Were you aware of TSA's 95% failure rate to detect concealed weapons? What needs to be done to correct this problem?

Capt Seid Waddell — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 17:33:49 -0400

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TSA chief out is after screeners fail 95 percent of tests 3:26
The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration was reassigned Monday after an internal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security found security failures at dozens of the nation's busiest airports. The breaches allowed undercover investigators to smuggle weapons, fake explosives and other contraband through numerous checkpoints.

Melvin Carraway, an 11-year veteran of the TSA who became acting administrator in January, was immediately reassigned to a DHS program coordinating with local law enforcement agencies, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said Monday night. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Pete Neffenger's nomination to be permanent administrator is awaiting Senate confirmation.

Upon learning the initial findings of the Office of Inspector General's report, Johnson immediately directed TSA to implement a series of other actions, several of which are now in place, agency officials said.

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TSA chief out is after screeners fail 95 percent of tests 3:26
The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration was reassigned Monday after an internal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security found security failures at dozens of the nation's busiest airports. The breaches allowed undercover investigators to smuggle weapons, fake explosives and other contraband through numerous checkpoints.

Melvin Carraway, an 11-year veteran of the TSA who became acting administrator in January, was immediately reassigned to a DHS program coordinating with local law enforcement agencies, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said Monday night. Coast Guard Vice Adm. Pete Neffenger's nomination to be permanent administrator is awaiting Senate confirmation.

Upon learning the initial findings of the Office of Inspector General's report, Johnson immediately directed TSA to implement a series of other actions, several of which are now in place, agency officials said.

Image: Acting TSA Administrator Melvin Carraway
Acting TSA Administrator Melvin Carraway discusses an attack by a man with a machete at the New Orleans airport in March as other law enforcement officials look on.Reuters
In one case, an alarm sounded, but even during a pat-down, the screening officer failed to detect a fake plastic explosive taped to an undercover agent's back. In all, so-called "Red Teams" of Homeland Security agents posing as passengers were able get weapons past TSA agents in 67 out of 70 tests — a 95 percent failure rate, according to agency officials.

"The numbers in these reports never look good out of context, but they are a critical element in the continual evolution of our aviation security," Homeland Security officials said in a statement.

Read More: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/investigation-breaches-us-airports-allowed-weapons-through-n367851

TSA Chief Out After Agents Fail 95 Percent of Airport Breach Tests

A DHS investigation found security breaches that allowed undercover investigators to smuggle weapons through checkpoints at dozens of U.S. airports.

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 1 at 2015 5:55 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 17:55:21 -0400

considering that they tend to hire the "lowest common denominator" for their gates, I am not surprised. I attempted to get on w/ TSA as a TSO, however, was told that it would only be part time, at a rate of about 19 hrs/wk. There is no way I could accept that job.

How do they expect to attract trained security personnel at that rate?

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Jun 1 at 2015 6:15 PM

MAJ Ken Landgren — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 18:15:08 -0400

At least they don't act like egotistical Nazis like they did in the past.

Response by SSG (ret) William Martin made Jun 1 at 2015 6:45 PM

SSG (ret) William Martin — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 18:45:19 -0400

I don't have kind words for TSA. Many of them are over zealous idiots. Maybe if they weren't too concerned with checking everyone's groin area to including children and trying to make disabled people get up and walk from their wheel chairs, they can educate themselves and catch some of these red flags.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 2 at 2015 10:10 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 10:10:41 -0400

Capt Seid Waddell , you beat me to the punch on this one, Seid. You should edit this and add a survey question, which is what I had in mind.

Question: Do you think the TSA can continue to be relied upon to secure our nation's airports?

Yes, they are still an essential line of defense in safeguarding our national airline industry; since the inception of the TSA, there has not been a major incident with a U.S. airliner.

No, TSA should be eliminated and airports should be permitted to contract their security screening from private entities with FAA oversight.

Other, please explain.

Just a thought! TSA is a laughing stock, that's for sure!

Response by 1LT Kathleen Heisler made Jun 2 at 2015 10:14 AM

1LT Kathleen Heisler — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 10:14:39 -0400

as a former TSA screener this has been a problem for a long time

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 2 at 2015 10:38 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 10:38:32 -0400

Sorry, SrA Private RallyPoint Member, this one is a duplicate:

https://www.rallypoint.com/answers/were-you-aware-of-tsa-s-95-failure-rate-to-detect-concealed-weapons-what-needs-to-be-done-to-correct-this-problem?urlhash=713539

Were you aware of TSA's 95% failure rate to detect concealed weapons? What needs to be done to...

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 2 at 2015 10:39 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 10:39:00 -0400

i can merge the two together if you would like :)

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 2 at 2015 10:52 AM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 10:52:03 -0400

Raise your hand if you are surprised?

No one?

Response by PO1 John Miller made Jun 2 at 2015 11:27 AM

PO1 John Miller — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 11:27:32 -0400

Sounds to me like better training is the first order of business. Perhaps pat-down/search tecniques taught by civilian/military/federal law enforcement.

Another thing, HIRE MORE VETERANS. Preferably veterans with specific experience. MP experience or infantry types who have deployed to Iraq/Afghanistan and have road block, vehicle, and personnel search experience.

Lastly, and this may not work for all TSA workers, but perhaps for supervisors who are at security check points, consider arming TSA agents after they have been through the proper training.

Response by MAJ Anne McGee made Jun 2 at 2015 12:20 PM

MAJ Anne McGee — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 12:20:16 -0400

Abolish the TSA and contract with professional security firms that screen and train their people and hold them accountable to standards. The TSA is a government agency and has the same standards as the US Postal Service which is why they continually lose money. These agencies are full of bureaucracy and breed inefficiency. They have their own union which makes it impossible to fire anybody so they just get passed around. These yahoo's at the TSA allow people in burkas and turbins to walk thru unmolested while they pull everybody else aside for "random" searches. The TSA is a deadly joke!!

