TSA vs TSA

[MetroSheriff]

Given the little if any attention paid to my ID badge by your average TSA agent, I would guess that 8 of 10 tries, I could get thru sercurity with my Country Clubs ID card hanging from my shirt.

The reality folks, is that it is all about the appearance of security. If we give the travelling public a warm, fuzzy feeling, than real security takes a back seat to the illusion.

Sad, but true.

JMHO

 

[FlyDeltasJets]

get a full uniform, including wings and insignia. Make mine a Delta uniform, please.

I KNEW IT!!!!!!


(Just kidding IFF)




For the record, I also think our security is a joke. Until we spend more time looking for the person and less looking for the object, we are vulnerable.

We know who presents the threat. We are the first country in history to be at war, but worried about offending our enemy.

 

[Typhoon1244]

Make mine a Delta uniform, please.

To heck with that! I hate double-breasted coats. Are they gonna get rid of those ugly things anytime soon? Maybe the Song uniforms will look better...

 

[FlyDeltasJets]

Actually, I think the look pretty smart. When I was at TWA, although we had a ball, most of us looked like slobs.

The double-breasted jacket makes it pretty hard to walk around unbuttoned, so most of the guys (by necessity) usually look pretty neat.

Some may think that's being uptight. I always thought if you wanted to be treated like a professional, you should look and act like one. Maybe the airlines who don't require hats, who wear leather jackets, etc. take away just a bit of the respect that this profession used to command. Unfortunately, the loss of respect seems to be followed quickly by a loss of remuneration.

Or I might be crazy.

Either way, that was a long way to say I like the Delta Uniforms. Changing them would be a crime.

Sorry for the MASSIVE thread creep. Let me steer it back:

The TSA SUCKS!!! It is a multi-billion dollar window dressing, and has done nothing but annoy and incovenience passengers.

 

[flyn96]

I have to agree with flydelta, on the professional appearance of airline crews, most guys look pretty good but there are definitely a few that are complete slobs, also it seems that WOMEN feel that any uniform policies DON'T apply to them. I almost never see a women wear a hat at my airline.

As an example a few years ago on my first trip off of IOE I was called in for a trip with one of our senior captains (also a woman), she wore a pull over fleece jacket and no hat. So we get off the plane on a short break before our next flight. Walking through the terminal with the FA and Capt a passenger came to ask me a question about the flight, WELL the Capt proceed to but in on the conversation and bosted that SHE was the pilot. She actually got offended because the pax asked me (brand spanking new FO) a question when she was the captain.

IF YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A PILOT DON'T EXPECT TO BE TREATED LIKE ONE!

 

[njcapt]

I don't mind being held to the same standard as all non - LEO's at check points, but I had thought a glaring gap in security had been closed. Last night going through security at Honolulu, I watched one of the TSA big shots just walk right through an active check point, set off the magnetometer, and keep right on going as though nothing had happened. I hadn't seen that happen in at least six months, and had thought a directive had come down closing this loop hole.

WTFO? Why do the TSA goof balls get a pass when airline personnel don't? I thought the rationale for screening active duty airline personnel was to prevent having them smuggle in some sort of contraband to be used on another flight. If that's the case, why don't the newly minted TSA folks have to stand the same scrutiny? Shlt, they are working security PENDING the completion of their background checks, and only have to limit their crack smoking to their longer periods of days off to keep their jobs. I've passed ten year background checks something like six times over the past eleven years and been subject to drug and alcohol testing the whole time. These goobers could easily get weapons through security, and they don't even have the not - so - much - of - a - deterrent - anymore of dying in the resultant terrorist act.

The TSA whiners in the original article that started this thread said they didn't get enough respect for the job they were doing. BOO HOO. Maybe if they implemented procedures that actually tightened up security they'd receive more from us, at least.

By the way, to keep the thread creep going. I flew on a Delta flight out of ATL last week. The crew launched right into level 3-4 thunderstorms with constant moderate to severe turbulence without a single word to the passengers until 45 minutes into the flight when we finally got behind the line. As I was deplaning in MDW the Captain was standing in the doorway all smiles and quite snappy in his double breasted jacket and hat. All I could do was shake my head and think that the uniform does not professionalism make. That from a leather jacket wearing professional airline pilot who would never think of subjecting his passengers to what that crew did without at least some prior warning.

