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TSA Unable To Detect 33% Of Land Mines Sent Through Security A mechanical engineer from the Army's Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey was stopped by TSA officers at Newark Airport after they found two Claymore mines in her bag. This would be a victory for the TSA had they not just let the woman's co-worker through with a similar mine in their checked baggage. Which government agency deserves your scorn, the one whose employees tried to bring anti-personnel mines (even inert ones) on a plane or the one whose employees didn't detect a third of them?

Obama left his lush golf get-aways and NAACP basketball sprees to depart for a Brazilian vacation. ... Obama abandoned the victims of genocide in Libya to help America's oil opposition. Why? Out with Western oil, in with Russian and Brazilian oil. Is it just coincidence that George Soros sold his Western oil stock and bought stock in Russia and Brazilian oil companies, about three months ago ? ... Last March, Soros invested in airport screeners. How did he know to do that? Insider info!

A union leader says the government has decided to grant collective bargaining rights to the nation's 40,000 airport screeners... Republican opponents say that could jeopardize national security. James Sherk, a labor expert at The Heritage Foundation, calls the decision a huge loss for airline security and passengers. He says there is a reason that most national security agencies by law do not have unions -- and that is because the union contracts make it more difficult for them to do their jobs. "Canada has a system where they allow their security screeners to unionize -- and they've had problems where,...

The American Federation of Government Employees on Tuesday announced progress on its petition to hold a unionization election at the Transportation Security Administration. But the rival National Treasury Employees Union remains close behind AFGE in the race to represent airport screeners exclusively, according to its leader. AFGE on Feb. 22 filed a petition with the Federal Labor Relations Authority for an agencywide election at TSA, saying it had enrolled 12,000 of 40,000 nonsupervisory TSA workers as members. Kelley said on Tuesday that NTEU also had gathered 12,000 membership applications or signed union cards indicating TSA workers wanted to organize with...

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats on Monday dropped their demand for union bargaining rights for airport screeners, hoping to revive anti-terrorism legislation that had stalled because of a presidential veto threat. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada made the announcement on the Senate floor as he called for House and Senate negotiators to begin reconciling bills implementing the July 2004 recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 commission. The legislation has been one of the new Democratic majority's priorities, but it had stalled because of a presidential veto threat over allowing airport screeners to have collective bargaining rights. Because of the veto...

WASHINGTON - Two upcoming government reports will say the quality of screening at airports is no better now than before the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a House member who has been briefed on the contents. The Government Accountability Office — the investigative arm of Congress — and the Homeland Security Department's inspector general are expected to soon release their findings on the performance of Transportation Security Administration screeners. "A lot of people will be shocked at the billions of dollars we've spent and the results they're going to see, which confirm previous examinations of the Soviet-style screening system we've...

TSA’s Islamic, America-Hating Screener By Debbie Schlussel Do overbearing, shoe-removing searches at the airport make you feel safe? How about the crisp black and white uniforms of screeners since Homeland Security’s Transportation Security Administration (TSA) took over? Sadeq Naji Ahmed is Exhibit A that you are not safer, that the TSA isn’t screening the screeners. He’s also proof positive that radical Muslims in the military can get away with say anything, while other soldiers cannot. For almost two years, Ahmed was a baggage screener at Detroit’s Metro Airport, despite his frightening background. Ahmed, a Yemeni Muslim since indicted in federal...

Last week four screeners for the Transportation Security Administration were arrested at Kennedy and La Guardia airports for stealing money, jewelry and other valuables from checked bags. The agents were caught in a sting operation after a torrent of complaints about luggage thefts. These arrests likely represent only a fraction of the abuses nationwide. In April, four agents in Detroit were arrested for stealing laptop computers, cameras and other items from checked luggage. In June, four agents were arrested at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., airport on charges of stealing cameras, laptop computers, perfume, CD players and money. Also in June,...

Just had a call from a friend who was changing planes in MiamiThe termanal is being evacuatedNo inofrmation on the web or on FOX

WASHINGTON (AP) - As many as 3,000 airport screeners could lose their jobs this spring as the government reassesses the size of the work force that it brought to full strength only last November. The head of the Transportation Security Administration, James Loy, told a House Appropriations subcommittee that he wants to reduce the number of screeners from 54,000 to 51,000 - cutting about one in 18 - and that layoff notices could begin going out April 1. By October 2004, the government plans to have 48,000 screeners, with reductions through attrition and other steps, an agency spokesman said later....

