Good news for select frequent
travelers of American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, US Airways
and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Trusted Traveler members. – TSA Pre✓™ is now available at IAD.
You can find the TSA Pre✓™ checkpoint in the center of the departures level of
the main terminal at IAD. This checkpoint is currently the only airport in the
country that has a checkpoint dedicated to TSA Pre✓™ passengers.
TSA Pre✓™ News:
- TSAPre✓™ Benefits Now Available to Service Members Traveling Through Washington Dulles International and Charlotte Douglas International Airports
- As of this week, 3 million people have now been screened through TSA Pre✓™!
- Watch video to learn how to find and enter your PASS ID
- Joint Global Entry, TSAPre✓™ “Pop-Up” Information Center Now Open at Washington Dulles International Airport
- Read interviews with TSA leadership on the agency’s Risk-Based Security approach
In case you’re unfamiliar with TSA Pre✓™, you can read more about it by clicking here. The shorter
version is that it's an initiative that allows certain passengers to keep their
shoes and belts on, and keep their laptops in their bags. Also, it is free to
many members who have been opted in by participating airlines. To see if you
qualify for TSA Pre✓™ benefits,
please click here.
If you have a travel related
issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact us by clicking here.
23 comments:
Why do I have to join some sort of "Program" or "Initiative" to preserve my Constitutional Rights and be considered Innocent until proven otherwise?
Why isn't this the standard level of screening for all passengers? I've travelled around the world and the US is the only place I still have to remove my shoes. Why is that? There haven't been any planes blown up around the world where shoes can remain on, so obviously their security works.
As always, why is this not the default level of screening for ALL passengers, instead of a perk reserved for the wealthy elite?
Curtis, why is the US the only country that makes every passenger remove his or her shoes?
TSA continues to roll out a program that is advantageous to only a very small minority of travelers and continues its abusive and demeaning screening practices against the majority of travelers
TSA has placed additional contracts for more Electronic Strip Search Machines that have such a high failure rate that victims often get a TSA Pat Down even if they allow the Electronic Strip Search.
So TSA, in the interest of passenger security tell me:
Does a standard TSA Screening Pat Down require the TSA screener to make contact with a persons testicles, penis, labia, anal region, or breasts either directly or through a persons clothing?
It really is that hard of a question Bob, the answer is either YES or NO!
The TSA seems to think that if they repeat something over and over, people will start to believe it. I figure if I keep asking a question over and over, the TSA might eventually answer it. We're probably both wrong, but here it goes anyway...
Can you cite any studies that demonstrate any sort of correlation between information PreCheck collects and the risk of a person having terrorist intentions?
Everything I ever read about the de-funded Total Information Awareness program (later called Terrorist Information Awareness) said that no good correlations were ever found. That's not surprising. Since there are very, very few terrorists. Statistically, it would be extremely difficult to find any sort of correlation.
What information could PreCheck candidates possibly reveal about themselves that would demonstrate that they are less risk than the non-PreCheck passenger?
With all the talk about risk-based approaches, I'd like to see some evidence that there's actually some risk-based analysis going on.
Three million have been screened - out of how many travelers? If we're talking hundreds of millions, pre-screeing has been a failure.
Also, I would not join the program unless I have a guarantee not to go through any security measures at the airport itself.
"So TSA, in the interest of passenger security tell me:
Does a standard TSA Screening Pat Down require the TSA screener to make contact with a persons testicles, penis, labia, anal region, or breasts either directly or through a persons clothing?
It really is that hard of a question Bob, the answer is either YES or NO!
September 26, 2012 10:58 AM"
--------------------
I believe the quote is "...Until resistance is felt..."
So unless you are a Borg, the answer would be "Yes".
Why should Americans provide personal information to the TSA that has a repetitive record of theft? The ABC News report to be broadcast today is the latest example.
"In the latest apparent case of what have been hundreds of thefts by TSA officers of passenger belongings, an iPad left behind at a security checkpoint in the Orlando airport was tracked as it moved 30 miles to the home of the TSA officer last seen handling it.
