Summary: The Transportation Security Administration

According to the former federal air marshal P. Jeffrey Black, “‘What we've got now is nothing but security theater, meaning all these bells and whistles that you see are only meant to make you feel safe.’” The documentary, “Please Remove Your Shoes,” argues that the TSA has grown into a “massive government bureaucracy with too much money” and “focuses on herding people through checkpoints as fast as possible and hires poorly-trained workers who dress up in uniforms and play cop.” Steve Elson was a security special agent with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). He was hired to attempt to sneak guns, bombs, and other weapons past security. He got through security ninety percent of the time without his weapons being detected. Apparently, Elson said, the FAA did not validate his results because they only wanted him to try to pass security using a certain size gun (Mayerowitz). This reaction from the FAA was unacceptable to Elson because he knew that terrorists are crafty and unpredictable. As long as they have a different size gun than what the FAA planned for, they would more than likely pass security. One of Elson’s coworkers, Dzakovic, said that at most airports uncover bombs twenty percent of the time. “‘Usually the worse the results were that we had on any given project, the less we were tasked to test to see if they had improved,’ Dzakovic said.” To Dzakovic and Elson, their managers were incapable of acknowledging that their process might not be perfect. Another critic of the TSA is the House Representative John Mica. He said, “‘I helped create TSA and I've referred to it sometimes as either my b****** child or a monster that we've created, a bureaucratic monster. It didn't turn out exactly the way I

The Transportation Security Administration, more commonly known as TSA, is a part of the United States Department of homeland Security that supervises and manages the safety of travelers in the United States. Unlike other government operated tasks forces such as the military or FBI whose as been in existence since (), the TSA was only recently founded twelve years ago in 2001 after the devastating terroristic attack that took place in New York city’s twin towers earlier that year. There are more than forty eight thousand people employed by the TSA in airports, bus stations, railroads and freeways across every state, but you may never realize when they are nearby. Some have the typical security duties of checking bags, using different

In this paper, I will try to demonstrate how drastically the security in airports has changed since the attacks occurred on September 11, 2001. September 11 is a day that probably every single person on this earth either remembers or at least knows about. The airports have had some of the biggest changes in how humans travel this earth. Every country has their own way of securing their airports, but they all have made changes in some way, shape or form. The question I have recently asked myself is; are these changes actually going to keep us safe when we fly? Can anyone really answer this question with 100 percent truthfulness? I personally do not think it is a question

As an aviation management major airport security is a concern that I have taken a huge interest in. Making travel safer to air travelers is one of the biggest tasks that will never end as long as there is a plane in the sky. However, there are many problems that come about when traveling because passengers feel as if they are being harassed, which doesn’t set a good look for the Transportation Security Administration. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) consist of 50,000 security officers, inspectors, directors, air marshals and managers who protect the nation's transportation systems so you and your family can travel safely. They look for bombs at checkpoints in airports, they inspect rail cars, they patrol subways with our

Just recently there has been uproar over airport security and the use of body scanners on passengers. After 9/11 many airlines have toughen up their security measures in order to prevent this tragic accident to ever occur again. In order to improve security and make our lives a lot safer airlines have implemented many different types of technology. Technology aids airline security to see what passengers are possibly carrying under their clothing. Making passengers go through X-Ray screenings can not only prevent passengers from boarding a plane with harmful equipment but it can also deter the thought of someone actually making an attempt to board while carrying a weapon. Other technological advancements such as surveillance cameras are being

The Travel security agency, or the TSA, is an important agency whose job it is to protect our nation in airports and borders. Impressively, the Agency has stopped many weapons, and saved our citizens numerous times. According to several experts however, the TSA has never stopped a terrorist plot. Their methods have been questioned too. As our nation grows deeper and deeper in debt, the TSA is a huge cost that may need to be cut. In order to gain a clear understanding of the TSA, its successes, issues, and cost must be evaluated critically.

