Posted on 11/18/2010 12:55:19 PM PST by kingu
Airport passenger screening measures have become a touchy issue in the U.S. in the past week, but in the past year the controversial measures have detected more than 130 prohibited, illegal or dangerous items that otherwise would have made it onto airplanes, the Transportation Security Administration says.
The TSA now requires all passengers at some U.S. airports either to pass through a full-body scanning device, which reveals everything beneath their clothing, or to submit to a thorough pat-down inspection -- a choice that has some travelers livid about their loss of privacy.
But the TSA says keeping passengers safe is its top priority, and the new measures are necessary.
"This year alone, the use of advanced imaging technology has led to the detection of over 130 prohibited, illegal or dangerous items," TSA spokesman Greg Soule told FoxNews.com. The TSA would not disclose exactly what those items were, but it said they included weapons like ceramic knives and various drugs -- including a syringe filled with heroine hidden in a passenger’s underwear.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I have a solution to this whole thing:
Since government buildings, especially federal, are important and need to be secure, the TSA should put identical security on those buildings as the do in airports.
That step would end this whole fiasco quickly.
Trying to think of something I disagree with. I’ll get back to you... ;^)
Tweety Bird keychains?
So long as there's at least one member of the flight crew packing heat, and the cockpit is sealed, I fail to see how a ceramic knife (or any other knife, for that matter) on a plane poses a threat to anyone.
and various drugs -- including a syringe filled with heroine hidden in a passenger’s underwear.
Huh? What the heck do drugs have to do with airline safety?Has there been a merger between the TSA and DEA of which I am not aware?
Always carry it - just forgot it was there!!
I don't think the people are buying it, this time. Being forced to choose between getting groped or an unncessary dose of radiation of unknown risk is more than the people will tolerate.
I predict there will be a sufficiently large outcry during the holiday season that these new rules will be rescinded by March.
I have no idea what you are trying to infer/imply/state so have no idea how to respond other than to say I can't understand your post in relation to my post.
Metal detectors won't catch a ceramic knife, but then again, who cares? The cockpit is now sealed, so even a regular knife isn't much of threat. I suppose a terrorist with a knife could time it just right and rush the cockpit when the pilot is visiting the head, but how likely is that?
If TSA really cared about reducing the threat of highjacking, the cheapest and most effective solution would be to require the flight crew to carry side arms. Make fire arms training a mandatory part of pilot training. Most commercial pilots are ex-military who've already been trained, so we'd only have to train the few who aren't.
“I went through security with a switchblade knife in my carry-on twice the last time I flew. Always carry it - just forgot it was there!!”
That’s exactly the situation with this guy. I actually feel better and safer if the good guys have weapons on a plane. Who wouldn’t, really?
And hipsters will have iTems.
They are installing these in government buildings starting with the courts. Employees, of course, are exempt from these searches. It’d be illegal. It is just us lowly supplicants who must pass through the portals.
Or: in the past year, in at least two-thirds of the airports, this screening detected: Nothing
“He says the look on her face was priceless. She would barely touch the box after that and basically just waved him through the scan process. He laughed all the way to the plane.”
Brilliant. Of course, if instead of cremains it was some kind of explosive...
really
My experience. Coming back from my sons graduation from MCRD sandiego. They wadded up my pictures of his graduation and took my cigar cutter. It was a security threat I could have hijacked an aircraft with it. By what giving an emergency circumcesion. They touch my grand daughters things get a little grim. I am 60 I did two tours on river patrol boats I thought it was bad that they spit on me at the airport when I returned. this is beyond the pale.
They took my toothpaste and hairspray in July. Thank god for that.
Ah, good analysis.
I just went through Charlotte & Minneapolis earlier this week. Both airports let me through with very sharp long scissors. Evidently they were just under the prohibited length. They could have done some serious damage had I intended that, which I obviously didn’t...forgot they were even in my laptop case. Yet they confiscated my large tube of toothpaste. This is insane.
There are people here on FR who buy into it.
The TSA money quote this week was “only 100,000 complaints.”
100,000 sexual assaults to stop 100 items of contraband.
Government math at it’s finest - only in DC is this a fair exchange.
Imagine the slammite women on airplanes with just those stupid scarves on?? Or maybe they could get the Disney organization to provide mouse ears to go over the scarves so they wouldn’t feel quite so naked...
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