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With TSA on the Ropes, Holiday Travel May Be a Bear

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The Transportation Security Administration has bad news for tens of millions of Thanksgiving holiday travelers: Lines at airports may be even longer than usual as the agency tries once again to plug security holes in its baggage screening.

TSA is scrambling to respond to yet another damning investigation of its screening effectiveness, for the second time in little more than two years. And the agency is already phasing in revised security procedures — including those for passengers’ electronic devices — that could cause “a slight increase in wait times,” new TSA Administrator David Pekoske said in an interview.

“The procedure is new,” Pekoske said. “It’s new to passengers. It’s somewhat new to our screeners.”

The additional delays may not be as horrendous as the hourslong queues that left many passengers stranded at airports in the summer of 2016, a year after TSA leaders launched a crash course in security improvements in response to a previous failing grade from its inspector general.

But Pekoske said travelers could experience some of the longest wait times of the year on Sunday when many return home from the holiday. TSA has projected that more than 2.6 million passengers and airline crew members will be screened on Sunday alone, potentially making it one of the agency’s top five busiest days ever. (Read more from “With TSA on the Ropes, Holiday Travel May Be a Bear” HERE)

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New U.S. Airport Security Rules Take Effect

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Starting Thursday, boarding a plane on all United States-bound flights will mean stricter passenger screening. The new security measures are being put in place to avoid banning in-cabin laptops.

Changes to the pre-boarding security screening process will affect 325,000 passengers entering the U.S. on a daily basis. About 2,000 commercial flights from 105 different countries arrive in the U.S. every day.

The new government requirements to board airplanes could include short security screening interviews either at the boarding gate or at check-in.

The U.S. government announced the new rules in June, giving airline companies 120 days to prepare.

The regulations were implemented in order to “end the government’s restrictions on carry-on electronic devices on planes coming from 10 airports in eight countries in the Middle East and North Africa in response to unspecified security threats,” according to Reuters.

In March, the Trump administration had ordered a ban on carry-on laptops. The restrictions were eventually removed, but the administration said if airlines and airports did not boost their security, the measures could be reimplemented on a case-by-case basis.

Air France, Cathay Pacific, EgyptAir, Emirates and Lufthansa will begin implementing the new security measures on Thursday. Royal Jordanian Airlines were granted a delay by the U.S., and have until mid-January to start implementing the new security measures.

“In addition to the controls of electronic devices already introduced, travelers to the U.S.A. might now also face short interviews at check-in, document check or (their) gate,” Germany’s Lufthansa Group said in a statement.

TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein told CBS News that the new security screening would be for all passengers, including U.S. citizens.

“The security measures affect all individuals, international passengers and U.S. citizens, traveling to the United States from a last point of departure international location,” Farbstein said. “These new measures will impact all flights from airports that serve as last points of departure locations to the United States.”

Airlines in Korea and China have expressed their concern over the new security features.

“We see this as a big issue for China Airlines,” said Steve Chang, senior vice president of the Taiwanese firm.

“We are asking customers to show up at the airport early. … It’s just inconvenient for the passengers,” Walter Cho, president and chief operating officer of Korean Airlines, told Reuters.

Cathay Pacific Airways has said in-town check-in and self-bag-drop services will no longer be available on direct flights to the U.S. They also advise passengers to arrive three hours before their departure time. (For more from the author of “New U.S. Airport Security Rules Take Effect” please click HERE)

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Ex-Airport Security Employee Alleges Managers Recorded, Shared Co-Worker Sex Videos at JFK

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A female former security supervisor for the company that protects John F. Kennedy International Airport has filed a federal complaint alleging the outfit was “overrun with misogyny, racism and harassment.”

LaDonna Powell worked for four years at Allied Universal Security Services, which is contracted by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to secure the Queens airport. She claims in court papers filed Tuesday that she “was subjected to a shocking campaign of abuse and hazing.”

In an exclusive interview with the I-Team, Powell said male managers touched her inappropriately and made lewd comments about her body. Four of those managers are named as defendants in the federal lawsuit. The suit also names two Allied project managers and one executive for the company.

A spokesperson for Allied Universal Security Services, which bills itself as the largest security services company in North America, told the I-Team the company just received the lawsuit Tuesday morning and is reviewing it. She said Allied does not comment on pending litigation. (Read more from “Ex-Airport Security Employee Alleges Managers Recorded, Shared Co-Worker Sex Videos at JFK” HERE)

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TSA Agent Touches Passengers Crotch 8 Times

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. . .For those curious about what the “enhanced” pat-down involves, I had a first-hand experience (no pun intended) Sunday evening September 10 in the Kansas City airport. (This is going exactly where you think it’s going, so feel free to stop reading right now.)

