TSA Airport 'Security' Exposed as a Farce Again

[urbsdad6]

You can go to bed and sleep easy tonight knowing Homeland Security and TSA are on the job. Rest well America.

http://www.rense.com/general69/tsa.htm

Doc Urb


TSA Airport 'Security'
Exposed As A Farce Again

From Fran Tully
3-6-6

Note - This is another example of exactly who the 'Patriot Act' is designed to control and subjugate: the law-abiding American Citizen. Our borders are left wide open to millions of illegals - including any terrorists who want to walk in - and they are permitted to fly our airlines with no identification.

As the lock-down of the civil liberties of American citizens escalates, illegal aliens and potential terrorists often get a free pass as is clearly shown in the following account ... just one more in the continual stream of reports of the fascism descending on our nation...fully and totally aided and abetted by the U.S. Congress. -ed


This is my first person encounter with TSA - (AKA Homeland Security) at the Boise airport of 3/2/06.

Today, when I arrived at the airport, I was in line at the Delta ticket counter for 25 minutes. During that time, 3 passengers got in line behind me. All three appeared to be between the age of 20-25, two males and one female, all Hispanic. I believe they were Mexican but have no way to be certain. They did not respond to questions or comments in English from me or Delta employees.

On 3 occasions, Delta employees told them they had to have Identification to fly. Not one of them had any. The Delta employee said "not anything with your name on it?... even a Costco card?" To which the response was no from all three people.

I had no idea that a Costco card was a valid ID at the airports now and wondered why they were not immediately referred to the TSA people and maybe even held for INS agents.

When I got to the ticket counter, I asked my agent, "can I fly without an ID today?" He shot me a glare and said "No."

I asked, "What if I am an illegal alien? Then can I fly without an ID, today?" He said no.

I said, "Well, those three appear to be Mexican illegals and have told the other agent 3 times that they don't have any ID. She sure seems to be trying awfully hard to get them on a plane." He did not say anything else to me or any other agents.

Because I had a firearm to declare, I was sent with my luggage to the Homeland security "scanning station", where they rifle through my clothes, swab my suitcase for traces of bomb components, and then send the bag through an x-ray machine.

I asked the TSA agent, "Are you guys letting illegal aliens fly with no ID today?" He answered, "No, why?"

"Because there are three of them at the Delta counter and the agent is trying to do everything possible to get them on the plane. Isn't Homeland Security supposed to do anything about that? Don't you have some kind of protocol when you come across illegal aliens?"

He said, "If we have some, all we can do is hand them over to INS."

I pointed at the group and said, "Well, I believe there are 3 of them right there." His reply was, "Well, my lips are sealed."

I said, "That's the problem. Too damn many people's lips are sealed. I thought the whole idea of having 40 of your guys at the airport was to stop illegal aliens." He did not answer and didn't say another word to me.

Next, I went through the check point, into the "secure area".

"I'd like to fly without an ID today" I said. The TSA agent, shot me a glance and said, "What? You can't get in without an ID."

I said, "Well, I saw some illegal aliens who are trying to do it today." She made an attempt at humor and said, "Oh yeah? Were they green with antennas?"

I replied, "No, they were brown, in their twenties, and spoke Spanish only. They are coming right behind me, you can meet them yourself." -

"Well, no one can get past here without ID."

I walked on, "OK, then". As I walked to the gate, the whole incident continued to agitate me. I had to put my computer in a bucket, empty my pockets, check my gun, take off my shoes, show my credit card, show my passport, and walk through a magnetometer, all in the name of "security".

As I approached the gate, I dialed 911. I immediately thought better of it and decided to let it go. I hung up. Within a few steps, my phone rang. "Crap!" I thought. The call had gone through and they had my phone number.

So, I answered and a woman said, "Emergency services, 911... did you just call 911, sir?" "Umm, yes, but I hung up."

"Is there an emergency situation sir?"

"I'm not sure. I'm at the airport and it seems like some illegal aliens are trying to board a plane. Is that an emergency?"

"You should report that to airport TSA officers."

"I have. In fact I told 3 different ones. Nobody seemed to care or do anything about it."

"Are you at the airport now, sir?"

"Yes I am. In fact, I am boarding right now and need to hang up my phone. These 3 people appear Mexican, 20-25 yrs old, 2 men and a woman, and are in the Delta terminal at the Boise airport. I have to hang up now." And I hung up the phone.

Five minutes after I took my seat, one of the two Hispanic men sat next to me. Perfect. So now, I can say as a matter of FACT, not speculation, that the TSA presence at our airports, the unified powers that were sooo necessary and were one of the big reasons for the passage of the USA PATRIOT ACT are a total sham. A waste of money and nothing but a show, to make people "feel" better, when in fact they do nothing but cost us more, put airports under federal control, and create a police state at public transit areas. I am good and irritated and I can say, from my own first hand experience, that they do NOT do what they said was necessary to keep us "safe." Fran Tully

[Advisor]

Inquiring minds want to know, who is Fran Tully, other than a Wyoming libertarian who just might have an agenda. Nice satiric piece, but is there any basis in fact?

[MORTARDUDE]

http://www.slate.com/id/2113157/fr/rss/

A Dangerous Loophole in Airport Security
If Slate could discover it, the terrorists will too.
By Andy Bowers
Posted Monday, Feb. 7, 2005, at 9:43 AM ET


Listen to this story on NPR's Day to Day.




The Homeland Security Department's No-Fly List has always seemed a bit absurd to me. Only the stupidest terrorist would try booking a flight under his own name (or his known aliases) three years after the 9/11 attacks, and one thing I hope we've all learned is that our most dangerous enemies aren't stupid.

