DHS

Is TSA Removing Backscatter Scanners? Nope

This morning ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize winning non-profit news organization, wrote about the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) quietly swapping certain Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners from airports around the country, replacing them with other AIT scanners, implying that this is being done for health reasons.   ProPublica journalist Michael Grabell writes, “The TSA is not…

Is A Talk Radio Host On A Secret TSA List Or Flagged For Something Else?

Ian Freeman, the co-host of Free Talk Live, a national libertarian political talk radio show broadcast on more than 100 radio stations, and four television stations, and candidate for State Representative from Keene, New Hampshire,  makes an interesting claim … he claims he is on a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Super Secret Special Searched list….

The TSA Hasn’t Rescinded Checkpoint Photography Policy

Over the past few days rumours have begun running rampant that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has rescinded its policy allowing photography of its security operations and checkpoints … these rumours are false.   The main source for the rumor that the TSA eliminated its policy is due to the agency’s website change over. Many…

Did The TSA Stop A Terrorist Through ID Authentication?

On the 20th of September 2012 the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Transportation Committee on Homeland Security released a report entitled “Rebuilding TSA into a Smarter, Leaner Organization.”   Within the 59 page report on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Subcommittee covers a wide range of topics, some logically, some that sound good and…

Know Who To Blame At The Airport, Its Not Always TSA

Travelers in the United States have come to blame everything on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It seems no matter what the issue, the TSA is blamed, be it parking enforcement, gate agents, police, passport control … it all seems to land squarely on the TSA’s shoulders.   Does the TSA deserve to be blamed? …

TSA Technologies, Security Theater & Oversight Failures

For years I have actively avoided using the term “Security Theater” when discussing the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).   Over the years I have torn the TSA apart as well as defended them, as the agency has good and bad, while most people just focus on the bad.   Today however, looking at technologies the TSA is…

Costs Of Private vs Gov’t Passenger Screening In The U.S.

The United States Government, like all organizations with operational expenses, is seeking to reduce its costs while creating a more effective workflow.  As the Government seeks to reduce its debt, trim excess spending and bring its operational costs down, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) would appear among the most resistant to change.   While the…

TSA Claims It Needs More Money To Screen Less Bags

Last week President Barack Obama proposed a US$317,000,000 increase in the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) budget, to strengthen aviation security in the United States. While President Obama’s proposal to raise aviation taxes in the coming year to find the budget increase is likely to be defeated by both Democrats and Republicans in The House, the…