After going through a metal detector in the TSA-Pre security line, I was randomly selected to see if a machine would detect explosives on my hands. My palms were swabbed and the machine detected explosives, even though I had not recently handled a gun, flammable liquids, or any sort of explosives. Another airline passenger told me the same machine had detected explosives on the hands of another passenger who had gone through the line minutes before I did . . .

For what it’s worth, this isn’t the story of an agent who didn’t know how to do a pat-down. The agent described exactly what he was going to do before he did it and seemed to be simply carrying out the government’s policy. I’m sure he’d like a job that involves less groping.

I’m not a crazy ACLU-type. I’ve had no problem with body-scanners or previous TSA pat-downs. In 2009, a terrorist famously smuggled a bomb in his underwear aboard a U.S. flight. But an agent of the state should probably only touch a citizen’s genitals seven or eight times if the agent has reasonable suspicion, and not because a machine is malfunctioning or calibrated, intentionally or unintentionally, to detect explosives on everyone who is tested. (Read more from “TSA Agent Touches Passengers Crotch 8 Times” HERE)

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Former TSA Boss Among Candidates for FBI Director

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A former Transportation Security Administration leader is among the latest candidates President Donald Trump is considering for FBI director.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump met Tuesday with former TSA Administator John Pistole as well as Chris Wray, a former top Justice Department official who has served as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s personal lawyer.

Trump is still on the hunt for a new FBI director three weeks after he fired James Comey. Before he departed on his first overseas trip, which ended Saturday, Trump met with former Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating and acting FBI director Andrew McCabe. Lieberman later pulled his name from consideration. (Read more from “Former TSA Boss Among Candidates for FBI Director” HERE)

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DHS Head Backs Phone Searches of Those Entering U.S. At Airports

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The Department of Homeland Security will continue searching the mobile phones and electronic devices of travelers at U.S. airports, the agency’s leader said as lawmakers of both parties questioned whether the anti-terrorism tool is unlawfully intrusive.

DHS Secretary John Kelly, speaking Wednesday to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said such searches are valuable in the fight to keep terrorists out of the U.S. and that they affect a fraction of the 1 million people who enter the country every day.

The electronics searches are “not routine; it’s done in a very small number of cases,” the retired Marine general told lawmakers. “If there’s reason to do it, we will do it. Whether it’s France, Britain Egypt, Saudi Arabia or Somalia, it won’t be routinely done at a port of entry.”

Kelly appeared before the panel to announce that the number of undocumented immigrants apprehended at the border last month reached a 17-year low since President Donald Trump took office. (Read more from “DHS Head Backs Phone Searches of Those Entering U.S. At Airports” HERE)

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Mom Says TSA Agents Traumatized Son With ‘Horrifying’ Security Check

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A mother who asked TSA agents at DFW International Airport for alternative screening for her son with special needs said they were “treated like dogs” and forced to miss a flight during an extensive security check, according to her Facebook post that has since gone viral.

But the Transportation Security Administration said in a prepared statement that it followed approved procedures to “resolve an alarm of the passenger’s laptop.”

Jennifer Williamson wrote Sunday morning that her son has a sensory processing disorder and that she asked agents to “screen him in other ways per TSA rules.”

An accompanying video shows a TSA agent patting down her son. The agent pats down his backside before moving to his front. She writes in the post they were kept for more than hour in the “horrifying” incident.

TSA disputed Williamson’s account, noting in its statement that the passengers were at the checkpoint for about 45 minutes, including the time it took to discuss screening procedures with the teen’s mother and the inspection of three carry-on items. The pat-down took about two minutes, according to the agency. (Read more from “Mom Says TSA Agents Traumatized Son With ‘Horrifying’ Security Check” HERE)

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TSA’s New Groping Process So Invasive, They’re Warning Police to Prepare for Complaints

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Something ominous is taking place at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) right now, having to do with a more aggressive version of the already invasive pat-down method. The TSA is so certain their new groping method will offend that they have taken action to warn police ahead of time that they will undoubtedly be receiving complaints.

The TSA — one of America’s most corrupt and incompetent agencies whose ostensible job is fighting terrorism — is apparently so unsatisfied with the mere ability to strip search babies, remove colostomy bags, beat up blind cancer patients, and fondle your genitalia, that this week they announced a more invasive physical pat-down.

Taking note of their increased ability to grope anyone who wishes to fly on an airplane, the agency expects passengers to consider the examination unusual.

