In the spring of 2004, following the commuter rail bombings in Madrid, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began devising a plan to “protect the Nation’s transportation systems and ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce,” for the railroads and mass transit systems in the United States. The result of the TSA’s efforts to increase…
Yesterday Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced that children, 12 and younger, would no longer be required to remove their shoes at Transportation Security Administration (TSA) security checkpoints and be able to have their hands swabbed for explosives rather than be subject to a pat down. The TSA’s move to allow children to…
Since the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) implemented its ‘enhanced pat down’ screening procedures in late 2010 the legality of the agency’s authority to execute enhanced pat downs has been consistently called into question. While the TSA has the legal authority to carry out administrative searches without probable cause, as I wrote about in November…
Yesterday the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Administrator, John Pistole, informed the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that the TSA would be implementing policy changes regarding the enhanced pat down of children, aged 10 and younger. Details of these changes, and when these changes would be in place, are however vague. In…
At the start of May Texas State Representative David Simpson (R-Longview) introduced Texas House Bill 1937, a bill that would make it a felony for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Transportation Security Officers (TSO) to touch a person’s genitals, or breasts, during a security pat down without probable cause during an ‘enhanced putdown.’ Since writing…
The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Administrator John Pistole has recently announced plans to create and oversee a ‘Trusted Traveler‘ program. Under the TSA’s proposed ‘Trusted Traveler’ program airline passengers would be able to avoid Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners, leave their shoes on and leave their laptops in their bags. The TSA’s proposed ‘Trusted Traveler’…
Disclosure : This post is a personal view point editorial Since I began covering aviation security on the 15th of September 2001 I have spent a considerable amount of time dealing with the federal agencies that were involved with protecting airports and commercial aviation. When the primary responsibility of aviation security in the United States…
During a rare moment of clarity in the creation of Public Law 107-71 (The Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001), which created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), an often overlooked provision was included … the provision for airports to be allowed choose a private security contract firm, under the guidance of the TSA, called…
“Opt Out” is a popular term from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). For passengers ‘opting out’ means that they can avoid the advanced imaging technology (AIT) scanners in favour of a thorough pat down, for airports ‘opting out’ means that they have chosen to utilize a private security firm to handle their front line passenger…
Since the inception of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the agency has faced some mathematical discrepancies … with a few major math discrepancies showing up in public statements by the past two weeks, I decided to try and find out why these issues occur. I sought explanations to two math discrepancies … with the TSA…
