Free Republic

For some 15 years, airport security has become steadily more invasive. There are ever more checkpoints, ever more requests for documents as you make your way from the airport entrance to the airplane. Passengers adapt to the new changes as they come. But my latest flight to Mexico, originating in Atlanta, presented all passengers with something I had never seen before. We had already been through boarding pass checks, passport checks, scanners, and pat downs. At the gate, each passenger had already had their tickets scanned and we were all walking on the jet bridge to board. It’s at this...

It was an excellent week-long trip my husband Keith and I took to Arizona to take the 250 Pistol Class from Gunsite Academy. The week ended, and it was time for us to fly back home this past Saturday, February 18th. While I have gone through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regional airport checkpoints since its spawning after 9-11, I had not yet gone through a TSA checkpoint at a major airport. Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a major airport, and on Saturday, I was immersed there in one of those TSA "horror stories" about which I had previously only...

NEW YORK — Nearly a dozen people bypassed security at John F. Kennedy international airport Monday morning. According to the New York Daily News, eleven people walked through the unattended area left unguarded by the TSA.

A dozen current and former Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and airport employees are facing charges related to an alleged cocaine-smuggling operation going back almost two decades. A federal grand jury in Puerto Rico indicted the defendants on February 8, and the U.S. Department of Justice announced the news on Monday. The defendants allegedly transported cocaine-filled suitcases through security at the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Between 1998 and 2016, approximately 20 tons of cocaine made it through as part of the racket, according to the announcement. Drug mules would drop off the cocaine-filled suitcases at...

A White House national security official who was cleared Friday of a charge of carrying an unloaded gun at an airport had faced death threats that were investigated by the FBI. Sebastian Gorka, a former Marine Corps University counterterrorism specialist who recently joined the White House staff, had the misdemeanor gun charge dropped during a brief court proceeding at Arlington County Circuit Court. The firearm charge stemmed from an incident at Reagan National Airport Jan. 31, 2015, when Gorka was traveling at the request of the Pentagon to the Special Operations Command to give troops a briefing on the Islamic...

Authorities believe the suspect in Friday's deadly attack retrieved his a handgun from checked luggage before firing indiscriminately on the baggage claim area at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International airport. Transportation Security Administration rules allow travelers to pack unloaded firearms in checked luggage, so long as passengers declare their weapons to the airline while checking in, and they are packed in a locked, hard-sided container.

Official: Airport shooting suspect could be 'home-grown violent extremist' Suspect identified as Esteban Santiago By Jeff Tavss - Executive Producer Posted: 4:15 PM, January 06, 2017 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Within hours of a shooting that left 5 dead and many injured at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, details emerged about the alleged suspect. Sen. Bill Nelson was first to identify the suspect as Esteban Santiago, 26. Santiago was apprehended without a fight and suffered no injuries. The FBI and Broward Sheriff's Office are interrogating Santiago at the airport and trying to determine his motives. A former member of the military,...

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - Signs will soon be posted at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport with a warning that your current Minnesota driver’s license won’t be enough to pass through security in 2018. Starting Jan. 22, 2018, you will need an alternate ID to fly if you have a standard driver’s license or ID card issued by any of the following states: Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina or Washington. Alternate forms of ID include a passport, military ID, or permanent resident card. You can find a full list of accepted ID at https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/identification

How Trump Can Avoid the Ethical Tar Pit Somali “Community” Given Special Access to Secured Areas of Airports JW Reveals Shocking Details About Mexican Heroin Cartels How Trump Can Avoid the Ethical Tar Pit A tsunami of change is washing over Washington D.C. as a new administration, from a different party, enters the process of transition. For us at Judicial Watch, however, it’s business as usual. As corrupt as the Obama administration has been, we are under no illusion that a new broom sweeps entirely clean. Even before he takes the oath of office, President-elect Trump is under pressure over...

Full title: Judicial Watch: U.S. Customs, Homeland Security Records Reveal Somalis Given Security Briefings, ‘Community Engagement Tours’ in Secured Areas at Major U.S. Airports Somalis Given Access to Sensitive Information (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released 31 pages of records from U.S. Customs and Border Protection revealing that the Department of Homeland Security has given Somalis “community engagement tours,” including security briefings, in secured areas at least three major U.S. airports – Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Columbus, Ohio. The records came in response to a May 2016 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which sought records, documents and communications...

