We've Trained The TSA To Search For Liquid Instead Of Bombs
from the feeling-safer-yet? dept
In the latest example of absolute insanity from the TSA and the way in which it conducts airport searches, "Patrick Smith," a pseudonymous pilot who writes about airline topics for Salon, tells the story of a ridiculous TSA encounter he had while flying as a passenger. It happened because Smith didn't put all his liquids into a ziploc plastic baggy, as required. He apparently never does this and rarely has problems (I've also found that I've never been stopped when I fail to produce the plastic baggy). However, this time he did. But it wasn't just that the TSA called him out for this, it was what happened after he obliged and put the liquids in a plastic bag:My carry-on goes through the scanner and comes out the other side. One of the guards squints at his monitor, then shoots me a hostile look. What's this, no plastic baggie? He pulls my luggage aside, opens it, and asks me to repack my liquids and gels "the right way."Smith does a good job highlighting the absurdity of all of this and pointing out, of course, that the guard is wrong. But later in the post he really keys in on the scary point of all of this: we've trained the TSA to look for unbagged liquids, rather than explosives. And they're doing that successfully:
I do as he wants. When I'm finished, I hand him the baggie so he can run the items through again.
To my surprise, he won't take them. "No," he says. "Just put them in your suitcase and go."
But ...
"Just put them in your suitcase and go."
I look at him for a minute. Apparently my having to repack them was a punishment exercise? All right, fine. Lesson learned, I unzip the approved, one-quart zip-top bag, and begin to dump the containers back into my toiletries kit.
"No!" interjects the guard. "Leave them in the plastic!"
"Huh?"
"You have to leave them in the plastic bag!"
"But I'm already through the checkpoint. You already screened them."
He shrugs. "They need to stay in the bag."
"No they don't."
"Yes they do."
"Why?"
"They need to stay in the bag. You should know better."
Are we looking for liquids, or are we looking for explosives? A search for the former is not a de facto search for the latter. Not the way we've been doing it. Steve Elson tells the story of a test in which TSA screeners are presented with a suitcase containing a mock explosive device with a water bottle nestled next to it. They ferret out the water, of course, while the bomb goes sailing through.It's yet another case of where security theater is actually making us less safe. We've set up these rules that don't really help protect anyone, and yet the TSA folks are taught to follow the rules, rather than look for anyone actually looking to cause harm on an airplane.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: explosives, liquids, security, tsa
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
I traveled with ice cream...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I traveled with ice cream...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I traveled with ice cream...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I traveled with ice cream...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not to mention..
They really do more by illegal racial profiling than looking for liquids.
I remember once I was on a vacation and bought a new tube of toothpaste and didn't notice I bought a FOUR oz size instead of the proper THREE oz size. Boy, did they get upset at TSA checkpoint! They wouldn't let me keep it either. Sheesh. Nowdays I wait until I arrive at destination and find the cheapest drugstore.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Not to mention..
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Not to mention..
The ordeal ended without any issues and my dad now has another story with him messing with authority. And just for some more color, he carried on a lighter, his homemade curry powder (a handful to the eyes could blind anyone for a good amount of time) and was wearing a traditional Afghan war lord hat.
He also almost had security called on him for not wearing shoes when he was going to get off the plane. He told them he took his shoes off to go through the screen like they asked and therefore didn't have any shoes. There are no signs on an airplane requiring you to wear shoes, wtf.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I've Got That Beat
I asked why, seeing as how I'd already identified myself as carrying a loaded handgun, what could possibly be in my carry on that would make me a threat, and out of hundreds of flights, I've never had to be inspected before.
He claimed it was just procedure. (If that's true, it's a procedure that has never been followed before, to my knowledge.) But not wanting to create a hassle for myself, I said fine and let him look through it.
Well, he came up with my Leatherman knife (basically a fancy Swiss Army knife) and said that I couldn't bring it on the plane because knives are prohibited items.
