TSA Implementing New Enhanced Threat Detection Capability at Checkpoints Nationwide

WASHINGTON - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced today it is further bolstering existing explosives detection capabilities by deploying additional tools to screen powdered substances at checkpoints.

"Every day, TSA officers work at over 450 airports nationwide screening approximately 2 million passengers to keep the traveling public safe," said TSA Acting Administrator Gale Rossides. "These enhancements are part of TSA's efforts to stay ahead of emerging threats while continually strengthening our layered approach to security."

Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) are experienced in identifying items that may pose a threat to transportation security utilizing explosives detection tools. TSA knows certain powders could be used in improvised explosive devices. While there is no specific threat at this time, TSA is deploying powder explosives detection kits to airports around the country to enhance our existing explosives detection capabilities and further strengthen our layers of security. TSA piloted these kits in late 2008.

Passengers should know that while common powders are not prohibited, a small percentage may require additional screening. Typical security checkpoint procedures will remain the same. The vast majority of commonly carried powders, like most medication, infant formula and makeup, are unlikely to need further screening.

Officers will use X-ray technology to determine which substances may require additional screening with a powder test kit. If the substance does require additional screening, officers will use a powder test kit to collect a small sample and apply a solution to it to test for traces of potential explosives. If a particular powder is determined to be a potential threat, it will not be permitted into the secure area or checked baggage.

Why is TSA testing powders? TSA knows that chemical powders may be used to create improvised explosive devices. By further bolstering explosives detection capabilities, TSA is strengthening layers of security to help mitigate risk and keep the traveling public safe. For more information about TSA, visit www.tsa.gov.

Who numbers are interesting:

Total number of real hijackers TSA has caught:

Zero

Percentage of of “test” guns, knives, explosives, etc, TSA detects in when tested by inspectors, in real screening lines, even when they know thew day the inspectors will be testing them:

19%

Note: No permanent url, but here is the latest stats summary on the front page of http://www.tsa.gov.

Quote:

http://www.tsa.gov/

TSA Week At A Glance: 08/31/09 To 09/06/09
12 passengers were arrested after investigations of suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents
36 firearms found at checkpoints
9 artfully concealed prohibited items found at checkpoints
24 incidents that involved a checkpoint closure, terminal evacuation or sterile area breach

At this point, I am of a mind that the TSA should be abolished, and replaced with whatever the security local airports want to hire.

Passengers should be screened by profiling, and if they want to X-Ray luggage, that is fine, too. When Muslims complain about profiling, shrug and say,

“Muslims attacked the United States and killed many of our citizens, so we went to war against those Muslims who committed an act of war against us. Since only a few other Muslims condemned the attack against us, specifically, Muslims as a group must now be inspected to insure they are not sympathetic to those who attacked us. If you wish for Muslims to be treated as other citizens, then you should encourage other Muslims to condemn *not* just the “vague concept” of terrorism, but terrorist acts against the nations they live in, and to likewise condemn those other Muslims who committed the attacks, and are now our nation’s enemies.”

There is no reason at all to search a blond haired, blue eyed, elderly woman in a wheelchair, unless she is carrying a Koran, or wearing a burka. And there is no reason for a no-fly list of over one million people, that cannot be edited to remove names of those incorrectly placed on that list.

OPINION:

If the caregiver put a bomb in the old lady's backpack and/or the baby carriage (instead of being used for shoplifting), contained a bomb — you'd be thinking differently — maybe.

People who don't follow jihad daily are totally clueless that Caucasians, chinese, uighurs, etc. have known jihadis.

Oh yes..., some of the women jihadis are way more radical than the men.

So....

I have always said, “Search all.”

That's just me, I guess.

I lot of it is just common sense. Think back to the 1960s and 1970s, when there was a lot of problems with skyjackers. The solution was to create the Sky Marshal service, with armed agents on flights.

Eventually this pretty much put an end to skyjacking, because so many skyjackers had to be on a given flight, to overcome Sky Marshals, that it just became impractical.

But then, the *lack* of common sense made things nonsensical. That is, the US is so hypersensitive to the idea of “profiling”, that it just refuses to admit the obvious: that Muslims, people who dress and look like Muslims, and nut cases who act like nut case, and people who are drunk, create almost *all* the problems on airplanes.

If you just profile for these people, everyone else can be pretty much ignored. And as far as Sky Marshals go, it should be the job of the airlines to put armed personnel on aircraft.

While *in theory*, terrorists may try to fool or coerce someone who doesn’t look like a Muslim, in all the varied ways Muslims can look, to carry a bomb on board an aircraft. But practically, this isn’t going to happen, or only happen so incredibly rarely that it doesn’t matter.

A far bigger threat would be trying to smuggle bombs on board with luggage. But there is an easy solution for that as well: put the luggage on cargo flights, for the most part. This has the added bonus of making passenger flights much more efficient, and thus saving a lot of money.

But having a million name no flight list, *and* requiring extensive searches, *and* requiring ID and other information, *and* etc., etc., is just terribly expensive and irritating.

I might add that now this is being done as well on trains and buses, making it so insanely paranoid as to discourage traveling altogether. There is *no*, *zero* security that will guarantee safety forever, or even well. Life involves risk. And the only thing that is reasonable to do is to take reasonable efforts to mitigate risk.

Because once you fall into the paranoia trap, the terrorists have won. And I mean that very much. They win when you are always afraid, and tell yourself you must live in a police state or “they” will get you.

I'm pretty sure those TSA geniuses would wave these guys right through and strip search a Nun instead.

This is a 3-pic combo made from undated London Metropolitan Police photos, showing Abdulla Ahmed Ali, left; Assad Sarwar, centre, and Tanvir Hussain, right, who were convicted Monday, Sept. 7, 2009, of conspiring to kill thousands of civilians by blowing up trans-Atlantic flights in mid-air with liquid explosives disguised as soft drinks.

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