September, on auditors ability to get weapons through TSA checkpoints. While the unclassified summary of the report doesn’t specify just how easy it was for the auditors, at yesterday’s hearing Missouri Rep. Stephen F. Lynch said, “I would use pathetic in looking at the number of times people got through with guns and bombs, in these covert testing exercises. It really was pathetic, by which I mean pitiful, the number of times people got through. Just thinking about the breaches there, it’s horrific.”

Identifying the problem is the first step to fixing it. Still, 13 years into increased airport security, it’d be nice to know that existing security measures work.


Even more... http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/tsa-airport-screeners-ability-to-detect-weapons-declared-pitiful/


They searched my camera bag at Sea-Tac airport twice in the last 2 months. Both times I had my 70-200mm lens on my d750 camera body. Apparently it "looks like a weapon" on the scanner.


I suppose we could do security the way El Al does security. Somehow, I don't think people would be too happy.


tjohn said:
I suppose we could do security the way El Al does security. Somehow, I don't think people would be too happy.

Not suggesting we need that. Just that we pay billions a year for security that is highly ineffective.


ParticleMan said:
tjohn said:
I suppose we could do security the way El Al does security. Somehow, I don't think people would be too happy.
Not suggesting we need that. Just that we pay billions a year for security that is highly ineffective.

No doubt the TSA can be better, but they still have the problem where one failure in a million is all it takes. It becomes very easy to find fault in such a case, especially in a country whether government by anecdote is the norm.


Let's put security on a scale of 1-10. If we're paying for an 8, but getting a 4, then perhaps we can find a way to pay for the 4 that we're getting.


Was airline security so much worse back when we could bring water on a plane or wear our shoes through the checkpoints?


The best part of our national knee jerk reactions is that you can bet we will never course correct. This makes Mkchael Chertoff a very rich man.


I know that the State Department puts out alerts on countries where they believe the security is inadequate, and recommends that US travelers avoid them. That isn't a large number of countries, so what are all of the "approved" ones doing that we aren't? (Or not doing that we are?) I'm not talking about the extreme cases (i.e. Israel), but rather all of those European, Asian, South/Central American and African countries that are on the OK list?


ParticleMan asks: "Was airline security so much worse back when we could bring water on a plane or wear our shoes through the checkpoints?"

In the spirit of the Onion, we-will-all-die-someday: If you live long enough, you will probably be allowed to keep your shoes on. Now that I'm in my (way) upper 60s, TSA usually waves me through, jacket, shoes and all. : )


Does anyone know how they identify people for TSA pre-check approval? (I forget the exact wording they use). I am usually "pre-approved", which means I don't remove shoes or a light jacket, among other things, but it's not 100% of the time.


mjh said:
Does anyone know how they identify people for TSA pre-check approval? (I forget the exact wording they use). I am usually "pre-approved", which means I don't remove shoes or a light jacket, among other things, but it's not 100% of the time.

I don't think they reveal that info, as it would make it easier for bad guys to game the system. It is at least partially random for the same reason.


Can those x-Ray machines tell if a bottle is empty or not? We went through with four empty steel water bottles and they didn't get so much as a second glance and they didn't open a single one to double check. The package of baby wipes, on the other hand, looked suspicious on the screen and that meant I was pulled out of line and had weird paper rubbed on my hands to test for some sort of residue. Or maybe the TSA agent just had a weird paper rubbing fetish, who knows.


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