Here's Why the TSA Is So Terrible

[Anonymous Bosch]

Great Bloomberg editorial on the TSA shenanigans (certainly a cut above the majority of media coverage, which amounts to little more than unthinking "Long lines at the airport today! Back to you, Stump Beefknob." coverage):

This weekend, I flew to Chicago for my 15th (!!!) business school reunion. I will not tire you with tales of the drinking and hijinks that ensued, mostly because this being our 15th, the activities were more along the lines of swapping child photos and nursing a third beer. It was on the way home that the events of columnizing interest occurred: I found myself in the middle of what I thought was a confused crowd, and turned out to be the line for security. Said line was, according to reports from classmates, running at least 90 minutes. Dozens of people were stranded overnight when the long security lines caused people to miss their flights.

Nor is this an anomaly. The problem is occurring all around the country at busy airports. The TSA is blaming inadequate staffing, but government bureaucrats always blame inadequate staffing, since agency headcount is generally a good proxy for “importance of the boss of said agency.” As far as I was able to tell from where I stood, all the scanners seemed to be operating, making me wonder what, exactly, extra people would have done, since no matter how many staffers you assign, only one person can pass through each checkpoint at a time. Besides, the number of passengers is not actually up at O’Hare airport that much, according to the latest numbers I could find.

So I tend to place more credence on the second explanation: The TSA has slowed down screening after last summer’s humiliating failure to detect almost any of the contraband in a security audit. I was fortunate enough to have enrolled in TSA Precheck, which had a blessedly short line. Nonetheless, I spent more than 20 minutes waiting to get through. There was a confused fellow who must have gone through the metal detector half a dozen times before he finally realized he needed to shuck his belt, and two passengers who seemed to speak almost no English. Then, with the line still backing up, the TSA person made the woman ahead of me stop and go back through because she had jokingly danced back and forward. And made me go through again because … I walked through with my hands in my pockets, having jammed them there while I stood around watching the show.

I have spent a day and a half struggling to figure out how moving backwards and then forwards at walking speed, could defeat a metal detector. Either the magnetic circuit detects metal or it doesn’t. The TSA agents didn’t seem to know either; they just threatened the woman that she could be kept off her flight for playing around. Apparently, issuing absurd threats to American citizens over harmless behavior is something that requires a complement of two TSA officers. No wonder they’re understaffed.

But this is the essential logic of bureaucracy. The TSA will suffer terribly if a terrorist slips through with a bomb -- or even if the auditors make it through with a fake bomb. On the other hand, what happens to them if there are long lines? Not much. They’ve got to be there for eight hours, so why should they care if we are too? This is why government agencies tend to be much more attuned to remote risks than the real and persistent costs they impose on the rest of us.

This is also the essential problem of American security theater. Thorough screening is very expensive and time consuming, particularly because most of our airports weren’t built for this level of screening. At Reagan, my preferred airport, there’s pretty much nowhere to put another security line.

The easiest way to keep the lines moving is to screen less carefully. All screening faces an inherent tradeoff between false positives and false negatives; you eliminate one by accepting more of the other. When the TSA decides to crack down on the false negatives (the threats they missed), that means they get more false positives, as every person with an oddly bulging body, a forgotten bottle of water, or a penchant for impromptu dance performances, has to go through the checkpoint again. And that takes up a lot of time, during which the lines grow and grow.

A rational cost-benefit analysis might well dictate that it’s better to accept some higher risk of threats than to accept the lines. O’Hare runs something in the vicinity of 150,000 domestic passengers a day through its domestic operations. Even valuing the time of all those passengers at minimum wage, a 90-minute line costs more than $1.5 million in lost value. Now, OK, some of those people didn’t wait that long, but call it $1 million. Call it $500,000. Then multiply that times many days, many years. Even with an absurdly low value on the time of the passengers, that’s hundreds of millions in costs -- at just one of our nation’s many airports.

[GreenGoo]

Stump Beefknob.

Well done.

The results of security theater were predictable and expected prior to the implementation of security theater. I was appalled at the increased authority of homeland security and TSA after 9/11.

But they were both universally popular options according to polls, so the illusion of being safer is more important than...pretty much anything, apparently.

Years later I'm simply too jaded to care about someone's column on the subject, other than a typical "no shit" response.

[Isgrimnur]

The British have a much more extensive history of coming up with creative insults than we do in the colonies.

[ImLawBoy]

As someone who has never been high on the TSA, I can say I did not enjoy the nearly 1.5 hour security line at O'Hare this morning at 4:30 am.

[hepcat]

The security lines at Chicago airports has been the focus of news since this past weekend, it seems. I was surprised when it happened as it seemed to come out of the blue.

[ImLawBoy]

I was hoping a super early flight would help beat the crowds, but no such luck.

