TSA coming up on 10th Anniversary
1 Comment »Updated: Friday, 26 Aug 2011, 5:21 PM MDT
Published : Friday, 26 Aug 2011, 5:21 PM MDT
- Reporter: Amanda Goodman
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – This fall marks the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
It is also the tenth anniversary of the Transportation Security Administration which was created in response to the attacks.
Over the last decade the agency says it has prevented millions of potential threats but people have also raised concerns about the TSA’s tactics.
Robert Gibbs has been flying for decades but he says since 9/11 flying has become more challenging.
“It is become a little more awkward and a little more uncomfortable to travel,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs said it’s uncomfortable because of the heightened security measures.
After the terrorist attacks on 9-11 the Transportation Security Administration was created to enhance the safety and security of travelers.
Since then passengers have had to get to the airport earlier, remove their belts and shoes to go through body scanners.
The TSA said it’s all in the name of security and that it is working.
“We’ve found 50 million prohibited items 4,600 firearms; thousands of items that could have gotten through that could have posed a potential threat to the air traveler,” said TSA spokesperson Luis Casanova.
However some call the measures invasive especially the pat downs and body scanners which are quite revealing.
“We never had any desire to see a person’s image, our desire was to see a potential threat that that person might be carrying,” Casanova said.
Still, to address those concerns and try to strike a better balance between people’s privacy and security the TSA is phasing in new technologies, like the Automated Target Recognition Software, which they unveiled at the Sunport.
Instead of showing the individual’s body the new software shows just a generic outline.
Gibbs and other passengers flying out of the Sunport say they have learned to adapt in this post 9/11 world of travel.
“I think that if people remember it’s for our own security and safety then that should matter,” said traveler Cathryn Collins.
The TSA said it is constantly developing new technologies and ways to stay ahead of terrorists.
It also said the strategy of the agency from the beginning is to be random and unpredictable, which means those pat downs, will always be a possibility.
In addition to the security measures we do see the TSA also scans every piece of checked luggage behind the scenes.
“The TSA said it’s all in the name of security and that it is working.” Or not, maybe we’re allowing our Constitutional rights to be eroded in the name of safety. They claim to have found 50 million prohibited items; how many nail clippers, how many 4 ounce bottles of a liquid or gel, how many pocket knives, leathermans, etc.?
They haven’t found a guy with explosives strapped to his penis, they haven’t found a bomb in an SUV in Times Square…
They have required two mule drivers on a land locked portion of the Erie Canal to get background checks and TWIC cards, they have conducted illegal searches under “Operation Playbook”, they don’t require muslim women (we assume) to remove their veils.
How much longer will you allow your rights to be eroded, how much more freedom will you lose?
Posted: August 29th, 2011 | Author: admin | Filed under: Uncategorized
The American traveler is being punished for the failure of the FBI and CIA to share information and stop the 9/11 attacks. It is stunning that so many people are willing to allow a government agency to sexually assault them and their children a just to fly. Under Pistole’s policies, TSA screeners have been turned into de facto child molesters and sexual assailants. They have admitted that the pat downs involve direct contact with passenger’s penises, testicles, breasts and vaginas, including those of children, actions that meet any reasonable definition of sexual assault. By their own calculations, TSA gropes over 60,000 passengers every day.
They have lied about every incident and policy including the scanners that TSA said produce a blurry unrecognizable image of the passenger’s nude body. Blogger Bob said these could be on the cover of Readers Digest, but this month Denver TSA Area Pat Ahlstrom said of the scans “They were graphic, no doubt about it. Now, they don’t have to be concerned that a private image will be viewed by a TSA officer”. So much for TSA credibility.
The agency has repeatedly lied about their procedures and the level of the personal invasion and arrogantly dismissed victim complaints as either exaggerations or necessary to assure aircraft security. TSA has now become a criminal agency headed by unethical and arrogant bureaucrats only interested in furthering their own fortunes. According to Pistole, we should be thankful that they will feel up fewer children than they do now. This of course implies that child molesters who only assault a few victims are somehow more acceptable than those whose attacks are more frequent.
Since December 2010 there have been 44 screeners arrested for crimes ranging from rape and child pornography to drug trafficking and theft from bags. In the same period, there have been 43 security breaches or failures, dozens of lawsuits and thousands of groping and abuse complaints. Most recently, the Elko Daily News reported that a TSA agent in Nevada, David Ralph Anderson, was arrested on six counts of child molestation bringing making this the seventh TSA agent arrested on a sex crime this year. There is clearly a problem when an agency this size has this level of job-related criminal activity and passenger abuse.
If TSA actually provided security instead of theater people might be inclined to support them. As is stands TSA is the most hated agency in government and the majority of travelers want them to be reformed or abolished due to the agency’s incompetence. Even Rep. John Mica who headed the TSA formation has described TSA as “completely out of control” and called for their closure.
TSA has needlessly molested and traumatized thousands of children since November and many of these abuses have been caught on video making national news. This agency is violating passenger rights on a daily basis, committing crimes and endangering airline security with their incompetence. Nothing less than the complete elimination of this agency is acceptable. Hopefully, those responsible for this criminal malfeasance, including Pistole, will be prosecuted by the next Administration.
http://www.travelunderground.org/index.php?threads/master-lists-of-tsa-abuses-crimes.317/