The TSA Proves its Own Irrelevance

Schneier on Security ^ | January 9, 2012 | Bruce Schneier

[SubGeniusX]

The TSA Proves its Own Irrelevance

Have you wondered what $1.2 billion in airport security gets you? The TSA has compiled its own "Top 10 Good Catches of 2011":

10) Snakes, turtles, and birds were found at Miami (MIA) and Los Angeles (LAX). I’m just happy there weren’t any lions, tigers, and bears…

[...]

3) Over 1,200 firearms were discovered at TSA checkpoints across the nation in 2011. Many guns are found loaded with rounds in the chamber. Most passengers simply state they forgot they had a gun in their bag.

2) A loaded .380 pistol was found strapped to passenger’s ankle with the body scanner at Detroit (DTW). You guessed it, he forgot it was there…

1) Small chunks of C4 explosives were found in passenger’s checked luggage in Yuma (YUM). Believe it or not, he was brining it home to show his family.

That's right; not a single terrorist on the list. Mostly forgetful, and entirely innocent, people. Note that they fail to point out that the firearms and knives would have been just as easily caught by pre-9/11 screening procedures. And that the C4 -- their #1 "good catch" -- was on the return flight; they missed it the first time. So only 1 for 2 on that one.

And the TSA decided not to mention its stupidest confiscations: TSA confiscates a butter knife from an airline pilot. TSA confiscates a teenage girl's purse with an embroidered handgun design. TSA confiscates a 4-inch plastic rifle from a GI Joe action doll on the grounds that it’s a "replica weapon." TSA confiscates a liquid-filled baby rattle from airline pilot’s infant daughter. TSA confiscates a plastic "Star Wars" lightsaber from a toddler.

[SubGeniusX]

Direct link to TSA Blog: TSA Top 10 Good Catches of 2011

Also it appears Schneier shortchanged the money. For fiscal year 2011, the TSA had a budget of roughly $8.1 billion.

[vetvetdoug]

I was aghast at the TSA in Nashville. They were apoplectic about any knives on persons entering the Safe zone of the airport where there were restaurants and gift stores. Once I was in, I could go to any restaurant and get a nice sharp steak knife or dull knife that I could easily sharpen, buy razor blades in the shoppes, and make garrotes all day long with guitar strings.

[null and void]

Irrelevant?

Nahhhh, they can still make Orly Taitz's computer disapear at a critical moment:

my laptop disappeared during the trip to HI

When I landed in HI, I got a call from an NBC reporter from Atlanta, who wanted to interview me on SKYPE. When I opened my briefcase, my laptop was not there. I thought, that I might have forgotten it during TSA check, I called TSA lost and found, they never responded. When I arrived in LAX and went to TSA, they said, that it wasn’t found.

There was a thread about this on FR yesterday, but it disappeared...

[Hulka]

And when you get on the jet in First Class, they issue you a steel knife and fork when they serve breakfast/lunch/dinner.

And pilots are patted down before they get into the “safe” zone, the very people that fly the darned jet. . .and there is an AXE in the cockpit, and some even fly armed.

[Scotsman will be Free]

All a pilot’s gotta do is fly the plane into a building. He doesn’t any weapons.

[Made In The USA]

Yes, but the TSA has done a damn fine job protecting us from the elderly, nuns, toddlers, and those sneaky bastards in wheelchairs. Oh yeah, and that lady with the prosthetic leg no doubt she was up to no good. Come on! Who has a leg removed to get on a plane??? Pretty sharp those TSA guys.

Yes, thank goodness for the gubmint comrades in the TSA. They’re proof of all that good that comes from gubmint. Tomorrow, at public school when my kids sing praises in honor of Benito Obamalini day I’ll be thinking of you TSA.

[Sarajevo]

TSA is nothing more than a jobs program for the chronically unemployed.

Thanks for nothing George.