[Jeff V]

I think my driving tolerance just increased to a full day.

One of my minions is going tomorrow to get pre-screened so she doesn't have to deal with the lines when she travels in July. As part of my expanded duties, I will be visiting Indianapolis (3 hour drive) and Detroit (5 hour drive) in August and I won't even consider flying.

[malchior]

I agree with almost everything they said being a very frequent traveler. I also agree that adding more people isn't the problem and that it is the process. It is principally the number of bag checks and their inability to process them quickly. IMO the author skirts it a little but I've had approximately 75% of my 20 or so trips through security this year (pre-check no less) lead to long bag checks. The bag check process is the bottleneck. They don't have a way to process the bag checks other than serially and there is no room in many airports to do it in parallel. The one time they had to call the bomb expert in (seriously) - it was a sunday and a non-functional screening area was available so they moved us all down there. Had it not been available it would have severely delayed everyone there as they had to control my movement and take everything apart in my carry-on and messenger bag. While the bomb expert was there he was called twice additionally. So I think the author is correct they have dialed up sensitivity on the equipment and processes. I have to wonder if that'll improve the audit results. I sort of doubt it because I've gotten through unmolested (almost) down to a science. I have a solid theory about what triggers the majority of bag checks through the xray scanners (other than liquids which they reliably detect).

Additionally they do an ABYSMAL job at dealing with exceptions. They almost always delay the entire line. In short, any competent process expert could fix this and that is why I think they are driving themselves out of business in favor of privatization. Anyone with an eye towards 1) customer satisfaction and 2) cost effectiveness could address many of these issues *easily*. The airlines themselves are taking it upon themselves stationing people to remind them to ditch water bottles, how to get through the process quickly (including asking the passengers to check their bags while they just standing around). The airlines are losing money because of the TSA now so they more than almost all the players are pushing hard on the airports to ditch them.

The security lines at Chicago airports has been the focus of news since this past weekend, it seems. I was surprised when it happened as it seemed to come out of the blue.

This no surprise. The Pre-check line at O'Hare was down the terminal on Friday morning when I got there. It was absurd. Anecdotally - the lines have been bad since mid-February IMO. In December even they were ok. Process-wise something changed around the beginning of February is my best guess. That is when it started getting godawful.

[killbot737]

Anything less than 5 hours I'll drive. I'm about 50/50 drive/fly to see my parents, and they live ~10 hours away. Sometimes I decide spending 6 hours in airports/planes is too much and I'll do the extra 4 hours of drive time since I'm the one in control of my time.

-- I don't know what those nudiscans are actually scanning for. I've had multiple occasions where their little detection board had indicators on my Bare Arms. (not bear arms, I'm not that hairy). Also my shoulders, while wearing a form fitting tshirt.

They really need to change their processes for special circumstances. Wheelchair-bound elderly? Let's hold up the line for 30 minutes while they humiliate the person by dragging them out of the chair and through the nudiscan! People with hip replacements or implanted medical devices? Argue with them for 20 minutes about removing things from INSIDE THEIR BODIES. Fucking morons, all of them.

[Moliere]

As if I needed another reason to avoid Chicago.

[ImLawBoy]

And the security line at DFW to head home clocked in at less than 1.5 minutes.

[Isgrimnur]

You came to town and didn't let me know? Shame.

[Rip]

and with the Egypt Air crash that line just got 100 feet longer.

[Jeff V]

and with the Egypt Air crash that line just got 100 feet longer.

Trump demanded we do something about it (for some reason, we're responsible for French airports and Egyptian airlines). I presume he would deploy a battalion of TSA agents.

[Rip]

and with the Egypt Air crash that line just got 100 feet longer.

Trump demanded we do something about it (for some reason, we're responsible for French airports and Egyptian airlines). I presume he would deploy a battalion of TSA agents.

I suppose he could just follow the beaten path and blame it on an internet video.

[Jeff V]

Your response makes no sense to the comment you were responding to.

He was demanding WE do something about it. Not THEY, the ones involved.

[Rip]

Your response makes no sense to the comment you were responding to.

He was demanding WE do something about it. Not THEY, the ones involved.

Is our government not WE?

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/05 ... the-video/

[Jeff V]

Again, my comment was nothing about assigning blame to anyone or anything, so your comment makes no sense. It's about Trump saying WE must act in response to something that really is not in our jurisdiction whatsoever.

Our response to terrorists destroying planes was the TSA. Therefore, it reasons Trump would deploy TSA to Paris in response to this situation. And I would expect the French to respond by declaring war on us.

[ImLawBoy]

You came to town and didn't let me know? Shame.

Spent my entire time at the hotel with a corporate leadership event. Would have loved some time for a meet up, but I knew it wouldn't happen.

