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Transportation Security Annoyance

This summer my wife, my youngest son, and I took a trip to Tennessee. We had a fabulous time on the other side of the country, but getting there, and getting back home was an annoyance.

On the way to Tennessee we had to wait in line as the girl in front of us argued with TSA screeners about a can of soda in her carryon bag. This despite prominent warning signs indicating that you had to take out your computers and electronic devices and run them through the x-ray machine separately, signs warning you that you could only carry on small containers of liquid, and that those containers had to be in a sealed zip-lock type plastic bag and so forth.

The can of soda violated two of the TSA's requirements. First, it was a container of liquid that held more than 10 ounces. Second it wasn't in a sealed zip-lock type bag. I waited behind this woman for almost five minutes while she argued about it. She said she'd drink it right there, but the TSA screener insisted on confiscating it. Drinking it just wasn't an option.

Hmm…

Meanwhile I had to take off my shoes, put all of my metal items in a tray, open my laptop case and put the laptop in a tray, open my camera case and put my video camera and digital camera into a tray, take out the chargers and spare batteries and put them in a tray, and take my shoes out and put them into a tray. Then I put my camera case, and laptop case into a tray. All of this was on the other side of the screening equipment, having gone through the x-ray while I waited on this woman who was arguing about a can of soda.

Anyone that had already gone through the screening could have stolen it, and I wouldn't have known about it until I finally got through. My wife had to forfeit a 12-ounce bottle of hand and body lotion. That was irritating.

Coming back from Tennessee was a bit more annoying. My wife had packed away all of her liquids, except a butane lighter. The couple in front of us at the screening station were escorted away by TSA screeners.

My wife was stopped by the screeners. She was forced to give up a tube of lipstick! First of all, that wasn't on the list of items that the TSA had said was prohibited, second, it was less than an ounce. The TSA agent was anal about it though because it wasn't in a sealed zip-lock bag. My wife was furious and argued with the TSA agent. She accused him of wanting the lipstick for herself. He said that she could go back outside and get a zip-lock bag to put the lipstick in or give it up. She gave it up, cursing him as she did and we went through the screeners.

Funny thing. They never complained about that lipstick in Seattle. Other TSA screeners that we know personally have told us that there was no reason for it to be confiscated in Tennessee.

What's even stranger is my wife carried two butane lighters on board the plane from Seattle to Tennessee and one on board the plane from Tennessee to Seattle, and butane lighters ARE on the list of items you're not supposed to be allowed to carry on. Screeners in BOTH airports ignored them totally.

Which is more dangerous I ask you, a can of soda, a plastic pump bottle of hand lotion, a tube of lipstick or a butane lighter?

Neither of these incidents was all that serious. They were simply random annoyances, caused by arbitrary interpretation of the "rules" by different TSA screeners, who missed the more important items in their search for trivialities.

Can you tell me why it is that box-cutters, scissors, small knives and the like are on the "OK to carry on" list again? They are in Seattle anyway. Weren't those the very weapons that were used to bring down the twin towers? Or did the plane that was crashed into the pentagon happen to be hijacked by a middle aged lipstick wielding woman?

Which brings me to the subject of the following news article from the Seattle Times:

WASHINGTON — Undercover investigators carried all the bomb components needed to cause "severe damage" to airliners and passengers through U.S. airport screening checkpoints several times this year, despite measures adopted in August 2006 to stop such explosive devices, according to a new government report.

Agents smuggled aboard a detonator, liquid explosives and liquid incendiary components costing less than $150, even though screening officers in most cases appeared to follow proper procedures and used appropriate screening technology, according to an unclassified version of a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress' audit arm.

I guess they were too busy confiscating cans of 7-Up from young women or wondering how that tube of lipstick might look on their wives to catch the really important stuff?

The report concludes that the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) needs to adopt more stringent security measures.

No more moist disposable wipes for cleaning your baby's backside when you change her in the on-board lavatory. No more disposable diapers, that load might be explosive as well as odoriferous. Hey, I know… let's make everyone pack their shoes in their checked baggage and wear paper slippers aboard the planes. After all, there was a failed attempt to bring down a plane with a shoe bomb!

The report provoked criticism of TSA from congressional lawmakers just days before the start of the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel week. The House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, which requested the investigation, plans a hearing on the subject today.

Hey… Congress has to look like it's doing something about the war on terror. Lets see if we can't make holiday travelers a bit more annoyed, or maybe scare them away from the airlines, because the government can't focus on real security instead of the dog and pony show they're giving us now.

The TSA's handling of real threats to our airline security looks to be a dismal failure from the GAO report. They miss the components for bombs. Meanwhile, they annoy the heck out of millions of travelers every day.

They honestly seem to be focused more on annoyance than threat avoidance, although I'm fairly sure that that's not their aim. Yet with reports of Hezbollah moles in the FBI and CIA how long will it be before a successful infiltration into the TSA leads to another hijacking on U.S. soil with tragic consequences?

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