The TSA keeps rolling out new initiatives that we're supposed to be thrilled about. The latest is a new effort to let laptop-carrying passengers keep their computers in their bags at security checkpoints. Great news, right? Wrong.
Only a few types of bags will meet the criteria the TSA has laid out, and from the sound of it they'll be hard to identify. (Mostly because the agency won't let manufacturers use language like "TSA Approved" on their luggage.) That means you won't truly know if your bag will play nice with the X-ray machine until you're at the airport.
We've been through enough checkpoints to know what a shitshow this is going to be. We're picturing people complaining that their bag is exempt even though its not, people confused about whether they need to pull out their laptops, TSA agents baffled by fuzzy rules sent from the home office in DC.
So who do we thank for this? Kip Hawley, a guy who says he wants security checkpoints to be "calm and predictable."
Thank! God! The TSA has finally done the right thing and re-named the agency's HQ. No longer will you be kept safe from four-ounce yogurt containers from the "Operations Center." Nossir, airline passengers in the US will now be under the watchful eye of the "Freedom Center."
Revelers who lost their wallets at last night's solstice parties had best check their righteous attitudes at the airport door. To celebrate the first full day of summer, the TSA has implemented new airport ID requirements, and they seem to boil down to this: If you want access to secure areas of airports, either have an ID with you or be really nice.
The TSA's chirpy Evolution of Security blog puts it thusly:
If you simply state you forgot your ID, we will work with you to verify your ID, you may undergo some additional screening and will be permitted to fly.
On the other hand, if you do not cooperate and state that you're not willing to show us your ID, you will not be permitted to fly.
The announcement set off the usual chorus of complaints in the blog's free-for-all comment zone, but we can't imagine showing up for a flight with nothing in our pockets but a linty tin of Altoids. In any case, the TSA insists this isn't about control, but rather ensuring that no terrorist super-ninjas are able to sneak onto airplanes, since "the naked human body of someone skilled in martial arts is far more dangerous than most people with a weapon." Maybe that's the answer right there: Everybody flies naked. Just a thought.
The green light was on, but a sad and lonely GE EntryScan machine waited for no passengers at San Francisco International on Monday night. We peeked ahead trying to see if we would be shunted through the machine, but to no avail!
While SFO wasn't on the list of airports getting body scanners, apparently the hulking machine that could destroy our privacy but allow us to keep on our clothes arrived early for its date with the TSA. Its presence suggests that despite security concerns raised by the ACLU, among others, body scans or required pat downs are in the future for air travelers.
The T5000 camera, from the security firm ThruVision, uses what it calls "passive imaging technology" to identify objects by the natural electromagnetic rays, known as Terahertz, that they emit. By focusing on these T-Rays, this ThruVision claims the new camera can detect weapons, drugs or explosives hidden under people's clothes from as far away as 80 feet.
Oh, and before you think of buying a T5000 for sordid uses, the camera does not reveal physical body details. So some enterprising former TSA employee will never be able to post pics on airportsecurityhotornot.com.
The technology will be on display in Britain March 12-13 and there are no immediate plans to try the technology in airports, but stay tuned.
We've told you before about the passenger surveillance programs that the TSA has implemented. Now the agency is talking up the technique on its official blog.
"Behavior detection officer" Bob says he and other fingermen can spot suspicious people by looking for
Signs of stress through involuntary physical and physiological behaviors.
Bob clearly can't divulge any specifics on how passengers get picked out of the crowd for further screening, but if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear, right? Out of millions of fliers since July 2007, Bob and other officers have snared a few hundred sort-of dangerous unsavories, none of whom were terrorists.
In an attempt to scare us even more, Bob includes a fear-mongering report from a local TV station in his post. Nevermind that the TV news interviewee--a gate agent who checked in Mohamed Atta and an accomplice on September 11--had no substantive security training. He had a bad feeling about the two hijackers, he says. If that's not evidence behavior detection works, we don't know what is!
Earlier this month, the TSA launched a ski-themed trial that allows people to pick a security lane based on how familiar they are with airport screening. We didn't cover it because it's a stupid idea. Everyone *thinks* they're an expert, which is one of the (many) reasons the checkpoints are always so fubar.
But the agency's new gimmick is a good one. If you've got only enough carry-on luggage to fit under an airplane seat, you get to cruise through a special Zip Lane. Since its based on something instantly measurable--luggage size rather than experience--only unburdened travelers will get to use it.
The lane is only open for four hours a day, but it's in operation during peak flight times. The pilot program at Bob Hope Airport was a rousing success, at least according to the TSA. For now the Zip Lane is only available at BUR, but the agency plans to offer it at other airports soon.
On Tuesday, we thought we had the TSA blog pegged as a PR instrument and nothing more. We went so far as to ask:
You don't really think the TSA will change anything it does based on some anonymous comments, do you?
Well, now we're the ones in need of some positive spin. TSA blogger Christopher announced yesterday that readers pointed out an inconsistency in the way electronics are screened. At some airports, screeners were asking that iPods, BlackBerrys and any other gizmos be taken out of carry-on bags like laptops. That's not standard operating procedure.
Comments on the blog led the TSA to correct the problem. It's not exactly reassuring that it takes random commenters to point out irregular operations, but it's nice to know that when they do, the TSA might take action.
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by pbb