But even if you assume the No-Fly List serves an important purpose, the system as it presently operates contains a gaping, dangerous loophole that makes the list nearly useless. It's a loophole so obvious, it occurred to me the first time I held it in my hand. And believe me, if I can figure it out, any terrorist worth his AK-47 realized it a long time ago.

The loophole is "Internet check-in," a convenience most airlines now offer. (It was first used by Alaska Airlines in 1999, but expanded rapidly after 9/11, as air carriers looked for ways to ease wait times for grumpy passengers.)


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Here's how Internet check-in works: On the day of your flight, you can now go online, check in as though you were standing at a kiosk in the airport, and?this is the important part?print out your own boarding pass at home. You then bring your boarding pass, which includes a unique barcode, with you to the airport and go straight through the security line (in many cases, you can check bags at the curb).

It's a terrific timesaver, and there's actually nothing inherently wrong with allowing people to print their own traveling documents at home or the office. The problem is what the airlines and the Transportation Security Administration do with those documents at the airport. (In the last year, I've used Internet check-in on three different major airlines and at airports both large and small across the country. In every case, I could have exploited the loophole with ease, and in exactly the same way.)

A home-printed boarding pass is generally checked only twice at the airport:

1) Right before you go through security, a security guard checks your boarding pass against your government-issued ID, making sure the names match. This check does not include a scan of the barcode, in part because the same security checkpoints process passengers for multiple airlines with different computer systems. Occasionally a second security guard at the metal detector will double-check the boarding pass, but again, not by scanning it.

2) Once you get to your boarding gate, the barcode on the printed pass is finally scanned just before you enter the Jetway. However, as the boarding agents remind you over and over, you no longer need to show your ID at the gate. (The TSA estimates 80 percent of U.S. airports have done away with ID checks at the boarding gate.) I've noticed that many passengers still have their driver's licenses or passports in hand as they approach, remembering post-9/11 enhanced security. But the agents cheerily tell them to put their IDs away?they're no longer necessary.

Do you see the big flaw? At no point do you have to prove that the person in whose name the ticket was bought is the same person standing at the airport.

At stop 1), the name on a home-printed boarding pass is checked against an ID, but not against the name stored in the airline's computer. At stop 2), the name on the printed pass is checked against the name in the computer, but not against an ID.


Click on image to expand

So all a terrorist needs to breeze through this loophole are two different boarding passes, both printed at home, that are identical except for the name. Check out the mock-up I made on Microsoft Publisher in about 10 minutes, using a real boarding pass I was issued last month. On the first one, you see my real name. On the second, the name has been replaced by that of Mr. Serious Threat, who we will pretend is on the No-Fly List.

Say Mr. Threat and his nefarious associates buy a ticket in someone else's name (perhaps by stealing a credit card number?something criminals do without immediate detection all the time). In this case, the name of the card-theft victim (me) will be printed on the boarding pass. Mr. Threat can be pretty sure a common name like mine won't trigger the No-Fly List as his would. Then he prints out the two boarding passes: the original in my name and an altered duplicate in his name.

At the first security checkpoint (the one where no scan takes place), he can breeze through using any name he wishes?even his own?just so long as his photo ID matches the altered boarding pass. Unless the security guard has the entire No-Fly List memorized, she isn't going to stop Mr. Threat. On the way to his gate he does the old switcheroo, and produces the pass with my name, which will match the computer record. Child's play. His real identity has never set off the computer's alarm bells.

Just to check my theory, I ran it by a noted airport security expert. When he heard my scenario, he immediately asked not to be named, because he didn't want to be on the record saying a method of foiling security might work. But he's pretty sure it would. "[The double boarding pass scam] would completely negate, for all intents and purposes, an identity check," he said gravely. It is, he agreed, "a potential loophole in the process."

I also spoke with Nico Melendez, a field communications director for the TSA. "We recognize that something like that could happen," he said. But he noted that even if someone passed through on a fake name, they are still subject to metal detectors, baggage scans, air marshals, and all the other physical safeguards (both seen and unseen) at airports and on planes. And he pointed to the high-tech biometric scanning systems now being tested, among them facial recognition cameras and eye scans.

All of that is comforting. But why, if we're spending so much on new technologies and personnel, are we allowing such an obvious procedural flaw to undermine our very first line of defense?the No-Fly List?

I know some readers may be seething at this point: Some will be saying, why is this jackass giving the terrorists a blueprint? Others will worry that I'm endangering their beloved online check-in. But I ask you to think it through a little. ?

First, document fakery is all around us these days, from sophisticated efforts like this shot of Jane Fonda and John Kerry side-by-side at an anti-Vietnam War rally, to the ham-handed Rathergate memos. And we know modern terrorists are very computer-savvy?remember their online beheading videos. Do you really think they can't figure out how to change a few letters on a boarding pass without my help? If we're going to allow documents printed outside the airport to serve official purposes, we need to give them more scrutiny, not less.

Second, this problem is simple to fix, and in a way that won't scuttle online check-in. All the TSA needs to do is to have at least one document check station that simultaneously compares all three elements: the boarding pass, a government-issued ID, and the No-Fly List in the airline's computer. This could be at security or at the gate (where, after all, IDs used to be checked). TSA spokesman Melendez says there are no plans for such simultaneous checks.

Could an extra ID check slow us down a little? Yes, it probably would. Tough luck. We've already endured two wars and countless other disruptions in the name of safety. A few extra minutes at the airport isn't going to kill anyone.


Andy Bowers is a Slate senior editor.

Illustration by Mark Alan Stamaty.

[Jerry D]

remember we can't offend certain groups so NO profileing and keep cking them lil' ol grey haired grannies for bombs......... That seems to be the TSA's modus operandi now days. lets stop terrorist and illegals before we are the illegals here!