I looked at him like he was insane and said, "Let me get this straight, you're letting me carry a loaded handgun onto the plane, but not a pocket knife? In what conceivable world does that make sense?"
He responded that per FAA rules, I was authorized as a federal agent to carry the gun on board but the rules don't mention knives except as a general prohibition for everyone.
Not wanting to lose a $30 knife, I asked to see his supervisor, figuring this was some low-level zombie unable to exercise basic common sense. But no, the supervisor said the same thing!
Years later, I still shake my head at the abject stupidity on display at the airport that day.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I've Got That Beat
Just that day? I shake my head at the abject stupidity of the TSA everyday.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I've Got That Beat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I've Got That Beat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
Only until I got back to my office. A few phone calls and it was FedExed back to me with a written apology.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I've Got That Beat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I've Got That Beat
Yes, some TSA workers are nitwits (and bullies and thieves), but some are just decent people doing their best in a bad situation. (The ones at the bottom, I mean-- the ones at the top have no excuse.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
You don't need a courtroom and a judge to make an appropriate judgment that an agent allowed to carry a sidearm can be let through with a leatherman.
Relinquishing all thought and judgment for a one-rule-for-all mentality is one more way we continue to march away from liberty and towards a police state.
Taken long enough and far enough, this is how otherwise good people can be convinced to perform atrocities - "I was just going what I was told!"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
No, not really. This was a federal agent who had authorisation to carry a loaded firearm onto a plane. It is nothing at all akin to waving the general public through.
Let me be clear. The federal agent had a loaded firearm capable of killing multiple people instantly, more so for the fact he'd have been trained in its usage. A weapon he really could have used to hijack the plane. He was forbidden from carrying on a pocket knife. A POCKET KNIFE.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
So... you think that agent should be allowed a pocket knife, but others shouldn't.
So... you don't really want the TSA screeners to use their judgement, you want them to use yours.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
> but others shouldn't.
In a word, yes.
If I'm authorized to carry the gun on board, presumably for use in a hostile situation should it develop, then it only makes sense that I should be able to use other less-lethal weapons at my disposal as well.
If I can thwart a potential hijacker with a knife instead of using my gun, wouldn't that be preferable, considering we're all in a pressurized aluminum tube at the time? By taking away my knife, you're forcing me to resort to the most dangerous remedy from the get-go.
A TSA screener, whose job is, at its most basic level, to ensure the safety of the flying public, should recognize that and not engage in absurdities over a hypertechnical interpretation of an obscure FAA regulation, and which actually results in potentially putting people in more danger than they otherwise would be.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
> showing up for work.
Really?
You think the Coast Guard and the Secret Service are just "security theater" and pointless to have around?
Okay...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
It seems an awful lot like the special pleading fallacy (http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/special-pleading.html).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
I think the term facsist is appropriate since they are controlhungry.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I've Got That Beat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I've Got That Beat
I am reminded of the one scene from Crocodile Dundee when he was explaining what a real knife looked like.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: I've Got That Beat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I've Got That Beat
The TSA people can do whatever they want. Rules be dammed.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Now, that jerkface tailgating me on the highway, thinking that I'm a menace for going the speed limit on the right-hand lane, that guy really worries me.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Not to be too condescending but...
We have a situation where the people in charge really just want to cover their asses and avoid being blamed for the next bad thing that happens so they make up long lists of rules to cover every conceivable attack. That way when something inevitably happens, the people in charge can say they were prepared, but Joe TSO on the bottom rung of the ladder didn't follow the correct procedures - it's his fault, not ours.