<p>LOS ANGELES — A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked a rule saying the government's new airport security screeners must be U.S. citizens.</p> <p>The portion of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act barring non-citizens from the positions is unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Robert Takasugi ruled.</p>

Some private companies that screen airline passengers are charging more for their services now that the government is footing the bill, says a federal report that found one company nearly doubled its rates. The Transportation Department's inspector general also found cases where the companies billed the government for absent employees and work that was never completed. And it found lax oversight by government officials. Before Sept. 11, private companies had contracts with airlines to screen passengers and their carry-on bags. After the terrorist attacks, Congress created the Transportation Security Administration, which was ordered to take over the contracts, worth $1.6...

CLEARWATER -- Renee Koutsouradis was sitting on a plane in Dallas last February, awaiting takeoff. She and her husband were returning to Pinellas County after a Las Vegas vacation. Suddenly, she heard her name over the loudspeaker. A Delta Airlines security agent met her at the front of the plane and told her to walk with him to the tarmac. He said something was vibrating in one of her bags. She says she told the agent what it was: an adult toy that she and her husband had just bought on their trip to Las Vegas. In a lawsuit, she...

Is That Flight Really Necessary? Time for America to send a message to the Airline Industry By J.J. Johnson Published 07. 15. 02 at 2:37 Sierra Time Both on television and on the Internet, I often preach: "you will get the kind of government you deserve". There is no better example than the current nightmares taking place at air terminals across the country. Everyday there seems to be another horror story, another mishap, another airport evacuation. Many fellow air travelers will agree that this matter has gotten out of hand, and the worst part is: we pay for it. But...

June 18, 2002 The Under Secretary of Transportation for Security, John W. Magaw, today announced the five airports selected to participate in the Private Security Screening Pilot Program -- intended to test the feasibility of having private contractors perform federally supervised passenger and property screening at airports. Airports chosen for the two-year pilot program are San Francisco International, Kansas City International, Greater Rochester International in New York, Jackson Hole Airport in Wyoming, and Tupelo Airport in Mississippi. “The airports selected for this pilot program will be key in determining how TSA moves forward in meeting provisions under the Aviation and...

U.S. Office of Special Counsel and TSA Sign Memorandum of Understanding WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) to handle whistleblower complaints from security screeners employed by TSA. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), which created the TSA, provides the Under Secretary of Transportation for Security a wide degree of flexibility to set personnel policy for security screeners. Security screeners were not specifically covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act. All other TSA employees are covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act....

Such are the workings of love that 23-year-old Luke Darling is shucking his upper management position at Hooters and applying for a job with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). A well-paid manager for Hooters restaurants in Bay City and Saginaw, he moved to Grand Rapids, where he plans to get married this fall. "You can't have a job with Hooters and be getting married," said Darling, who was among at least 200 local residents who applied for jobs as federal transportation security screeners at Gerald R. Ford International Airport. Grand Rapids was one of three cities Friday where the federal...

Boston Globe: "Romney is a right-wing conservative Republican who tried to destroy Ted Kennedy eight years ago," said Philip W. Johnston, the state Democratic chairman. "Nobody's engaged him yet on issues. We will remind people where he stands." Romney is to be defaced currently for two reasons, his right-wing conservative affiliation and his attempt "to destroy Ted Kennedy eight years ago". How do those two items figure in your voting decision? What are we to expect in future campaigns? Where/what are the issues to be? Will the Rats evade politics altogether and simply concentrate on personal attacks? Will personal attacks...

A test scan of is shown during a demonstration of new screening devices at the Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida March 14, 2002. The screen shows a scan from the Secure 1000, a low-energy full body x-ray scan. Airport spokesperson Carolyn Fennell said the devices should be in use for passengers on a voluntary basis in several days. REUTERS/Joe Skipper

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - Screeners at airport checkpoints will not frisk passengers of the opposite sex, the head of the Transportation Security Administration said Wednesday. John Magaw, who heads the security agency, said male security agents would pat down males and females would do the same for females. "You will not have a male frisking a female," Magaw said. In addition, the security agency is setting standards for when to frisk at airport checkpoints, Magaw said. Said Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta: "We want every passenger to be treated with respect." The Association of Flight Attendants said hundreds of its...