60% of fake bombs get by TSA screeners

[Fash]

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/ne ... om.art.htm

WASHINGTON — Security screeners at two of the nation's busiest airports failed to find fake bombs hidden on undercover agents posing as passengers in more than 60% of tests last year, according to a classified report obtained by USA TODAY.

Screeners at Los Angeles International Airport missed about 75% of simulated explosives and bomb parts that Transportation Security Administration testers hid under their clothes or in carry-on bags at checkpoints, the TSA report shows.

At Chicago O'Hare International Airport, screeners missed about 60% of hidden bomb materials that were packed in everyday carry-ons — including toiletry kits, briefcases and CD players. San Francisco International Airport screeners, who work for a private company instead of the TSA, missed about 20% of the bombs, the report shows. The TSA ran about 70 tests at Los Angeles, 75 at Chicago and 145 at San Francisco.

The report looks only at those three airports, using them as case studies to understand how well the rest of the U.S. screening system is working to stop terrorists from carrying bombs through checkpoints.

The failure rates at Los Angeles and Chicago stunned security experts.

"That's a huge cause for concern," said Clark Kent Ervin, the Homeland Security Department's former inspector general. Screeners' inability to find bombs could encourage terrorists to try to bring them on airplanes, Ervin said, and points to the need for more screener training and more powerful checkpoint scanning machines.

In the past year, the TSA has adopted a more aggressive approach in its attempt to keep screeners attentive — the agency runs covert tests every day at every U.S. airport, TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe said. Screeners who miss detonators, timers, batteries and blocks that resemble plastic explosives get remedial training.

The failure rates at Los Angeles and Chicago are "somewhat misleading" because they don't reflect screeners' improved ability to find bombs, Howe said.

TSA chief Kip Hawley, responding to previous reports about screeners missing hidden weapons, told a House hearing Tuesday that high failure rates stem from increasingly difficult covert tests that require screeners to find bomb parts the size of a pen cap. "We moved from testing of completely assembled bombs … to the small component parts," he said.

Terrorists bringing a homemade bomb on an airplane, or bringing on bomb parts and assembling them in the cabin, is the top threat against aviation. "Their focus is on using items easily available off grocery and hardware store shelves," Hawley said.

A report on covert tests in 2002 found screeners failed to find fake bombs, dynamite and guns 24% of the time. The TSA ran those tests shortly after it took over checkpoint screening from security companies.

Tests earlier in 2002 showed screeners missing 60% of fake bombs. In the late 1990s, tests showed that screeners missed about 40% of fake bombs, according to a separate report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

The recent TSA report says San Francisco screeners face constant covert tests and are "more suspicious."

The interesting thing to me is that out of ~75 tests each at the TSA controlled airports, ~40 fake bombs got through... but out of 145 tests at San Fran, a private security screened facility, only ~29 got through. The TSA tries to explain this by saying the San Fran firm is tested more often and the screeners are 'more suspicious.'... well maybe that's your fucking problem, TSA! After all this bullshit, nothing has changed, and someone could still walk on a plane with a bomb in their carry-on... I'm sorry but I have no faith in the TSA to protect and serve anything except their workforce of retards.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

That's because people complain about the inconvenience and sue if wrongfully brought aside and thought to be suspicious. When they are handcuffed, you cannot expect them to do a super great job. I also think expected 100% perfection is unreasonable.

[Breagen]

I'd be curious to know what the fake bombs consist of and how they are sneaking them through security. I know when I flew back from D.C. over the summer I was pulled aside and searched because I forgot a bar of deoderant in the bottom of the bag that they noticed during the normal scan.

[Boogahz]

It's because they look but don't touch....okay, sorry, I keep thinking it says fake boobs get by the screeners.


I do not know how much effort the TSA has truly put into getting the right people into the screener positions. My guess (even before seeing this news) is that they don't really try. They get bodies, and give them training. If they were to get the truly inquisitive and observant individuals that the job should be filled with, they might do a bit better. Maybe this is something that the private firms mentioned have been doing.

[Spang]

Unless they physically search the bags, I would think fake bombs would get thru 100% of the time. The equipment they use isn't supposed to detect fake bombs is it?

[Zaelath]

Unless they physically search the bags, I would think fake bombs would get thru 100% of the time. The equipment they use isn't supposed to detect fake bombs is it?

Yes, yes it is. The chemical swipes don't detect fake bomb residue obviously, but when they say fake here they mean inert I'm sure.

That said, this is not surprising, and TSA/private/Ronald McDonald airport security is just more elephant repellant anyway. If you want safe air travel you need an israeli approach and that won't fly in the US. Pardon the pun.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editor ... _teach_us/

[Vetiria]

That's because people complain about the inconvenience and sue if wrongfully brought aside and thought to be suspicious. When they are handcuffed, you cannot expect them to do a super great job. I also think expected 100% perfection is unreasonable.

Please post one lawsuit that has come about since 9/11 where the airport screeners were sued over a customer being wrongfully brought aside.

[Midnyte_Ragebringer]

threaten to sue. My deepest apologies for making such a grave mistake. My point is completely invalid now. I feel so dumb.

[Vetiria]

Well yes, your point is completely invalid.

[Niffoni]

This shows major design flaws in our fake-bomb-making technology.