Opioid deaths continued to surge in 2015, surpassing 30,000 for the first time in recent history, according to CDC data released Thursday. That marks an increase of nearly 5,000 deaths from 2014. Deaths involving powerful synthetic opiates, like fentanyl, rose by nearly 75 percent from 2014 to 2015.

Denise Albert, the co-founder of The MOMS, is speaking out after what she calls an “horrific” pat down from Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents at the Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday — all over medication related to her breast cancer treatment. Albert, who is a frequent guest on PIX11 Morning News, told the outlet that she was traveling through security when she was pulled aside by agents for a manual search. The cause for further search was a medical cream she had packed in her carry on luggage, Albert told PIX11. Albert wrote on The MOMS website that the...

LOS ANGELES — A breast-cancer patient said she felt violated and humiliated in a public TSA search at Los Angeles International Airport Sunday after two security agents put her through what she called an aggressive pat down. Denise Albert, a frequent guest on the PIX11 Morning News and co-host of "The Moms," was traveling through LAX security when two TSA agents pulled her aside for a manual search because she was trying to bring a necessary medical cream with her on her flight, Albert said. "I always let them know I have a medical port and that I am wearing...

Complete Headline: The moment a mom, 42, with breast cancer was 'violated' and reduced to tears by TSA agents who patted down her medical port and 'tried to perform a body cavity search in public' Denise Albert, a morning show contributor and co-host of The Moms, a SiriusXM radio show, was traveling through Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday when the 'humiliating' experience left her in tears. Albert detailed the experience of removing her wig, exposing the sores on her feet, and telling the TSA agents she had a medical port in her chest that she didn't want them to...

Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., introduced legislation this week aimed at changing airport security screening procedures for transgender people. . . . Rice and other Democrats said machines require screeners to select "male" or "female" in order to configure the scanner for each person. "This protocol may be well-suited to screen some cisgender passengers, but they do so at the expense of singling out transgender or gender nonconforming individuals whose physical appearances may not necessarily match their biological sex," Democrats wrote. "Cisgender" is a term that refers to anyone who isn't transgender.

A young Norwegian man I know well, and who is married to a relative of mine, happens to be a veteran of Norway's armed forces - our staunch NATO allies. The day after Veteran's Day - seven days ago - he and his wife and their tiny daughter arrived in LAX to spend Thanksgiving week with US relatives. Though he's had no problems before in traveling to the US, this time was different. His first problem resulted from his checking "Yes" in the wrong spot on the questionnaire. The question had the word "Court" in it, and he was thinking...

I have long been a believer that, in most cases, a private company will do a more effective and efficient job than any government agency charged with the same task. My recent travel experience solidified that belief. It all started out with a half-empty water bottle at Ronald Reagan National Airport just outside the District of Columbia. I had checked in the night before, checked my bag at the curbside when I arrived, and now had a full hour to go through security. With Congress gone since late July and much of the District emptied out until Labor Day, I...

A St Jude patient and her mother are suing TSA, the Memphis Shelby County Airport Authority, and its police department after a security screening got physical.

Naming anything after a living politician is usually a bad idea; but this summer, we can make an exception. Now that Americans will be spending much of their vacations waiting in security lines at airports, we should honor the public servants responsible. At the entrance to the security checkpoint at LaGuardia Airport, let’s install a large bronze plaque proclaiming it the Senator Charles Schumer Line. Perhaps we could put up a statue, too, or at least a cardboard cutout. Similar monuments can be installed at JFK for Hillary Clinton, at the Phoenix airport for John McCain, and at the home...

According to a report from the House Homeland Security Commission, nearly half of the TSA’s 60,000 employees have been cited for misconduct in recent years. The trend is not encouraging either. Citations have increased by 28% over the last two years. The top five offenses include unaccounted for absences, failure to follow instructions, improper screening & security, neglect of duty, and disruptive behavior. TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger sought to downplay the issue by pointing out that “despite unmanned posts, inappropriate groping petty theft, and abusive behavior by our employees no flights have been hijacked on my watch.. To me, these...