Response by SrA Edward Vong made Jun 2 at 2015 12:22 PM

SrA Edward Vong — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 12:22:05 -0400

Unless we start strip searching every passenger, there is not way to get a 100% result.

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Jun 2 at 2015 12:42 PM

LTC Paul Labrador — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 12:42:42 -0400

Actually hire competent people....

Response by SCPO David Lockwood made Jun 2 at 2015 12:54 PM

SCPO David Lockwood — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 12:54:12 -0400

Sounds like TSA needs a severe overhaul!

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 2 at 2015 1:15 PM

SSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 13:15:43 -0400

But by gawd they found my bottle of mountain dew I forgot I threw in my bag at the hotel that I forgot about, and then I got the "thorough" pat-down and my bag searched. Never mind I was TDY and checked in at the gate with my mil ID... Thank god for them preventing me entering the terminal with a warm bottle of Dew.....

Response by SFC Mark Merino made Jun 2 at 2015 1:35 PM

SFC Mark Merino — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 13:35:22 -0400

However, they did find 95% of the ways to break the law. Shipping drugs, guns, theft, etc....

Response by PO1 Dustin Adams made Jun 2 at 2015 1:46 PM

PO1 Dustin Adams — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 13:46:56 -0400

Thanks to groups like the ACLU, SPLC, and CAIR there are regulations in place that prevent any actions that could remotely be considered "profiling". Doesn't matter that the vast majority of hijackers (internationally) in the last 35+ years are of a certain ethnic decent and/or affiliated with a specific religious belief. I'm not saying that everyone of middle eastern/east African decent needs to go through additional screening, but regulations that allow for only a certain number to be screened just seems ludicrous.

Of course this is also the agency that granted a clearance for expedited security screening to a convicted domestic terrorist in March of this year.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-former-terrorists-cleared-for-expedited-tsa-checkpoint-20150327-story.html

Former terrorist was cleared for expedited TSA checkpoint

The news that the Transportation Security Administration has enrolled more than 1 million people in a program that lets low-risk travelers zip through expedited security checkpoints was tarnished by a report that former terrorist Sara Jane Olson was cleared to use the low-risk screening lane.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 2 at 2015 6:05 PM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 18:05:36 -0400

I don't understand why this got publicized. I'm all about transparency. And this is obviously news worthy.
But why publish our weaknesses and vulnerabilities. It's a classified report. Keep it with Congress, law enforcement, administrators so they can fix it.
Why tell our enemies our weakness. Yes, we feel the public has a right to know everything that could ever affect them.
But clean up the mess and don't tell the enemy where your weak- just get stronger without politicizing a confidential report publicly.

Response by Cpl Jeff N. made Jun 2 at 2015 6:29 PM

Cpl Jeff N. — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 18:29:15 -0400

I fly about 100,000 miles a year and have done so for about the last 18 years so I see the TSA a lot. The entire enterprise is a ruse to make us feel safe but we are really not much better then pre 9/11.

The TSA applies the same security to everyone regardless of possible threat. We spend lots of time checking everyone the same way and the system is not set up to catch much. I am in the TSA pre check program too so I get expedited security which is better only because it is faster.

It needs a complete rework with a focus on identifying likely threats and checking them well and providing limited checks to non threats. I say privatize it, set standards for service for private agencies and let them do it. We will have fewer people doing a better job much faster.

Response by LCpl Mark Lefler made Jun 3 at 2015 12:34 AM

LCpl Mark Lefler — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 00:34:51 -0400

but they'll frisk a two year old.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Jun 3 at 2015 3:41 AM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Wed, 03 Jun 2015 03:41:16 -0400

I would like to see the break down on what the percentage would be on the Contract verses the TSA Airports. When the new system was put in place, Half the Airports TSA did it directly the other Half were contracted out with TSA Oversight. Here in Kansas City last time I checked First Response had the Contract.

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2015 5:49 AM

Col Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 05:49:44 -0400

This does not surprise me one bit!

Response by Maj Chris Nelson made Jun 4 at 2015 9:20 AM

Maj Chris Nelson — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 09:20:20 -0400

First and foremost, the Federal Employment System, as an over-arching system, is fat. WAY too fat. Almost everything that is part of the federal system needs to be privatized with a streamlined government oversight to ensure WELL OUTLINED/DEFINED STANDARDS are being met or exceeded. IRS....FAT. TSA....FAT. Homeland security....what the hell??!! Pentagon....FAT. I will show an example of how things COULD work (keep in mind that this is a MUCH smaller scale....): Malmstrom AFB has been talking about having an indoor swimming pool since AT LEAST 1997 (we are northern tier, so swimming is only good for 2-3 months). Base built a new Fitness center, complete with PLANS for swimming pool..... Everything done except the pool (and in fact, the building climate control/humidity was designed around the pool being there...so the air is bone dry without one). Enter Privatized housing.... THEY built a community center on base complete with indoor swimming pool (of course, only open to on base residence or their guests....so does me no good). They have been here 2-3 years. They are a contract to the government, with government oversight to ensure standards, but they are DOING. Get security out of the government's hands. I bet security would improve.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 27 at 2015 8:11 AM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Sat, 27 Jun 2015 08:11:03 -0400

All it takes is to find that 5% and they are doing their job. However, only 5% does not justify their budget or manning. Maybe start stripping them of their funding and manning and see how well they will start doing their jobs.