Confronted two weeks later by ABC News, the TSA officer, Andy Ramirez, at first denied having the missing iPad, but ultimately turned it over after blaming his wife for taking it from the airport."
"Anonymous said...
Why should Americans provide personal information to the TSA that has a repetitive record of theft? The ABC News report to be broadcast today is the latest example.
"In the latest apparent case of what have been hundreds of thefts by TSA officers of passenger belongings, an iPad left behind at a security checkpoint in the Orlando airport was tracked as it moved 30 miles to the home of the TSA officer last seen handling it.
Confronted two weeks later by ABC News, the TSA officer, Andy Ramirez, at first denied having the missing iPad, but ultimately turned it over after blaming his wife for taking it from the airport."
September 27, 2012 7:36 AM"
----------------------------
You forgot to mention the part that stated that TEN iPads were left behind and of those, 9 were returned to passengers. So, while not downplaying the incident why don't you offer some praise for the other 9 while condemning the 1?
@RB: It really is that hard of a question Bob, the answer is either YES or NO!
You forget that you're dealing with the TSA. If Bob wanted to answer your question (which he clearly doesn't), the answer would be "That's SSI!"
Besides protecting National Security, the secrecy of TSA procedures is beneficial because it lets officers evade any accountability for violating them. It also helps Bob and his fellow spokespeople evade questions that passengers have no business asking anyway.
The most likely "real" answer to your question is that the "standard TSA Screening Pat Down" gives officers full discretion to do whatever they want. They're free to "make contact" with whatever they want, with whatever force is necessary, whether to resolve one of the many false alarms the scanners generate or to retaliate and humble a passenger who inconveniences the officer by "opting out" of scanning.
The secrecy of the procedures means that whatever a passenger might accuse an officer of doing, the TSA's investigation will always find that the officer acted properly. By definition, if the officer is empowered to do whatever they want, they always act properly.
(Yes, Bob, I know that the SOPs surely contain voluminous details about the standards and requirements for pat downs, along with and limits to what an officer is allowed to do during a pat down. And it's all written in appropriately opaque bureaucratic language, by a team of subject matter experts.
What you prefer to ignore is that the secrecy of those standards and limits make it impossible for any passenger to know when or if their officer crosses the line from "acting properly" to "improper use of force in retaliation." And the fact that accusations of improper conduct are invariably dismissed with a finding that the officer acted properly indicates that the TSA has absolutely no interest in holding TSOs accountable for following the procedures and heeding the limits.
The secrecy and lack of accountability mean that the SOPs are worthless, except perhaps when their selective disclosure is necessary to defend the TSA from an accusation of malfeasance. In practice, officers enjoy a license to do whatever they want, including retaliation and humbling of passengers. Officers know that if a passenger complains, their bosses will stand behind them. They can count on the fact that any "investigation" will find that the officer acted properly, and that the passenger was either a liar or guilty of causing whatever went wrong.
This secrecy and lack of accountability one important reason why so many people despise and distrust the TSA.)
Bob, I won't bother you any further as I know you must be feverishly busy preparing your spin response to the latest APC News report about TSO theft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=aLxsLbl16IM
https://www.facebook.com/YourTsaExperiences
Clearly these hundred or so commenters are all liars, and are not representative of the standards to which the TSA holds its employees.
Right, Bob?
TSA Agent Found With ABC IPad: Brian Ross Blotter Investigation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLxsLbl16IM
Anonymous said...
"So TSA, in the interest of passenger security tell me:
Does a standard TSA Screening Pat Down require the TSA screener to make contact with a persons testicles, penis, labia, anal region, or breasts either directly or through a persons clothing?
It really is that hard of a question Bob, the answer is either YES or NO!
September 26, 2012 10:58 AM"
--------------------
I believe the quote is "...Until resistance is felt..."
So unless you are a Borg, the answer would be "Yes".
================================
If you are a TSA employee then your response would be helpful.
