7 Reasons the TSA Sucks (A Security Expert's Perspective)

[n2doc]

By Robert Evans, Rafi Sela

or a bunch of people in snappy uniforms patting down crotches, the TSA is remarkably unpopular. Nobody likes going through security at the airport, but you probably figured most of it had a point. All those hours spent in line with other shoeless travelers are a necessary precursor to safe flying. It's annoying, but at least it wards off terrorism.

That's all bullshit. The TSA couldn't protect you from a 6-year-old with a water balloon. What are my qualifications for saying that? My name is Rafi Sela, and I was the head of security for the world's safest airport. Here's what your country does wrong.

(If only we could go back to the uber-safe days of the Wild West, where the biggest annual gun death toll in any town was five people. Read The De-Textbook and never let Clint Eastwood trick you again.)

#7. The TSA Is Supposed to Regulate Itself


I went to meet with Joe Lieberman back when he was the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security. Lieberman asked me to write a one-page letter to Congress and the Senate outlining America's major problems with airport security. I told him the biggest issue was that the TSA is a regulatory agency and a security agency. They essentially make their own rules. No one else -- not the FBI, not the CIA, not anyone but a loose-cannon New York cop -- gets to do that.

Lieberman and a colleague of his named John Mica pushed an "opt-out" program for airports in the Aviation and Security Act. The problem was, the TSA needed to write standards and regulations for this program, and they just weren't doing it. So I went to Kip Hawley, head of the TSA, and said, "Look -- my company and I helped write the regulations for the Israeli Security Agency at Ben Gurion Airport. Let us help you."

And he said, "Ah no no no, we've got this all covered. It's just a matter of time."

I said, "Bullshit. You don't know shit about airport security."

Fast forward to today. After years of delay, the TSA is finally almost ready to start processing all those pending opt-out requests. After only a dozen years.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/blog/7-reasons-tsa-sucks-a-security-experts-perspective/

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. It serves its purpose perfectly through its dysfunction. The TSA couldn't handle a

rouge Cubscout troop determined to smuggle 10Kg of Gummy Bears.

The only reason for this singularity of uselessness to exist is to condition the sheeple to meekly accept any intrusion by any authority for any, or no reason. And second, as a jobs program/corporate welfare spigot to expand the fortunes of rich, well connected parasites.

[hedgehog]

2. I tend to think that observing people's

behavior is part of the solution - I've seen experienced Customs officials at the Niagara River crossings do that quite well. I'd also like to see observers circulating both before and after the security check point. There is one problem -since reportedly people can learn to fool a lie detector, are we certain they can't fool an observer? There are a lot of stories of people bluffing their way past security or customs.

So - I think using random searches in addition to observation may be the best procedure. In Brazil, I went through a Security check pretty close to what the US does today, sat in the lounge waiting to board, then ran into Security again on the jetway.

[seattledo]

3. So racism is the answer?

No, and that invalidates all of the other "points."