COLONIE — Federal inspectors were able to slip a fake bomb through a checkpoint at Albany International Airport during a test of the facility’s Transportation Security Administration screeners, according to individuals familiar with the incident. The unannounced inspection by TSA officials took place early last week. The airport’s security measures failed in five of seven tests, most of the problems occurring at the passenger checkpoint, the sources said.
In one test, TSA inspectors hid the components of a fake bomb in carry-on luggage that also contained a bottle of water. Passengers are prohibited from carrying containers holding more than three ounces of liquids, gels or aerosols through airport checkpoints. The screeners at Albany International confiscated the water bottle but missed the bomb. In all, the inspectors slipped four banned items through the main checkpoint during the test, sources said.
Last October, the Star-Ledger newspaper of Newark, citing unnamed federal security officials, reported screeners at Newark Liberty International Airport flunked 20 of 22 tests, including failing to detect bombs and guns in luggage at checkpoints.
| Man, these guys are so preoccupied with confiscating liquids, they miss the important stuff. This whole liquid thing is absurd. |
Wait until some idiot tries to light his underpants and not the shoes!
That’ll be fun at the security gate…
I couldn’t possibly agree more. Between the crap service of the airlines (I semi-regularly buy First Class tickets and the service still stinks, oh yeah and I fly 75k to 100k miles per year) and the unbelievable mindless rules carried out by the TSA, I am moving to the middle of the country so I can drive my MB Bluetec to my clients instead of flying. Seriously.
Now if only there was an alternative for getting to Europe in two days or less…
the job of a baggage screener must be one of the most mind-numbing job in all industries, it’s no wonder these guys routinely fail tests like these.
i would suggest that the answer would be to make tests routine, and as rude as it sounds, treat the screeners the same as you do the drug dogs — reward them when they pass, punish them when they fail.
if everyone knows that tests are coming, they’ll always be on their toes, tie a compensation-bonus to their test scores.
it’s a simple, mundane thing to do that won’t grab any headlines, won’t put anyone in jail, won’t kill or torture anyone, and will cost a lot of money, so the conservatives in charge surely won’t go for it.
shame, because it would work.
And yet airport security takes longer and longer everytime I go through it.
I guess they spend most of the time trying to figure out if my iPod (then, Creative Zen Vision M) is a bomb.
Last time I flew they let me take a bottle of water through. All I had to do was throw a small fit and they gave it back to me. I figured they’d at least make me take a drink of it or something, but no.
So why are we spending a ton of taxpayer money on this program that OBVIOUSLY isn’t working?
About a year ago I flew to Texas with a gun….
(Without going into details, this is perfectly legal if done by the TSA and the airline’s rules.)
On the return flight the countergal at the airport (where you’re supposed to start the “I’m travelling with a gun” process) had no idea what to do, and when I explained to her that I had to sign a card that declared that it was unloaded, didn’t know where they were…. Not TSA, mind you, but an airline employee.
Later TSA padded through my undies because they wanted to take apart the packaging around a box of ammunition.
(My daughter just reported that a purse was stolen from her luggage on a flight from TX. Nothing in there but some makeup and her dental retainer…. $300….)
On the lighter side, my brother-in-law got married back in 1990, in FL…. Mother-in-law decided to take along a “family heirloom” cake knife for the ceremony. In “carry on”….
Regards,
Let’s really be honest here. Nothing is going to stop a bomb or other terrorist attack. These mundane jobs create lax employee’s who after searching thousands of bags would never be up to finding that needle in a hay stack. Machines could do better in this task. They would not lose interest and they certainly would be more professional.
Look at the Brit’s ,if it were not for poor assembly, those car bombs would have gone off before the police found them. Even though they had some warning. It’s very hard to stop! We would be better off to be able to react better after a attack and treat the injuries. Then spend countless man hours going through bags collecting water bottles?
#1, 3, 4, and 7
What are you talking about? Everyone and his grandmother know that a thirsty terrorist can’t set off a bomb.
Jeezz
The real problem is the continuing delusion that the best way to deal with a problem, real or only perceived, is to get more authoritarian about it. Trouble with carrying such a mean spirit into every situation is that we wind up with what we have – government by goons in an ever more mean-spirited culture. It’s a vicious, self-feeding cycle. These guys tasked to prohibit water bottles on airplanes and to generally hassle people who are forced to fly somewhere – they’re just another symptom of the whole, sad, derailed system.
This was foreseen in the premiere of Tripping The Rift on SciFi. One passenger had a cylindrical object, and asked what is was said “it’s a soda”, the screener began to freak out, then the passenger said “It’s a bomb” and the screener okayed it.
J/P=?
#9
As was said so many years ago, ‘Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.’ – Ben Franklin
You are in good company.
Gotta love security theater, what we have now is barely more effective then the honor system.
#9 You can’t mean that Cheney and Wolfy are mean spirited and authoritarian, do you??? They are a beautiful counterpoint to Bush/Brown incompetence.
Why would anyone think that the guys who’ve made of mess of everything else in the Iraq War & crisis management could pick the right people to run airport security?
Inspection fatigue has long been known to be a problem. 100% inspection rarely finds more then 90% of the defects on an assembly line,. Why would anyone expect that same procedure to be any better when inspecting cargo or luggage?
While there are methods that can improve personal efficiency and effectiveness, they are also expensive to implement and are still less than 100% effective.
Nope, not surprised at all.
I worked the most miserable 18 months of my working life for TSA a couple of years ago. It is fare to say that TSA is a totally dysfunctional organization. When I was there, management was more concerned that you had the proper uniform, than whether you knew your job function. We used to joke about the “threat of the day” which was whatever new item TSA was concerned about and thus the most important item to look for, be it scissors, shoes or water bottles.
It certainly wasn’t that screeners didn’t want to do a good job, but any desire to do so was quickly beaten out of them by their management. I believe that it was the founder of FedEx who once said “When I walk into a store or business, the way I am treated by the employees, reflects how their management treats them.” So when I go through security at an airport today, I try to remind myself that if that screener acts like I am a member of a heard, undeserving of respect, that’s how his boss treats him.