WebProNews

Tag: Transportation Security Administration

  • Serial Stowaway Arrested at LAX Sans Ticket

    A 62-year-old woman was arrested after the flight she was on touched down at Los Angeles International Airport, after bypassing a ticket check at Mineta San Jose International Airport, where the flight originated. The stowaway was not deemed a threat to safety or security.

    Los Angeles International Airport police identified the woman as Marilyn Hartman. The suspect managed to bypass the boarding pass checkpoint in San Jose before going through the Transportation Security Administration screening, amidst other ticket-holding passengers.

    Hartman then boarded Southwest Flight 3785, which departed for LAX at about 7:15 p.m. Monday. Some time during the short flight, Southwest staff realized that Hartman was not supposed to be on the plane, and authorities were waiting for her upon landing. Hartman was arrested on suspicion of trespassing and was jailed with a $500 bail.

    Interestingly, Hartman is not allowed on the grounds of San Francisco International Airport, after making at least three attempts to fly without a ticket. She once was able to make it onto a plane, but was found out when the ticket holder of the seat she picked boarded the flight.

    Southwest Airlines said it was “actively investigating” Hartman’s breach, though all agencies involved agree that Hartman was never a safety threat. “Our number one priority remains the safety and security of our customers and employees,” the airline said in a statement.

    The Transportation Safety Administration believes that Hartman was able to slip by the ticketing checkpoint while a security agent was distracted. After a preliminary review, the TSA said it has initiated “minor modifications to the layout of the document checking area.”

    Southwest may face regulatory fines in connection with Monday’s incident, a TSA official said.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • TSA Cuts Out Backscatter Body Scans at Airports

    When the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began using backscatter X-ray machines, privacy advocates balked at the notion of TSA employees seeing a colorless image of passengers’ naked bodies. Not long after, naked airport protests embarrassed the TSA and worries of the the general ineffectiveness of the devices began to widely circulate. Now, the devices have been completely removed from U.S. airports.

    According to a CNN report, the removal of the devices was due to a congressional act that required the machines to better protect passengers’ privacy. The TSA could not meet the new standards, and instead phased out the backscatter X-ray machines. The agency had until June 1 to stop using the devices. All 250 of the machines stationed in U.S. airports were reportedly removed two weeks ago at the expense of Rapiscan Systems, the company that manufactured them.

    Fliers should not become too excited, though – a competing body scan technology is still in use in some U.S. airports. According to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), millimeter wave devices, which use a different portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to provide images, will continue to be used. EPIC is a a privacy and civil liberties organization that has filed multiple lawsuits against the TSA over privacy concerns.

  • Double Amputee Humiliated by TSA Agents, Says Congressman

    Congressman Duncan Hunter, representative for California’s 50th congressional district, this week wrote a terse letter to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator John Pistole. The letter detailed an account of alleged mistreatment of a wounded marine by TSA officers and demanded an explanation for the event.

    Hunter’s letter alleges that a Marine, later identified as Cpl. Toran Gaal, was “humiliated” as he passed through security at Phoenix Sky Harbor International airport. Gaal, who lost both of his legs to explosive in Afghanistan, was traveling from Phoenix to San Diego with several other marines.

    TSA agents allegedly asked Gaal to stand, which he cannot do on his own. They are also alleged by Hunter to have forced Gaal to remove his prosthetic legs (presumably looking for some sort of James Bond rocket launcher). This is before he was taken to a second screening area for his wheelchair to be examined.

    From Hunter’s letter:

    One of the Marines in particular, who lost both of his legs to an Improvised Explosive Device, was confined to a wheelchair with limited to no mobility. The individual escorting this Marine asked the TSA officer which of two checkpoints to enter and received the response, “either one,” only to be told moments later they should have entered a different way. As a result, a TSA officer asked the Marine to stand and walk to an alternate area, despite the fact that he could not stand or walk on his own. With numerous TSA officers sitting and unwilling to assist, an officer then made him remove his legs, then put them back on, only to advance to a secondary screening location where he was asked again to stand, with extraordinary difficulty, while his wheelchair was examined for explosives.

    Though Hunter stated he recognizes the necessity of passenger screening, he wrote that he is “concerned by the apparent lack of situational awareness and respect among TSA officers – specifically when it comes to the treatment of war wounded.”

    The TSA has responded to the allegations via a blog post. The agency claims that surveillance footage shows the Marine never removed his prosthetics and that his screening took only eight minutes.

    View more videos at: http://nbcsandiego.com

  • TSA Screeners To Be Booted Out of US Airport

    In November 2010, the federal Transportation Security Administration put a freeze on airports opting to use privatized security services instead of the agency’s own employees, but a provision in a Senate bill passed last month has opened the door for airports to once again apply to replace TSA screeners with private security.

    The TSA is not a very popular agency, with taxpaying consumers complaining about the agency’s bureaucratic disorganization and apathy, its massive $8.1 billion budget, and its controversial use of invasive body scanners. Now Orlando Sanford International Airport–one of the busiest in the United States–is planning to take advantage of the new legislation and opt out of TSA-run security screenings.

    According to the Miami Herald, the airport’s president announced Tuesday that he will again apply to use a privatized security service, which will operate according to federal standards and under TSA oversight.

    Though the legislation allowing the opt-out was passed over a month ago, at present only 16 airports have applied to make the switch, despite the TSA’s reputation of poor customer service, and even allegations of abuse. “The TSA has been keen to downplay the opportunity for airports to dispense with their screeners,” reports InfoWars, “fearing a mass exodus that could undermine the justification for the agency’s continued existence, especially given the fact that its reputation has been repeatedly savaged by a number of scandals.”

    As word spreads about airports’ ability to opt-out of TSA-run screenings, and especially if major airports like Orland Sanford set a precedent by successfully applying to privatize, we may see the TSA get the boot from even more airports in the months to come.

    Image Source: Private Officer News.