Free Republic

One of the world’s foremost experts on counter-threat intelligence within the cybersecurity industry, who blew the whistle on vulnerabilities in airplane technology systems in a series of recent Fox News reports, has become the target of an FBI investigation himself. Chris Roberts of the Colorado-based One World Labs, a security intelligence firm that identifies risks before they're exploited, said two FBI agents and two uniformed police officers pulled him off a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 commercial flight Wednesday night just after it landed in Syracuse, and spent the next four hours questioning him about cyberhacking of planes. The FBI interrogation...

<p>Two security agents at Denver International Airport have been fired over allegations they manipulated passenger screening systems to allow one of them to grope male travelers..</p> <p>Denver television station KCNC obtained law enforcement reports that found a Transportation Security Administration supervisor saw a female screener coordinating with a male screener in February to allow him to grope the crotch of a male passenger he thought was attractive.</p>

A CBS4 investigation has learned that two Transportation Security Administration screeners at Denver International Airport have been fired after they were discovered manipulating passenger screening systems to allow a male TSA employee to fondle the genital areas of attractive male passengers.

MIAMI (CNN) - Inside a plane at Miami International Airport, baggage handlers are going on a shopping spree with passengers' bags. What they don't know is that they are being recorded on a hidden camera. The Miami-Dade Police Department set up the camera as part of an ongoing police investigation into luggage thefts by the very airport workers who are supposed to get bags safely onto planes. "It's a problem we all face," said police Lt. Pete Estis. "We will continue to be proactive until we can see that the claims of pilfering through luggage will actually decrease."And these insider...

A CBS4 investigation has learned that two Transportation Security Administration screeners at Denver International Airport have been fired after they were discovered manipulating passenger screening systems to allow a male TSA employee to fondle the genital areas of attractive male passengers. It happened roughly a dozen times, according to information gathered by CBS4. According to law enforcement reports obtained during the CBS4 investigation, a male TSA screener told a female colleague in 2014 that he "gropes" male passengers who come through the screening area at DIA. "He related that when a male he finds attractive comes to be screened by...

Careful, airline passengers! If you happen to show up to your flight late, or are nervous about forgetting to turn off the lights before your trip, you may find yourself interrogated by one of the Transportation Security Administration’s 3,000 “Behavior Detection Officers” (BDOs). These lightly trained security sleuths are employing an actual “ scoring” system to identity terrorists trying to board a commercial airliner. Even “exaggerated yawning,” a “cold penetrating stare,” or strong “body odor” are among the tell-tale signs for which the eagle eyes – and noses – of these BDOs are watching. In case you might be wondering...

Two black women who said their hairstyles made them targets for airport security pat-downs said on Thursday the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had agreed to stop singling out women for screening based solely on their "sisterlocks." Malaika Singleton, a neuroscientist based in Sacramento, said she was on her way to London last year for an academic conference on dementia when a TSA agent at Los Angeles International Airport began pulling and squeezing her hair. "I was going through the screening procedures like we all do, and after I stepped out of the full body scanner, the agent said, 'OK, now...

Do pilots go through TSA screening just like everyone else, standing in line just like everybody else? Or do they have their own TSA line? Or are they exempt from the whole process?

Anyone know how TSA-approved luggage locks work?

Live coverage of the news conference regarding the machete attack Friday night (March 20) inside the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport starts here: New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu: "We're going to learn a lot from this incident." Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand: "We accomplished a lot of things last night with assistance of Kenner police, FBI, ATF and others." Normand clarifies some inaccuracies reported by sheriff's office last night. Says no traveler was grazed by a bullet as originally reported. TSA agent was being chased by Richard White as he waved the machete. JSPO lieutenant's first shot wounded female...

The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) granted expedited screening privileges to a former member of a “domestic” terror group convicted of explosives-related crimes, “creating a significant aviation security breach,” reports a government watchdog. TSA agents were aware that the traveler had been improperly cleared to use expedited airport security lanes. Nevertheless, the individual was allowed through to his flight on June 29, 2014, reveals the inspector general (IG) at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a partially redacted report. TSA is a component of DHS. “Mitigating and reducing passenger screening vulnerabilities is important to our nation’s aviation security,” said DHS...

