TSA “does not profile”, confiscates harmless sh!t instead

The TSA catches a lot of flak. Most of it is with good reason, however, and the agency just keeps piling on the problems for themselves.

In the past, we’ve clearly stated that we support airport security measures, and we wholeheartedly stand by that. We’ve also, on several occasions, said that we see the term “security theatre” as a legitimate designation for a legitimate strategy within security, and we stand by that too. Contrary to popular belief (and his own attempts at hijacking the term), that term wasn’t invented or coined by “BS“, as we like to call him. Real security professionals have been using it for years and years.

The TSA, however, seems to have reached a new low in these last months. Videos and stories, pictures and courtcases are piling up at an alarming rate, proving that the agency is, if not redundant then at least outdated and as close to useless as is possible to get. The continued use of the x-ray backscatter body-scanners is just one example. The scanners have been banned in the EU, signalling that the TSA’s claims to their innocence and safety may be in the wrong. Just to mention it again; we’ve supported body scanners in the past, but only the passive millimeter wave scanners, which do not emit any radiation. The TSA use scanners that do emit radiation.

The Video
A new viral video apparently shows that it is not only possible, but easy to fool the x-ray body scanners, simply by placing the object that you want to conceal at your side(s), where the scanner will simply see a darkened area which will be interpreted as normal by the image processing (and in turn, the operator). This effectively renders all the scanners obsolete and useless. Take a look at that video here. While the notion the videographer communicates, that the old metal detectors were infallible and unfoolable is incorrect, it is certainly true that it was harder to do than what he has demonstrated here. In our opinion, it is absolutely reasonable to demand that the TSA discontinues the use of the backscatter x-ray body scanners for exactly the reason that they can be easily fooled by anyone. The video proves it – it absolutely proves it. There are better ways to conduct airport security, something the Israelis have known for year and years, and which is why they also refused to try, buy or use the body scanners when they first appeared.

What has the TSA responded with? Well, the official TSA blog (and we’ve also supported this effort in the past) has a “response” to the video here. It’s hardly worth the read, since “Blogger Bob” doesn’t answer any of the questions that are raised by the publishing of that video. The most tangible part of the answer goes like this:

“I watched the video and it is a crude attempt to allegedly show how to circumvent TSA screening procedures.”

Right. So it’s not worth the read, in other words. We already said that.

Profiling
The TSA has repeatedly made it a point to say that they do not use one of the most tried and tested, effective methods of weeding terrorists or would-be “bad guys” out of a crowd; Profiling. No, not “racial profiling”, whatever that is, but profiling behavior based on strategic questioning, responses and information gathered from a person. The Israelis at Ben Gurion Airport have been using profiling since the 70’s, and not a single airliner has been hijacked or “terrorized” since then. It is a generally accepted fact that flights leaving Israel, and the El Al airline, are the ones most at risk to just such things in the world.

The TSA had their BDOs for a while, this is true. Poorly trained and frowned upon by most (with good reason), they’ve been highly ineffective because they were just that – poorly trained. A beginner’s course in real profiling takes about 2 weeks. Then you need some more months of training. And then some months. Also, the method the Israelis use cannot be transferred to other airports. At all. So it would have to be adapted in a sensible way, something that the TSA isn’t equipped to do at this point. Using profiling, however, would be a definite positive thing for the TSA to do, instead of useless (now a proven fact) body scanners.

Confiscating harmless sh!t
…has become, sadly, a trademark of the TSA. The latest thing to make the list is one of these thingamajigs, used to blow dust off of cameras and computers and stuff like that. It’s called a Giottos Rocket Blower, and you can buy them in any ol’ electronics store. They’re also a part of many photo sets, sold in a.o. Sony and Canon camera kits. According to the TSA, they look like bombs, so you can’t have’em on the airplane.