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I used to work last mile logistics in a big city with an international airport. I lived there until my twenties and flew in and out many times before and after the TSA. I've seen the backend, where they have the robot explosive sniffer, and only witnessed them use it for one package I dropped off. It's all theatre.
I’ve forgotten a combination OC/CN spray (aka peppermace) in the bottom of a bag and been waved through. Complete clown shoes.
I mean just let me wear my fucking belt. I can deal with a lot of indignity, but holding my fucking pants up in line is just insult to injury when you're passing me through mothingfucking millimeter wave.
Security funding is just art funding filtered through fear.
Of course. How do you think it worked before Dubya’s jobs program went into effect?
I recently traveled through Europe, the Middle East and Australia. In the bottom of my carry-on bag I forgot about a 1 l plastic water bottle that was about 3/4 full. None of the security scans in Australia, Malaysia, Doha, or Montreal said anything about it. For the first two airports, I also had two 500 mL water bottles in side pockets. Again, no issues.
Not seeing any European airports but last time I flew within Europe they were cool with bringing water aboard. Also the shoes thing is something of the past if you fly within Europe.
Bringing liquids onto the plane is fine, but it’s (supposed to be) an issue with bringing liquids through security, since it could be something like gasoline or some other hazardous liquid. If you fill your bottle with water or buy a drink inside the secure area, it has theoretically already been vetted and is safe to take onboard (though I bet there’s really a bunch of security theatre happening there, too).
Security when flying within europe can really differ from airport to airport though. I've had times they made a big deal out of everything including dogs sniffing everone all the way to my bag just went through a scanner but nobody watched the screen.
my bag just went through a scanner but nobody watched the screen.
Sometimes these systems are autonomous, if something's off an alarm is raised.
I once left full sized tailoring scissors in my carry-on backpack by accident. I only noticed at the hotel. I have no Idea how they missed them on the x-ray, they are huge, like 8" blade huge.
I forgot I had a hunting knife in my bag. Yes very stupid, I know.
I got pulled over by airport security and when they asked me to open up the pocket. I found a water bottle on top of my knife and showed that to them and they said it was fine. I didn't realize the knife was there until I got home and unpacked.
I got stopped regarding a bottle of water I'd forgotten about. I just apologised,, drank it, and passed through security.
I mean one can argue that since nobody could foresee that security wouldn't be there for the flight nobody could plan around it.
"If we don't know what we are doing, the enemy certainly can't anticipate our future actions."
If 0.01% of people are nefarious, and they check 99.9% of the time, that’s still 1/10,000,000 chance a nefarious person gets through.
As long as they don’t do this often, doing that once probably has near zero impact on security.
(Please don’t pick apart the assumptions that nefarious people always get found by screening, or that the TSA works, that’s not the point I’m making — just trying to say a one off unpredictable dropping of guard doesn’t hugely benefit nefarious actors)
Regardless of the assumption of how many people are nefarious or how actually effective TSA is, your point stands.
If they screen normally 99% of the time, then the occasional relaxing of the checks just means that the effectiveness has gone from X to 0.99*X.
TSA is security theater, but this isn't the evidence of that.
DON'T SAY BOMB!
Damn that must be nice.
Passing through the New Orleans airport last time I went to visit my mom, I showed up 3 hours early to my flight and didn't even exit the security check line until an hour after my flight had already left. I was fucking livid. It took them four hours to pass maybe ~300 people through the check lines.
What did make me feel a little better though was going back to the ticket kiosks to complain about it and try to get a different flight, and like four other ticket takers within earshot of us heard me and all chimed in like "maaaan, FUCK New Orleans TSA" apparently they're demonstrably one of the worst in the continental US.
I've had this happen a few times. It's such a relief when shit is jammed back to the walls. They did it at O'hare once, shit was crazy in there and they're all like, "just gtfo, don't blow anything up" everyone came stomping through the metal detectors. Not sure if it was related, but they had just sent sniffy dogs through the lines so maybe they planned it? I mean, I don't think the dogs can smell a knife, but I am not a dog, so I don't know for certain.
I don’t think the dogs can smell a knife,
perhaps an explosive knife!
but I am not a dog
I mean it's the internet, you could be deceiving us...
Happened to me at Ohare in May. They stopped the whole line for 10 minutes when they set it up.
They brought out portable, battery operated Milwaukee tools fans and a sniffing dog. They made people walk 2 at a time, through a glass walled walkway for about 50 ft and a tsa guy walked a dog behind you. Once you go through the tsa ID check the told us to leave shoes on and electronics in our bags. They still sent the bags through the X-ray though.
My brother in law flew out of St. Louis and described the exact same thing a week later. Weird.
The handful of times I have flown in the past two years, all the airports I've been at no longer require you to take out electronics or your toiletries bag.
In theory that means they have newer scanners.
I say in theory because for sanity's sake I hope that's the case, but I also know how they've historically worked thanks to the likes of Bruce Schneier.
I hate the TSA, and I strongly suspect they are largely a mirage, but I don't agree that this indicates they are admitting it's a mirage. It's almost never the purpose of any kind of inspection to have 100% coverage, just to shift the balance of probabilities as far as necessary until it's a deterrent. They could be shrugging and giving up in the face of a large number of people to process, but they could also just be making a well-informed trade-off.