In fact, as Bloomberg reports,the TSA decided to inform local police in case anyone calls to report an “abnormal” federal frisking, according to a memo from an airport trade association obtained by Bloomberg News. The physical search, for those selected to have one, is what the agency described as a more “comprehensive” screening, replacing five separate kinds of pat-downs it previously used.

“Passengers who have not previously experienced the now standardized pat-down screening may not realize that they did in fact receive the correct procedure, and may ask our partners, including law enforcement at the airport, about the procedure,” TSA spokesman Bruce Anderson wrote March 3 in an email, describing why the agency notified police.

The fact that the TSA is alerting police to the fact that there will likely be an increase in complaints is bad enough. However, their vague details about the newly enhanced sexual assault with the fronts of their hands leave the imagination open for the worst.

On its website, the TSA says employees “use the back of the hands for pat-downs over sensitive areas of the body. In limited cases, additional screening involving a sensitive area pat-down with the front of the hand may be needed to determine that a threat does not exist.”

“Due to this change, TSA asked FSDs [field security directors] to contact airport law enforcement and brief them on the procedures in case they are notified that a passenger believes a [TSA employee] has subjected them to an abnormal screening practice,” Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) wrote

As the Free Thought Project has pointed out countless times, the TSA has been caught in a myriad of criminal activities — including everything from massive drug trafficking conspiracies to brutal beat downs. Granting this already despicable group of cronies the ability to further dehumanize Americans for the facade of safety is nothing short of irresponsible and tyrannical.

Laughably, the ACI-NA is justifying these enhanced pat-downs by claiming TSA agents aren’t intelligent enough to remember all the procedures.

The pat-down change is “intended to reduce the cognitive burden on [employees] who previously had to choose from various pat-down procedures depending on the type of screening lane,” the ACI-NA wrote in its notice, as reported by Bloomberg.

Now, instead of a dimwitted TSA agent fumbling to remember what pat-down to do in which lane, they can just pull the person off to a secret room and have their way with the front of their hands. Thanks, America!

Of course, when they were pressed with questions in regards to their new molestation techniques, the TSA said they couldn’t comment because “knowing our specific procedures could aid those who wish to do travelers harm in evading our measures.”

To the average American who buys into the ‘terrorists hate our freedom’ propaganda, this move by the TSA to grant them the legal ability to grope themselves and their children, will be mostly accepted. However, to those of us who pay attention and realize that the TSA has a 95% failure rate at stopping anything from coming through, as well as being a massively corrupt and predatory organization, this move is seen for what it actually is — conditioning for the police state. (For more from the author of “TSA’s New Groping Process So Invasive, They’re Warning Police to Prepare for Complaints” please click HERE)

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U.S. Airport Pat-Downs Are About to Get More Invasive

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While few have noticed, U.S. airport security workers long had the option of using five different types of physical pat-downs at the screening line. Now those options have been eliminated and replaced with a single universal approach. This time, you will notice.

The new physical touching—for those selected to have a pat-down—will be be what the federal agency officially describes as a more “comprehensive” physical screening, according to a Transportation Security Administration spokesman.

Denver International Airport, for example, notified employees and flight crews on Thursday that the “more rigorous” searches “will be more thorough and may involve an officer making more intimate contact than before.”

“I would say people who in the past would have gotten a pat-down that wasn’t involved will notice that the [new] pat-down is more involved,” TSA spokesman Bruce Anderson said Friday. The shift from the previous, risk-based assessment on which pat-down procedure an officer should apply was phased in over the past two weeks after tests at smaller airports, he said. (Read more from “U.S. Airport Pat-Downs Are About to Get More Invasive” HERE)

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TSA ‘Virtual Strip Searches’ Linked to Deaths

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The legal battle over the Transportation Security Administration’s installation of Advanced Imaging Technology – its “virtual strip search” machines – in airports has gone on for nearly a decade, and it’s focused mostly on privacy rights.

The feds use an X-ray type technology designed to reveal whether an airline passenger is carrying a weapon or another banned item underneath clothing.

But there have been numerous lawsuits over the images the machines create – initially an essentially nude rendering of the passenger – and how the images were handled. The agency said it altered its software so that the images now render a “stick figure” that doesn’t reveal intimate details.

But now there’s a lawsuit raising another claim: The machines are responsible for hundreds of deaths per year.

The lawsuit was filed in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and the Rutherford Institute against the Department of Transportation and the TSA. (Read more from “TSA ‘Virtual Strip Searches’ Linked to Deaths” HERE)

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