It's a failure of leadership that started well before 9/11 and is perpetuated by partisanship and fear.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Not to be too condescending but...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Not to be too condescending but...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I never take my liquids out of my carry on and only one time recently was called on it. The screener told me I should have taken the liquids out but let it go with a warning. He did not make me take them out. On the return trip, I put them under my fleece in the tray and they never pulled the fleece aside to view the liquids. I could have had several 3oz containers of gasoline and they would never know.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
My last pat-down was in Houston, where the TSA agent whined that I wore a skirt. She really wanted me to ask for a private screening room. I told her "no, I want everyone to see how absurd this is". I think she was more upset about having to put her hands up my skirt in plain view of the public than I was. After telling her I didn't believe the machines were necessary or very safe, she just said "Yeah, I don't know if those are really safe either..." -- well thanks for the honesty, TSA!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I started swaying and replied, "Yess, occifer, there'sh only a shot or two leff."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is why...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So if we can bring liquid...
I haven't been on a plain in 9 years and don't plan on doing so anytime soon. So I am just curious.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The world they invision is one where the masses fall into line. Where the middle class does what they are told.
Don't ask questions.
Don't ask why.
Just pay up and up and up.
Understand?
Those in power would prefer people keep talking about everything but what's really going on. Take for example legal and illegal immigrants. Blame them. Ya thats perfect!.
Or could it be state and federal workers? Sure that works!
How about speeders and stop sign runners? No wait a minute I've got it! It's those damn, you pick, Republicans/Tea Party/Democrats/Chinese/Muslims/people not enslaved by college loans.
Or is it pirates? Ya, for sure those file sharing black beards are blame worthy.
For that matter so is Mike Masnick and Techdirt. Any and all of those free thinkers. Those writers. Those damn instigators.
Really it can anybody just as long as they don't have political power.
See statistics for specifics.
Just don't blame us Ivy League trained, politically enabled blue bloods that spend all day every day plotting to get..
A) re-elected
B) what we are entitled too.
Listen we know what's best for you. You little people. You idealists.
Until you do we'll make sure there are plenty of distractions to keep you busy and important. Meaningless trivial things.
Get used to it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Five Words: Philip Zimbardo. Stanford Prison Experiment.
Then again, that would be just fine with many Americans, including some members of our much-vaunted journalist class. Here's a missive I received from one of them this morning -- name removed -- this reporter friend works for one of the top 3 TV networks:
"Can you please take me off your crazy list? You are starting to sound like a lunatic and it's really annoying. So please... Remove me from the list for all transportation, strip search, govt jackboot conspiracy nuttiness. I mostly delete it unread now anyway. Thanks."
Yeah, concern about civil liberties is "nuttiness." And these are the people who are supposed to be questioning authority, not buckling under to it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
funny
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
never mind
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
10 years without an attack
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Method to the madness
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Stop electing the same tired old rich people.
Most of us have more in common with the homeless guy than any of them.
The two party system is the biggest scam ever pulled on Americans.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
As a more serious story, in 2008 I was making my way from Lima, Peru to Long Beach, CA by way of Boston. At the security checkpoint in the lima airport (where I flew out from), there was a giant clear box full of intricately decorated knives (very popular among tourists in S. America). I noted the box and felt smart to have packed the knife I was bringing home as a gift for my dad in my checked luggage. A few days later, I flew from Boston to California with my mementos in tow, and when I unpacked my checked luggage to present the knife to my dad, it wasn't there and I sadly assumed I'd forgotten to bring it. Then later as I unpacked my carry-on, there it was - a successful evader of TSA! Not only was I shocked that I'd been dumb enough to pack it in my carry-on, but also that the TSA screeners in Boston where taking away water bottles from people in my security line while I obviously walked on the plane with a thick 4-inch blade.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I think this is what's known as a vicious circle.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: I've got that beat
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Same outside USA
Just as a reminder, the shoe-bomber failed not because they found his bomb but because the security officer had a "hunch" about the guy. The more she questioned, the more she felt something was off. She was right. Her hunch saved a lot of lives. Let's train our security personel. It's the only way.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Obviously the baggie is bomb proof.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
mailing home your liquids
[ link to this | view in chronology ]