As a response to the 9/11 attacks, one would expect that the TSA would improve airport security. In reality, it's just security theater. Originally, the use of metal detectors and luggage x-rays in airport security checkpoints was enough. However, on December 25, 2009, an inbound international

Airport security in the post 9/11 era is designed to create the illusion of safety, without actually protecting us from terrorism. It is important to recognize, that the TSA is incredibly ineffective, at preventing prohibited items from getting past its gates. In a recent test at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, undercover federal agents successful snuck in 95 percent of explosive materials, fake weapons and drugs. While this failure rate is certainly alarmingly high it is by no way unique. In a similar, but slightly broader Homeland Security investigation, the TSA failed 67 out of 70 tests conducted by the department’s Red Team across a variety of cities. Furthermore, the layout of security at airports is incredible ineffective. According to renowned security expert, Rafi Sela, “security should happen in rings, so different teams can check each other’s work.” However, in American Airports the only place that security happens is at one checkpoint.

Surely the TSA has foiled some sort of terrorist plot in its nearly fifteen years of existence. But in reality, as far as we know, the TSA has not caught any! Nearly 200 million dollars a year goes into a hidden layer of airport security referred to as “behavior detection” which is where specially trained agents watch out for particular patterns of body language that might indicate that somebody is planning something malicious and apprehending them. However this supposed “vital layer” of security has done nothing more than catch drug smugglers and other such criminals. (CITATION 3) Which is great, but it was not drug smugglers that crashed planes into the World Trade Center. Adding more salt to the wound, an investigation conducted by the Government Accountability Office found in that sixteen individuals later linked with terrorist activities flew 23 different times through United States Airports and not a single one was stopped by the so called “behavior detection officers.” (CITATION

After the terrorist attacks on September 11, airport security went through major changes and procedures. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) which oversees airport security

Through the history of aviation the importance of airport security has steadily increased. Since the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, many changes have taken place at airports to prevent such an attack from occurring again. The purpose of this paper is to: outline airport security procedures, discuss the different technologies involved with airport security, as well as examine the components of airport security. In addition I will also discuss the Transportation Security Administration’s role in our nation’s airport security.

When it comes to airport security methods there is conflicting views on it. Are they the best method used by the government for a passenger’s safety or are there better methods available were passengers feel the same amount of safety. Full body scans along with pat-downs are the methods used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to ensure the safety of passengers before boarding a plane. The common metal detector is now not enough to provide a clear and effective solution to what a passenger is carrying on them before boarding. Passengers have felt that the TSA and the scans violate the Fourth Amendment and the Privacy Act because they are required to at least go through one search method in order to board a plane.. As a result of this there are mixed views some leading to lawsuits and one’s health is being question with these methods being used.

increased its efforts in protecting its airports. At that time, “the security scanners already in place in most airports included baggage x-rays, metal detectors, and chemical residue detectors, which help security staff search out illegal items that a passenger might have” (DiLascio). These security scanners unfortunately failed in their job. Since then, the Transportation Security Administration has been keeping American airports safe using the latest technology. Airports have now been fitted with high-tech body scanners rather than the archaic metal detectors that only detect metal objects. During the past few years, individuals have attacked the

Finally, the TSA is “hopelessly bureaucratic” according to Kip Hawle, a former TSA chief (Edwards, 2013). That bureaucracy often leads to extended retention of inefficient, ineffectual employees largely because the hiring and firing process is arduous. One study on TSA staff members suggests that employees may not take action because not adhering to the rules and regulations set forth comes with great penalties. Therefore, the employees are typically not free-thinking problem solvers, but people who want to complete their tasks without getting any attention. Unfortunately, this may lead to oversight if a terrorist threat does occur (De Gramatica, Massacci, Shim, Turhan, & Williams, 2017).

In the case of the TSA; Transportation Safety Administration, the problem is that screeners are facing declining morale with a high turnover rate. This means that low morale and high turnover become prevalent through the screeners who work at TSA. According to a recent government’s report, low morale issues can make negative impacts on the employees in organizations. It implies that the screeners at TSA can not only be distracted on their jobs but also less focused on security and screening responsibilities because of the low morale. In fact, due to low morale, low payment, discrimination to minorities, and fear of retaliation by complaining, about one in five of the nation’s 45,000