Why is it that Blogger Bob is afraid to answer this simple question?
Anonymous said...
Why should Americans provide personal information to the TSA that has a repetitive record of theft? The ABC News report to be broadcast today is the latest example.
"In the latest apparent case of what have been hundreds of thefts by TSA officers of passenger belongings, an iPad left behind at a security checkpoint in the Orlando airport was tracked as it moved 30 miles to the home of the TSA officer last seen handling it.
Confronted two weeks later by ABC News, the TSA officer, Andy Ramirez, at first denied having the missing iPad, but ultimately turned it over after blaming his wife for taking it from the airport."
September 27, 2012 7:36 AM
------------------------
The TSA Thief blamed his wife.
Tells us a lot about TSA Employee Integrity!
Bob, several stories are making the rounds about TSA screeners ordering people to freeze. Seems to me that a TSA screener doing so constitutes a "detention".
When did TSA screeners obtain the power of detention?
Second, if this action is a drill why are members of the public being forced to participate in a TSA drill? Didn't you state in a post some time ago that TSA does not include the public in TSA drills?
Why don't you stop wasting the public's time with pointless programs and posts of gotcha and deal with the internal bull crap that's going on with corrupted TSA agents which probably extends to executive irresponsibility!
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/slideshow/photos-rogues-gallery-tsa-agents-17333169
Mr. Burns, I look forward to seeing this incident in this week's log.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/oops_gun_on_flight_yNiTHOZsJmsu2voSdzBQqN
"Bungling TSA airport screeners at Orlando International Airport failed to notice a loaded handgun in a woman’s carry-on bag yesterday — and she was able to fly to New Jersey with the pistol in her purse.
United Flight 15 was already in the air when the passenger, an unidentified 37-year-old Florida woman, realized her .380 caliber Ruger was in her handbag, said Port Authority police spokesman Al Della Fave."
Bob,
Please make sure your next blog is about the 10% theft rate reported by ABC News and the "freeze drills" being conducted in cleared areas.
I asked a TSA screener what he thought of the 4th Amendment while he was fondling me the last time I flew. He said "I don't worry about it."
Now that it's been revealed that TSA is so corrupt that 1 out of 10 items sent through will turn up missing, and so inefficient that they feel the need to ruin drinks purchased in the cleared area and demand that everyone stop moving in case something got through that they missed, I don't think I'll ever fly again unless it's absolutely necessary.
Anonymous said...
You forgot to mention the part that stated that TEN iPads were left behind and of those, 9 were returned to passengers. So, while not downplaying the incident why don't you offer some praise for the other 9 while condemning the 1?
Oh, so only 1 in 10 TSA agents steals from passengers. Phew, that's a load off my mind....
But seriously- one does not get praise for doing what they are supposed to do. You get to keep your job, and get paid.
Anonymous said...
Mr. Burns, I look forward to seeing this incident in this week's log.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/oops_gun_on_flight_yNiTHOZsJmsu2voSdzBQqN
"Bungling TSA airport screeners at Orlando International Airport failed to notice a loaded handgun in a woman’s carry-on bag yesterday — and she was able to fly to New Jersey with the pistol in her purse.
Unfortunately, that's nothing surprising. The latest figures show that the TSA misses up to 70% of weapons and bombs. (Yes, the figures are a few years old, but if the TSA had newer results that were any better, they'd surely release them.)
I'm in the trusted traveler program, in Global Access and Nexus, a Platinum Aadvantage member, and still I've been rejected from TSA Pre-Check for a good 8 times straight. Very frustrating, and no one can give me a reason why. I am wondering what I paid the extra money for and subjected myself to a background check for??
Blogger Bob,
Do you think the TSA will eventually make every American get pre-approved by the federal government to fly?
If so, will that pre-approval eventually be required to take any mass transit or even drive?
If not, will the TSA continue to make non-approved travel so onerous that most Americans will eventually comply?
I'm not asking these questions rhetorically. I am genuinely curious.
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