Posted on 01/21/2010 9:58:08 AM PST by End Times Sentinel
In the tense new world of air travel, we're stripped of shoes, told not to take too much shampoo on board, frowned on if we crack a smile.
The last thing we expect is a joke from a Transportation Security Administration screener - particularly one this stupid.
Rebecca Solomon is 22 and a student at the University of Michigan, and on Jan. 5 she was flying back to school after holiday break. She made sure she arrived at Philadelphia International Airport 90 minutes before takeoff, given the new regulations.
She would be flying into Detroit on Northwest Airlines, the same city and carrier involved in the attempted bombing on Christmas, just 10 days before. She was tense.
What happened to her lasted only 20 seconds, but she says they were the longest 20 seconds of her life.
After pulling her laptop out of her carry-on bag, sliding the items through the scanning machines, and walking through a detector, she went to collect her things.
A TSA worker was staring at her. He motioned her toward him.
Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on - the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder.
She remembers his words: "Where did you get it?"
Two thoughts came to her in a jumble: A terrorist was using her to sneak bomb-detonating materials on the plane. Or a drug dealer had made her an unwitting mule, planting coke or some other trouble in her bag while she wasn't looking.
She'd left her carry-on by her feet as she handed her license and boarding pass to a security agent at the beginning of the line.
Answer truthfully, the TSA worker informed her, and everything will be OK.
Solomon, 5-foot-3 and traveling alone, looked up at the man in the black shirt and fought back tears.
Put yourself in her place and count out 20 seconds. Her heart pounded. She started to sweat. She panicked at having to explain something she couldn't.
Now picture her expression as the TSA employee started to smile.
Just kidding, he said. He waved the baggie. It was his.
And so she collected her things, stunned, and the tears began to fall.
Another passenger, a woman traveling to Colorado, consoled her as others who had witnessed the confrontation went about their business. Solomon and the woman walked to their gates, where each called for security and reported what had happened.
A joke? You're not serious. Was he hitting on her? Was he flexing his muscle? Who at a time of heightened security and rattled nerves would play so cavalierly with a passenger's emotions?
When someone is trying to blow planes out of the sky, what is a TSA employee doing with his eyes off the ball?
When she complained to airport security, Solomon said, she was told the TSA worker had been training the staff to detect contraband. She was shocked that no one took him off the floor, she said.
"It was such a violation," the Wynnewood native told me by phone. "I'd come early. I'd done everything right. And they were kidding about it."
I ran her story past Ann Davis, regional TSA spokeswoman, who said she knew nothing to contradict the young traveler's account.
Davis said privacy law prevents her from identifying the TSA employee. The law prevents her from disclosing what sort of discipline he might have received.
"The TSA views this employee's behavior to be highly inappropriate and unprofessional," she wrote. "We can assure travelers this employee has been disciplined by TSA management at Philadelphia International Airport, and he has expressed remorse for his actions."
Maybe he's been punished enough. That Solomon's father, Jeffrey, is a Center City litigator might mean this story isn't over.
In the meantime, I think the TSA worker should spend time following passengers through the scanners, handing them their shoes. Maybe he could tie them, too.
Further, because we’re screening all 240 or so people, we need ten times as many people to staff for this process. You end up hiring, and putting in a position of trust, a lot of folks who really ought to be pushing a broom all day.
If we were at all serious about this, we’d profile, inspect a few people off each flight, and let the rest of the virtually no risk, trusted travelers, just board the plane like they had for 40 years.
The costs of the P.C. – feel good – security theater costs us not only untold hours, but helps to compromise our safety.
I’d be ticked if some TSA planted something on me.
I say that we should set up a prison in Death Valley CA for bureaucrats who act like jerks. Let them sweat a little. Let Sheriff Arpajo run the place. Pink undies look so good in hot weather...
We screen every American, Veteran, Patriot, child,
but only 1% of the terrorists. That is their quota
for terrorists. If there is any indication that
they are from a terrorist country, that 1% is continued.
Only Americans are subjected to 100% scrutiny.
The lad takes his job very lightly, and he shouldn’t be employed in that way.
But then, how can we blame him? The head of the TSA isn’t qualified, and neither is the head of Homeland Security.
I’d say this is a very clear cut case of him detecting the theme of his organization, in fact. I think leadership comes from the top, and it trickles down to the very bottom, where this woman was made into a victim.
He should be fired, but if he is without Incompetano also being fired, I’d say some other idiot will soon take his place....
“Intentional infliction of emotional distress”. Open and shut case. TSA joke-boy needs to find his checkbook.
This is such BS! They are PUBLIC employees and we have a right to know who it was and what the "discipline", if any, was!
I am so sick of state and federal entities hiding behind this "privacy" BS when it comes to this type of behavior.
Reveal his name and FIRE his A$$ now!
SZ
I have flown from many airports but never experienced the incidents i have experienced or witnessed at Philly. I now use either Allentown or Harrisburg Airport and have never had a problem.
Like some other countries, mandatory patdown and frisks conducted by military or security types is the solution.
No exceptions. Period. You wanna fly, you get frisked hard.
And we need grownups to watch for suspicious behavior with some sense of discretion, intelligence and skill.
Problem IMO is not the TSA as much but our whacked out sense of political correctness.
But this guy should be FIRED.
And pretty soon, he'll be a stalker with a full body scanner. But he won't misuse it.
ping
Amen, brother. It's a complete waste of time and resourses that accomplishes nothing.
Just as the TSN nazis take every joke seriously, I would take that very seriously. Planting contraband is a felony. Oh, I know, it was only talcum powder, but the law authorities consider talcum powder an explosive or a drug when it’s convenient for them. A joke? I don’t think so. Jail time for the TSA agent.
Oh, I know that TSA agents are protected by the law and can do whatever they want. But that law is invalid.
Do we have a chance fighting against nazism?
Or are we sheep?
Prepare to be shorn.
Well, if they were unionized this sort of thing would never happen.
I have flown out of PHL, the security lines are absolutely horrible. The worst of any airport I have ever been in. And the agents are rude and arrogant. What is worse, if you get to the airport early to get through the security nightmare you are screwed, because they keep calling people whose flights are going to leave within a half hour to cut in line, so the line never moves forward. It stretches for blocks. I would drive four hours to fly out of BWI, just because of the security lines at PHL.
Flying into Atlanta from Rome on the 4th of July, we were forced to go through TSA screening on arrival at the Atlanta airport. (This had something to do with the screwed-up way the terminal was being revamped.) The lead screener walked up and down the line of passengers, screaming at the top of his lungs that we were too slow and uncooperative—and probably smuggling contraband as well. He was particularly abusive to young people and women. This was the FOURTH OF JULY. All I could think was that I wished I had stayed in Europe.
My experience with PHL is that it is one of the most poorly-run airports in the US, and that’s saying a great deal. Especially if you’re flying US Airways - cattle cars afford better service and cows are treated with more dignity.
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