Confessions of an ex TSA agent

[ricosuave]

http://www.politico.com/magazine/sto...l#.UuvkFiugmfs

[Dion]

I found this part of the article disturbing

We knew the full-body scanners didn’t work before they were even installed. Not long after the Underwear Bomber incident, all TSA officers at O’Hare were informed that training for the Rapiscan Systems full-body scanners would soon begin. The machines cost about $150,000 a pop.

Our instructor was a balding middle-aged man who shrugged his shoulders after everything he said, as though in apology. At the conclusion of our crash course, one of the officers in our class asked him to tell us, off the record, what he really thought about the machines.

“They’re ####,” he said, shrugging. He said we wouldn’t be able to distinguish plastic explosives from body fat and that guns were practically invisible if they were turned sideways in a pocket.

We quickly found out the trainer was not kidding: Officers discovered that the machines were good at detecting just about everything besides cleverly hidden explosives and guns. The only thing more absurd than how poorly the full-body scanners performed was the incredible amount of time the machines wasted for everyone.

[nik-]

Security Theatre.

[Baaarrden]

Can't say I'm really that shocked by anything that was admitted to in the article. It was interesting though to read a first hand account of these things that seemingly happen(ed) on a day to day basis.