The Transportation Security Administration said it is unlikely to detect and unable to extinguish what an FBI report called “the greatest potential incendiary threat to aviation,” according to a classified document obtained by The Intercept. Yet despite that warning, sources said TSA is not adequately preparing to respond to the threat. Thermite — a mixture of rust and aluminum powder — could be used against a commercial aircraft, TSA warned in a Dec. 2014 document, marked secret. “The ignition of a thermite-based incendiary device on an aircraft at altitude could result in catastrophic damage and the death of every person...

The Transportation Security Administration said it is unlikely to detect and unable to extinguish what an FBI report called “the greatest potential incendiary threat to aviation,” according to a classified document obtained by The Intercept. Yet despite that warning, sources said TSA is not adequately preparing to respond to the threat. Thermite — a mixture of rust and aluminum powder — could be used against a commercial aircraft, TSA warned in a Dec. 2014 document, marked secret [PDF here]. “The ignition of a thermite-based incendiary device on an aircraft at altitude could result in catastrophic damage and the death of...

Funding for the department expires at midnight on Friday. ... Boehner doesn't appear to be going along with his Republican counterparts in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is looking to avert a shutdown by offering Democrats a clean funding bill for DHS. The speaker would not say whether he would back a Senate funding bill without provisions that would defund President Obama's executive actions on immigration. At one point, Boehner blew kisses at reporters after they asked whether he would. ... McConnell had attempted to push through a House-passed funding bill four times, but Senate Democrats blocked it...

As the graphic from TSA shows, they interdicted over 2,200 firearms, mostly loaded, from travelers' carry-on bags, holsters, pockets and a few other places and items last year.  No doubt most of the interdicted firearms were those inadvertently brought into the security checkpoint by someone who otherwise could legally carry the firearm.  The top ten airports are all in places with lots of permit holders.  Three in Texas, three in Florida, one each in Arizona, Georgia, Tennessee, and Colorado.  The Crime Prevention Research Center shows that there were 11.1 million concealed carry permits in the  United States in July...

TSA Demands Internal Passport for Domestic Travel By: Wendy McElroy | Tue, Feb 10, 2015 Share Print Email Precedents exist for requiring citizens to produce special ID for domestic travel; they include Nazi Germany, apartheid South Africa and Russia (both Imperial and Soviet).Over the Christmas season, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) quietly announced that America was walking down that path. By 2016, all domestic air travel will require either a traditional passport or a federally-compliant ID card called "Real ID." State driver's licenses will no longer allow Americans access to domestic flights, as they do now. Real ID will constitute...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- Illinois residents might not be able to use their driver's licenses at airports starting in 2016. The Daily Herald reports the licenses don't meet requirements set by the 2005 Real ID Act that were meant to increase security. Illinois doesn't require a birth certificate to get a driver's license, which Illinois Secretary of State spokesman Henry Haupt said is one of the law's mandates. Haupt said state legislators would have to approve funding for changes to driver's license requirements. He said he's not sure how much it would cost, but the Secretary of State's office previously estimated...

Starting in 2016, the Transportation Security Administration will require all airline passengers to present a REAL ID compliant identification card or a passport in order to board a flight. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that 20-30% of Americans live in jurisdictions that are not REAL ID compliant, meaning their driver's licenses will no longer be accepted during security checks at the airport.

Federal air marshals say agency brass abuses its authority to hide evidence of wrongdoing. Current and former federal air marshals allege that the Transportation Security Administration intentionally hid embarrassing information about supervisors’ misconduct and targeted employees who sought to expose the truth. The allegations revolve around TSA management’s overuse of an agency-specific designation called Sensitive Security Information (SSI). Though it is not classified, information deemed SSI is supposed to be kept from the public because it would harm transportation security. The marshals claim that the TSA has repeatedly abused the SSI classification, even going so far as to use it...

I'd like to thank the TSA for protecting our country by stealing my daughters makeup remover, hair products, and throwing all of her packed clothes back into her suitcase like a retarded monkey would. She is 17 and asked why they did that. She stopped herself and said "never mind , it's government people doing their stupid crap .". I was so proud of her and really want to thank the TSA thief by helping her see the true face of government employees.