ABC News reports another TSA triumph:
Nearing the height of last year's Christmas travel season, TSA screeners at Bush Intercontinental Airport somehow missed a loaded pistol, one that was tucked away inside a carry-on computer bag.
"I mean, this is not a small gun," Seif said. "It's a .40 caliber gun."
Seif says it was an accident which he didn't realize until he arrived at his destination. He says he carries the glock for protection but forgot to remove it from his bag. He reported the incident as soon as he landed, shocked at the security lapse.
"There's nothing else in there. How can you miss it? You cannot miss it," Seif said.
Authorities tell ABC News the incident is not uncommon, but how often it occurs is a closely guarded government secret..
And, it seems that right behind the man passing the gun, TSA was busy enforcing the liquids ban on a femal passenger. Yet, according to Maximum Leader Pistole, it's because they can't detect guns, bombs and knifes in bags that they went to the junkatron and the gropefest.
According to ABC:
A person briefed on the latest tests tells ABC News the failure rate approaches 70 percent at some major airports. Two weeks ago, TSA's new director said every test gun, bomb part or knife got past screeners at some airports.
And what is TSA's response? Fire someone? A sternly worded letter?
A TSA spokesperson says the agency has conducted an investigation, saying remedial training was provided to the security officers involved in the incident.
(BTW, do you ever wonder how someone could "forget" having a loaded pistol in their possession?)
Meanwhile, TSA's war on skirts continues. From flyer talk.com
(12/14/10) While waiting in the checkpoint line yesterday at SMF, I noticed every female passenger in a skirt was getting the same "female assist, no alarm" bark. There's no NOS, just a walk thru. The clerks collected the bags and took them to a private booth that was more like a department store dressing room with just a black curtain. I should have waited and watched what they did to the elderly man in a wheelchair who was behind me. I heard him telling the pusher about some medical problem and having a letter. Noter to self: always travel in fitted jeans.
But not to fret, men wearing kilts get equal treatment. Here's a tale that begins ominously
I’ve been wearing a kilt for seven months now. ...
and ends with the conclusion that if Osama bin Laden wants to get on a plane without getting groped by TSA:
... it seems that the sight of a fat man in a kilt seems to be the current “get out of AIT” card—at least if the screener is one of the people who may be pulling straws to do the potential pat down.
Oh, and by the way, on the distraction issue, from flyertalk.com again:
Sunday 12-11, flying home to AMS from ORD - T5 together with my wife. Only Nude-o-scopes in use. I opt-out, walk through the metal detector to have a better look at my stuff at the belt and somehow this annoys the TSA. I should have waited until I got the order to move forward. All of a sudden, I'm the most important traveler and 4 TSA clerks are basically busy with me. They escort me to a Plexiglas booth and a 5th clerk does the pat-down (*).
While they are so busy with me, nobody is watching my wife. She walks through the metal detector and sets off the alarm (as she did not bother to take shoes, belt, jacket, etc off). But again, nobody is paying attention as they are so busy with me. She gets to the belt, collects all my stuff (which, according to the TSA, was perfectly safe at the belt and nobody else would leave with my stuff...) and leaves the screening area (air side).
But this is no accident. According to ABC
Last month, TSA Chief John Pistole told ABC News that the poor performance during undercover tests helped convince him that airport screening needed to get that much tougher -- and a desire to do better helped give rise to the controversial new regimen that includes enhanced pat-downs and back-scatter machines that can see beneath a traveler's clothing.
"We've had a series of reports actually going back several years from the inspector general, from the General Accounting Office, and our own TSA Office of Inspection, where they do, as you describe, covert testing,"
Pistole acknowledged to George Stephanopoulos last month during an interview on Good Morning America.
"And unfortunately, [undercover testers] have been very successful over the years. And one of the findings is that we have not been thorough enough. And the concern obviously is, if that's an Abdulmutallab -- a Christmas Day bomber -- who is doing it rather than an undercover agent, then that can have catastrophic results."
Let me translate that for you:
- John Pistole knew that his idiots couldn't spot guns, bombs, and knives in the x-ray scanner.
- John Pistole then ordered virtual strip searches, invasive groping, or both, of every passenger.
- How virtual strip search and invasive pat down are supposed to substitute for running carry on bags in scanner properly is not explained.
Thank you, Maximum Leader Pistole!