It has
also been a busy seven months beyond the checkpoint for TSA. Teams of
experts have been working hard to expand the rollout of risk-based security
initiatives that are aimed at enhancing security while improving the passenger
experience. In that short amount of time we have changed the travel experience
for all passengers 12 and younger, all passengers 75 and older, flight crews,
military members and the millions of passengers who have opt into the TSA Pre✓™
expedited screening program.
TSA Pre✓™ has expanded to 5 airlines and 20 airports, and has
processed more than 2 million passengers. By the end of year we plan to have
TSA Pre✓™ available at 35 of the busiest
U.S. airports.
Out of
the 375,432,402 passengers who have traveled through our checkpoints so far
this year, 30,204 have submitted a complaint. While that might sound like a lot
on the surface, that equates to 0.008% of the total number of passengers. By
the way, did you see the latest Gallup poll that American’s views of TSA are
more positive than negative? Check it out!
We have
also taken steps to expand the availability of our award winning My TSA mobile
application. As of last month it is now available at the Google play store. It’s also available on iTunes and
the mobile web. The My TSA App provides
passengers with 24/7 access to the most commonly requested TSA information.
We
kicked off the year on the blog talking about cupcakes, and moved on
to other things like otters,
getting to the gate early, the Federal Air Marshal Service’s 50th Anniversary, traveling with wedding dresses, traveling with scuba gear, why laptops have to be removed from bags, and many, many more posts you can
find in our archives at blog.tsa.gov.
There
were several high profile stories about alleged checkpoint experiences that
turned out to be false. Yes, nail clipper confiscation was one of them. Also, there were claims that our
Officers mistreated a passenger who was deaf and also mistreated a passenger with a feeding tube. There were other claims such as a woman who said there were no female Officers to screen her, parents who said we accused her four year old child of having a firearm, a woman who claimed she was screened because of her looks, and lastly, a parent accused TSA of having their child on the no fly list when in fact it was an airline travel
glitch that caused the problem. If you read our TSA Week in Review posts, you are no stranger to some of the frightening items our officers
have found this year. Some travelers may forget a small knife in their
bag, but others bring some rather shocking items with them to the airport.
From
January to July, there have been 821 firearms discovered in carry-on
bags at checkpoints across the country. That’s almost four firearms per day! Of
those, 691 were loaded, and 210 were locked and loaded with a
round chambered. The most popular caliber so far has been the compact .380 with
197 found this year. Firearms have been found at a total of 160 airports with
Atlanta (ATL) TSO’s finding the most firearms – 56 found so far this year. A
couple of the more notable incidents this year were when a Portland
passenger put a pistol in potted plant in an effort to sneak it past us,
and also when another passenger had a disassembled gun and ammo concealed in three stuffed animals. Follow the links to read
more about these incidents, and you can check out our TSA Week in Review posts to see pictures and spreadsheets of firearms
found.
If the
number of firearms we’ve discovered so far this year didn’t shock you, these
examples might: a live 40mm high explosive grenade; a bottle wrapped in black electrical tape and filled with flash powder, and three M-80 fireworks; a black powder flask filled with 5oz. of black powder; even an explosively-viable cannonball;
and last but not least, a live blasting cap.
In
addition to the live explosives items mentioned above, we also find a lot of
inert items that look like the real deal. The problem with these types of items
is that we don’t know if they are the real deal until we call out the bomb
experts, and sometimes even they have a hard time figuring it out. Inert items
can lead to closed terminals and checkpoints, which usually result in canceled
or delayed flights. Here are some of the more interesting inert items
we’ve found so far this year: simulated detonating cord with simulated sheet explosives, M147 firing device with blasting cap taped to it, inert detonator, simulated Semtex-H, training claymore mines, IED training aids, two replica Claymore mines, warheads,
60mm mortar round, a bazooka round, and more grenades than we’ve seen in years past.
If
you’re new to the blog and want to see more of the things we’ve caught this
year, check out all of our TSA Week in Review posts. There you can review photos of the items and
read about all of the other items we’ve found such as: bear mace in a sock, a knife mounted on a walker, a spear gun, a gun in a hollowed out book, eels,
dead venomous snakes, a gassed up chainsaw, a grenade launcher, a chastity belt, and much more!
We hope
you have a great remainder of 2012. For more TSA news and info, be sure to read
blog.tsa.gov and tsa.gov!