 

[Skygod]

TSA screeners still have criminal pasts

Security May Have Lapsed With Screeners
Airports Question TSA After Workers' Criminal Pasts Are Discovered

By Sara Kehaulani Goo
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 16, 2003; Page A03


More than two dozen federal airport screeners stationed at Los Angeles International Airport have been found to have criminal histories, prompting concern that the federal government did not complete required background probes of security personnel, people familiar with the matter said.

The airport said it will begin fingerprinting and conducting criminal background checks next week on its federal airport screeners. Similarly, in New York, police have uncovered that at least 50 security screeners have criminal pasts at John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).

"We believe fingerprinting all TSA employees is a prudent measure and will bring about an increase in the overall security of the airport," said Paul Haney, a spokesman at Los Angeles International, referring to the Transportation Security Administration.

Congress created the TSA after the terrorist attacks in September 2001 to ensure that a more educated, skilled and better-paid workforce would take over airport security screening. Like all other airport workers who have access to nonpublic areas, TSA screeners are required to pass thorough criminal history checks before they start.

The TSA said it completed name- and fingerprint-based criminal background checks on all of its screeners. But 40 percent of its workforce of 55,600 screeners has not undergone a more in-depth investigation by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

TSA spokesman Robert Johnson said he did not know when the final checks would be completed, but he emphasized they would take time because they require several months of interviews with references and document verification.

The background checks "are adequate to give us a feel for who's on the job," Johnson said. "But like everything else, it's evolving and we continue to implement the systems that are necessary to manage this program."

The Los Angeles airport stumbled upon a handful of screeners with criminal histories during a routine process to issue screeners identification badges. The airport required more than 2,600 TSA screeners stationed there to fill out a questionnaire required for all of its employees; questions about past criminal activity are included.

The questionnaire, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post, asks whether employees have been convicted of numerous offenses, including "armed or felony robbery," "aircraft piracy," "violence at international airports," "kidnapping or hostage taking," and "carrying a weapon or explosive aboard an aircraft."

Airport officials were shocked to find that six TSA screeners answered "yes" as to whether they had been convicted of certain crimes within the past 10 years, according to a person familiar with the matter. The airport declined to name the screeners or to provide information about the crimes they committed, but the source said some of the six had records of felony gun possession, assault with a deadly weapon as well as a drug-related crime.

After the discovery in March, Bernard J. Wilson, the airport's police chief, asked the TSA for permission to conduct his own fingerprint-based checks. The TSA granted authority earlier this month. In other instances, the airport learned of TSA screeners with criminal pasts from the TSA itself. The agency has fired more than two dozen employees at the airport, some as recently as this month, for failing background checks, said sources familiar with the incidents who provided information on the condition that they not be identified. "It's alarming," one source said. "It's a vulnerability we've got to be aggressive about fixing."

TSA spokesman Johnson said the agency has terminated some employees who didn't pass the final background check and will continue to do so.

Congress required that screeners must be U.S. citizens and speak English. They also have to have earned a high school diploma and pass rigorous tests and employment and criminal background checks. Also, airports must, by law, conduct fingerprint-based background checks on all of their employees, even airport officials and workers in public areas such as restaurants.

"Most airports find it ironic that the government required airports to jump to get everything done by a certain deadline and they, the ones doing the screening, haven't done the background checks," said Ian Redhead, vice president for airport facilities and management at Airports Council International-North America, which represents airport owners. "We really don't know the magnitude of it. I'm hoping that it is a few isolated incidents."

Similar questions over background checks have surfaced at the three airports in the New York City area.

The police force for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the airports, said it has been conducting fingerprint-based checks of screeners at JFK, La Guardia and Newark Liberty International to assist the TSA.

After an area television station aired a report about thefts at JFK, Sen. Schumer wrote to TSA chief James M. Loy last week inquiring why the agency did not complete criminal background checks. The TSA said it did not receive the senator's letter and declined to respond.

"Schumer is also concerned that since the Port Authority started investigating the backgrounds of the new screeners, more than 50 of those already working at JFK airport were found to have criminal records," noted a news release the senator's office issued with the letter.

Port Authority spokesman Kevin Davitt said he could not discuss the findings of the background checks.