TSA

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
The security theater: breaking the fourth wall
God, guns, and freedom
U.S. Politics
Icon politics USA.svg
Starting arguments over Thanksgiving dinner
Persons of interest

The Touch, Squeeze, and Assault Transportation Security Administration is a shitty display of security theater, which does nothing to make us safer while simultaneously violating everyone who wants to ride a plane. It's known for massively overreacting to everything, having never stopped a terrorist attack. In other words, it's a useless funnel of our money and yet another example of our wasteful response to 9/11. Liberal[1][2] and conservative[3][4] sources agree that the TSA sucks. It's cost inefficient, overspending, and a waste of taxpayer money.[5][6]

Effectiveness[edit]

An X-ray body scanner

A 2001 paper[5] found it questionable that the TSA helps to prevent terrorist attacks similar to 9/11. The TSA director got reassigned in 2015: after testing by the Department of Homeland Security in which his administration failed to detect fake bombs and weapons 95% of the time.[7] The US GAO (Government Accountability Office) had to step in to make suggestions that the TSA provide accurate and sufficient data on performance.[8]

TSA's SPOT program has been found to be ineffective by the GAO[9] and by Nature.[10] The ACLU has criticized the SPOT program as racial profiling.[11]

Body-scanners used by the TSA, the Rapiscan Secure 1000 full-body scanners, are not good at catching contraband or illegal weapons and can easily be bypassed.[12] The TSA ended their contract with the maker of Rapiscan body-scanners in 2013 due to the privacy risk posed by the machines.[13] Another body-scanner, the millimeter-wave machine, regularly reports false positives: it can mistake sweat as weaponry.[14] X-ray body scanners may increase cancer risk.[15] These scanners have been banned in European countries.[15] The TSA removed the X-ray body-scanners in 2013.[16]

Sexual assault and harassment[edit]

Nun-a-ya business!
See the main article on this topic: Rape

Two TSA screeners were fired for a sexual assault scheme against men in 2015.[17] A former TSA employee stated that sexual assaults against passengers were common.[18] At LaGuardia Airport, 2015, a TSA agent was arrested for sexually assaulting a woman.[19] A female TSA employee's criminal charges over sexual assault at the Denver International Airport were dropped in 2014.[20]

Rapiscan body scanners gave TSA agents low-res naked photos of screened passengers to inspect for weapons.[13] TSA officers commonly shared low-res nudes of passengers without consent.[21]

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) had to write a guide for victims of sexual assault regarding the TSA.[22] Angela T. Rye, a journalist filmed her frightening pat-down where the TSA agent was very close to grabbing her private parts.[23] Aida Rodriguez, a rape victim has said that the TSA pat-down made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.[24] Sarah Beaulieu, a survivor of sexual assault, broke down in tears when faced with the prospect of a TSA screening.[25] Gina Miller has recounted her sexual assault by a TSA agent.[26]

In 2010, a new pat-down method included breast and buttocks groping and examining genitals.[27] In 2017, the TSA introduced a new even-more invasive pat-down method, of which they warned police departments about increased complaints.[28]

Neglect of duty[edit]

TSA keys are now available to anyone with a 3-D printer.

People cracked all seven master keys used to unlock luggage in 2015, and the TSA doesn't seem to care.[29]

It took seven years for the TSA to finally respond to a journalist's Freedom of Information Act request.[30] The TSA disclosed data on passenger complaints, four years after he requested the data.[31]

External links[edit]

Their social media:

References[edit]

  1. Airport Security: Astoundingly Expensive and 95 Percent Ineffective by Kriston Capps. CityLab
  2. Acting TSA director reassigned after screeners failed tests to detect explosives, weapons by Eric Bradner and Rene Marsh CNN
  3. The TSA Was and Is a Gigantic Mistake by Brittany Hunter. Foundation for Economic Education
  4. TSA Boondoggles: High Costs, Low Effectiveness, But It's Only Your Money by George Leef Forbes
  5. 5.0 5.1 Assessing the Risks, Costs and Benefits of United States Aviation Security Measures by M.G. Stewart and J. Mueller
  6. The Naked Truth about TSA Spending by Chris Edwards CATO Institute
  7. TSA Director Reassigned in Wake of Security Failures by Justin Fishel and Mike Levine ABC
  8. Aviation Security PDF GAO
  9. Aviation Security: TSA Should Limit Future Funding for Behavior Detection Activities GAO
  10. Intent to deceive? PDF Nature
  11. TSA Refusing to Release Documents About Spot Program’s Effectiveness, Racial Profiling Impact ACLU
  12. Security Analysis of a Full-Body Scanner PDF
  13. 13.0 13.1 TSA ends contract with Rapiscan, maker of full-body scanner by Hugo Martin LA Times
  14. Sweating Bullets: Body Scanners Can See Perspiration as a Potential Weapon by Michael Grabell and Christian Salewski. Propublica
  15. 15.0 15.1 U.S. Government Glossed Over Cancer Concerns As It Rolled Out Airport X-Ray Scanners by Michael Grabell Propublica
  16. TSA Removes X-Ray Body Scanners from Airports by Mark Schoofs Propublica.
  17. Two TSA Officers Fired for Scheme to Grope Attractive Men at Denver Airport by Andrew Blankstein and Phil Helsel. NBC News
  18. Former TSA Agent: Groping Scandal Is Business as Usual by Jason Edward Harrington. Time
  19. TSA agent accused of sexual assault at LaGuardia CBS News
  20. No Criminal Charges Against TSA Agent Over Pat-Down At DIA CBS Local
  21. 8 Things You Don't (Want To) Know About TSA Checkpoints by Robert Evans and Anonymous Cracked
  22. Airport Security for Survivors RAINN
  23. Dear TSA: The country is not safer because you grab vaginas by Angela T. Rye CNN
  24. TSA Body Search Leaves CNN’s Angela Rye In Tears 3:16 The Young Turks
  25. What TSA Screenings Mean For Sexual Assault Survivors by Sarah Beaulieu wbur
  26. My sexual assault by the TSA by Gina Miller Renew America
  27. Changes in Airport Passenger Screening Technologies and Procedures: Frequently Asked Question PDF by Bart Elias Congressional Research Service
  28. TSA Introducing New, More Invasive Pat-Down Method by Mary Beth Quirk Consumerist
  29. TSA Doesn't Care That its Luggage Locks Have Been Hacked by Jenna McLaughlin The Intercept
  30. The TSA Releases Data on Air Marshal Misconduct, 7 Years After We Asked by Michael Grabell Propublica
  31. TSA Reveals Passenger Complaints … Four Years Later by Michael Grabell Propublica