Should you worry about airport security under TSA?
What the hell is really going on at the TSA, asks travel commentator Chris Elliott.
Is the Transportation Security Administration protecting the nation’s transportation systems? Or is it a hopelessly incompetent federal agency that harasses innocent air travelers and should be privatized as soon as possible?
His comments came after the accidental release of a confidential TSA manual.
He quoted Suzanne Sherwood, who is one of the travelers mystified by the ways of the TSA.
Here’s her story:
They have let me and my companion swap passports — inadvertently — and not noticed that names and photos didn’t match the tickets or us. They have not noticed or questioned my name change. They have confiscated a $66 tube of hand cream, discarded four unopened jars of Ikea lingonberry preserves and a tiny dab of shaving gel because it was in a 5 oz. tube and not a 3 oz. container.
And yet they let a heavy 6-inch jacknife passed through the X-rays unnoticed [in my carry-on].
”Yes, TSA is inconsistent, unpredictable — to the point where it drives air travelers crazy. It told me that’s part of the plan. TSA wants to keep the bad guys guessing. That’s understandable,” Elliott says.
What isn’t clear to me is why it would allow items that present a clear security risk (like a knife) in someone’s checked luggage. For the answer, I bring in someone who I’ll call TSA Insider:
“Most of the screeners I’ve worked with have become very complacent. I used to work in the training department. Most of the screeners would just let the X-ray belt run and not look at the screen. When I approached them about it, they’d said ‘oh well.’”
“Look around next time you fly. See how many screeners are young — between the ages of 18 and 24,” Elliott says.
Given all that, should you care about airport security in general, and the release of a “secret” TSA manual in particular?
Yes — and no.
Yes, we should be worried about security. It’s confusing. It’s a mess. It can be better, and for what we’re paying for airport security ($2.50 per segment, which will increase to an undisclosed amount in 2012) we deserve better.
Elliott says he has read the entire manual, “And I have yet to see one piece of information that puts the air traveler in harm’s way.”
“Should we be worried? Sure. The agency can run a tighter ship. But it would take another 9/11 to change the TSA," he concludes.
By David Wilkening
David
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