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The Future of TSA

By TChris, Section War on Terror
Posted on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 09:35:40 AM EST
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by TChris

Is the Transportation Security Administration doomed?

The TSA has been plagued by operational missteps, public relations blunders and criticism of its performance from the public and legislators. Its "No Fly" list has mistakenly snared senators. Its security screeners have been arrested for stealing from luggage, and its passenger pat-downs have set off an outcry from women.

A proposal to reorganize the Department of Homeland Security may limit the function of the TSA to airport security screening -- a function that private industry would like to perform instead.

The agency's very existence, in fact, remains an open question, given that the legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security contains a clause permitting the elimination of the TSA as a "distinct entity" after November 2004.

The administration says it's waiting for new Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to complete his review of the department before deciding what to do about the inept TSA.

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    The Future of TSA | 15 comments (15 topical)
    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#1)
    by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 10:02:05 AM EST
    fwiw, my brother is an Air Marshall. He's bailing asap.

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#2)
    by desertswine on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 10:07:39 AM EST
    Yes, it's doomed. The security screening will be contracted out.

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 10:18:22 AM EST
    But what will it become? the reason why the rats in washington want it doomed is for the non ideals, and deals with some really politically intersting people who care nothing about our nation security or care nothing about our lives. watch out for what is coming and watch what bush will be doing in the next year. think, act and live, your non government wants you dead.

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 10:31:34 AM EST
    It's just the effect of Security Budgetary Planning Frictional Confusion Related Activities during the transition from Indian outsourcers to eastern European. Besides, who knows whether hassling Teddy Kennedy was a mistake?

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#5)
    by kdog on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 11:12:26 AM EST
    Lay off the TSA...they recently banned cigarette lighters on flights! They obviously are on the ball!

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 12:09:48 PM EST
    Well, if nothing else we're protected against incompetent shoe bombers and Wahabist Saudis weilding the little knives you find in nail clippers. ...I feel safer....

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 12:12:48 PM EST
    You are very funny, Ghost, for a Ghost.

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#8)
    by Che's Lounge on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 02:22:38 PM EST
    Blackwater Security..At Your Service. Someones going to get rich here.

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 02:26:24 PM EST
    Since it's likely--I believe-- that the Saudis arranged 9/11 to give the neo-cons their Pearl Harbor and consolidate their power, I wouldn't be surprised if this move to limit the TSA is intended to give us another terrorist attack, just so we can remain terrorized into voting for the Republicans again.

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 02:32:36 PM EST
    Does this mean it's safe to fly now? Safe, that is, from being sexually assualted by airline personnell patting people down? Truly if it is I will feel better about getting on a plane. I have been offered plane tickets free from family members but I refuse to fly if I have to check my civil liberties at the gate.

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 03:20:03 PM EST
    MIchelle at April 8, 2005 03:26 PM
    Someones going to get rich here.
    Fred D's subliminal post attacks starting to surface to your conscience too huh! scary!

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#12)
    by Che's Lounge on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 03:35:55 PM EST
    Yeah, don't reform government. Just sell it off to the highest bidder.

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Apr 08, 2005 at 04:05:23 PM EST
    "Just sell it off to the highest bidder." -- Already done: The Government Company has been awarded the contract (on a standard lowest-bid basis), and has sub-contracted with Vows Of Poverty & Chastity LLC (VoPC) of Brasov (Romania) to deliver Executive Branch, Legislative Branch, and a sub-set of Judicial Branch services on a per-diem basis during the transition from The Government Company's prior outsourcing contractors in Kazakhstan. VoPC, whose primary line of business is success coaching service provisioning to a small group of downstream AmWayRomania sellers, is strategically co-located within the Brasov office of the National Institute for Statistics. (Upstairs.)

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 09, 2005 at 10:32:13 AM EST
    "Posted by MIchelle: "...just so we can remain terrorized into voting for the Republicans again." That's no longer necessary, since they don't count the votes in 28 states...they STATE the votes, and you just get over it, or else you know what to you know who. The terrorizing is now mainly for GW's vicious entertainment. The boy bores. The contract to steam clean America is where the real money is going to be.

    Re: The Future of TSA (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Apr 16, 2005 at 06:33:33 PM EST
    Obviously you are all speaking from the standpoint of travellers, and that's not a bad thing. As a screener I have to say you don't see what goes on and therefore you don't really know what we go through on a day to day basis. This is the most thankless and grueling job I have ever had but I have never worked with a bunch of people more dedicated to national security. Did you ever wonder why there has not been another attack on the US? It's because all of the agencies within DHS working together, including the TSA. TSA confiscates more illegal items in one week than any private screener company did in three months. Believe me, terrorists and nuts read quite a bit and learn how to hide prohibs quite well. So well that the machines may not pick them up. If we had to open every bag no one would ever make a flight. Our numbers are being decreased, not increased and that causes problems. This information is in any good newspaper. We are also limited by technology. If we took the time to check every bag, as I was saying earlier, passengers would not tolerate it at all. Did you ever consider the fact that so many people in the airports are late, in a hurry, have no patience or no attention span and get frustrated easily. What the public needs to do is take a step back and reconsider what we are doing for YOU! It's not easy but I love my job and leave at the end of my shift feeling as though I've done something worthwhile. Every day I look at the flag flying above the gate where the plane that went down in Shanksville PA departed from and feel the lump in my throat thinking of all the innocent lives lost. I also take the train to work that runs alongside Ground Zero. Maybe it hits home harder with me because I live in NY and lost friends in the WTC or maybe I just feel a lose as an American citizen. As long as I'm working I will do my best! The travelling public needs to take a breath and have more patience and have a little more appreciation for a difficult job. I'm not asking that you show the appreciation, just have it knowing that your family arrived at their destination safely today. Thanks for reading my entry.

    The Future of TSA | 15 comments (15 topical)