Update: Oreo, Dog Thrown Off Building, Was Euthanized
People Wait For Tomorrow's UWS Apple Store Opening
Emily and Sarah Kunstler, Filmmakers
Video: Close Encounters Above Central Park?
Cheap Chicken Wing Deal Ruined by Gunslinging Teens
For anyone who flies out of Newark, this is some distressing news: The Transportation Security Administration conducted 22 security tests at Newark Liberty International Airport, only for the Newark screeners to fail 20 of them. The Star-Ledger noted some of the problems:
One of the security officials familiar with last week's tests said screeners at Newark missed fake explosive devices that were hidden under bottles of water in carry-on luggage, taped beneath an agent's clothing and concealed under a leg bandage another tester wore.Yikes.Additionally, the official said screeners failed to use hand-held metal detector wands when required, missed an explosive device during a pat-down and failed to properly hand-check suspicious carry-on bags. Supervisors also were cited for failing to properly monitor checkpoint screeners, the official said.
"We just totally missed everything," the official said.
Various critics of the TSA say that the failings are "at the basic level" or that "TSA is always going to be one step behind the bad guy" and suggst that the agency look at screening procedures at Israeli airports or use human profiling.
The TSA's response to the tests? "Covert tests are conducted by security experts who expect significant fault rates commensurate with the tests' high level of difficulty." But do you really want your screeners to fail 20 of 22 tests? At any rate, security screening can be slipshod at any airport - goodness knows what would be found at JFK or LaGuardia.
Image from Concurring Opinions, which had a hilarious post about the Playmobil airport screening kit a year ago
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
i can't wait for the day when things like this won't matter anymore. you know, when our international relations aren't so unilateral and hostile, when new york doesn't face a threat because of a president it didn't elect, when these slip-ups at the airport are excusable... :-/
Kevin Bracken is making no sense, as usual.
You may not agree with what he said -- but I would not go so far as to say he made no sense.
Ryan, our international relations weren't unilateral and hostile when Bill Clinton was President and yet the terrorists were plotting. Not blaming Clinton for 9/11 but to imply that the world was a safe place or will be again is ridiculous. Someone somewhere will always have a beef with something.
And because "Someone somewhere will always have a beef with something" we don't need to do anything about it? No. And nobody said Bill Clinton was perfect on international relations. Good, but could do better.
Back onto the topic, maybe the TSA should stop hiring low-paid morons to do one of the most important jobs? I'm pretty sure we'd be happy to pay a little more.
So There:
Didn't say I agreed with him either.
But obviously you understood the point he was trying to make...so he made enough sense to get his point across.
So...there.