And STFU with the Egypt Air/Trump talk in this thread. There are plenty of other appropriate places to discuss.

[Skinypupy]

And the security line at DFW to head home clocked in at less than 1.5 minutes.

I must be lucky, as I very seldom see long security waits when I fly. I had one in Austin a couple weeks ago that was about 45 minutes and Dulles is always a mess, but the majority of airports I travel to (Regan, Baltimore, Atlanta, Denver, Phoenix, and Salt Lake) usually aren't too bad. I'd guess that most of mine are 10 minutes or less. Thankfully, I get pre-check about 50% of the time (via Delta Skymiles status) or the "premium" line. Only time I ever see a regular line is when I'm on an airline other than Delta...typically just a couple times a year. I need to just break down and pay the $85 for pre-check on all airlines. If you fly more than 2-3 times a year, it's totally worth it.

I agree with her that TSA agents are woefully inept at dealing with even the slightest exception. It drives me nuts to watch them fumble around when someone doesn't comply with every single requirement.

[Rip]

Again, my comment was nothing about assigning blame to anyone or anything, so your comment makes no sense. It's about Trump saying WE must act in response to something that really is not in our jurisdiction whatsoever.

Our response to terrorists destroying planes was the TSA. Therefore, it reasons Trump would deploy TSA to Paris in response to this situation. And I would expect the French to respond by declaring war on us.

Of course it involves us. All western intel services work together to address the issues. The TSA isn't the only weapons available to combat terrorists blowing up planes be it inside the US or elsewhere. Ever notice how many overseas crashes involve the NTSB?

If the position you state were true then I guess we can just forget about protecting copyrights, patents, etc. outside the US.

[Rip]

You came to town and didn't let me know? Shame.

Spent my entire time at the hotel with a corporate leadership event. Would have loved some time for a meet up, but I knew it wouldn't happen.

And STFU with the Egypt Air/Trump talk in this thread. There are plenty of other appropriate places to discuss.

Well the TSA is a government organization, perhaps the thread should have been in R&P where it belongs?

Personally I don't understand the big deal. My last couple dozens flights I haven't waited in any line at all, TSA or otherwise.

[Daehawk]

All this could be solved by banning clothing at the airport and on planes. No lines no waiting. Step through a detector for those hidden butt bombs and keep going.

Hands up! Dont screen!
Hands up! Dont screen!

[Scuzz]

If man was meant to fly he would have wings, and a chip in his head that would enable the TSA you pass you right thru the lines.

[WYBaugh]

If you want to have fun, fly from Seattle to Detroit, run from your gate to the bathroom, meander outside because you have never been to Michigan and you have a 4 hour layover then go back through TSA only to realize that you have lost your wallet somewhere between the plane and exiting the airport. That was an awesome experience!!

[Max Peck]

Problem solved.

Head of TSA security operations removed from position

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A House committee said Monday that the head of security operations at the Transportation Security Administration has been replaced. "Kelly Hoggan has been removed from his position as head of security at TSA," the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform posted on Twitter. Meanwhile, The Associated Press obtained a memo sent from TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger that does not mention Hoggan but names an acting replacement. "Darby LaJoye will serve as the Acting Assistant Administrator of the Office of Security Operations," Neffenger wrote in the memo addressed to TSA senior leaders. "Darby LaJoye is an experienced Federal Security Director with successful leadership tours at two of the nation's largest airports, Los Angeles International Airport in California and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York."

The oversight committee said Hoggan received more than $90,000 in bonuses over a period from late 2013 to late 2014. About a year later, a report from the Homeland Security Inspector General's office revealed that agency employees failed to find explosives, weapons and other dangerous items in more than 95 percent of covert tests at multiple U.S. airports. That report and allegations of other mismanagement within TSA have drawn congressional scrutiny and promoted multiple hearings on Capitol Hill. Hoggan's ouster also comes amid growing concerns of massive security lines at airports this summer. The long lines have been blamed in part on more travelers during the busy summer travel season and a shortage of screening officers manning checkpoints. Neffenger has also attributed some security line woes to fewer people than anticipated applying for the government's PreCheck program, which allows passengers to move through security faster after submitting to a background check.

In recent weeks there have been reports of thousands of people missing flights because of the lengthy wait times. Problems have been reported in Chicago and Neffenger last week was in the city meeting with local officials to discuss the problems. In his memo Wednesday, Neffenger said, "At Chicago O'Hare International Airport, a new leadership team is now overseeing screening operations." He said that and other adjustments, including the LaJoye appointment, "will enable more focused leadership and screening operations at critical airports in the national transportation system."

The TSA did not say where Hoggan has been reassigned.

[Moliere]

Delta built the more efficient TSA checkpoints that the TSA couldn't

What?! Private sector wants to innovate, make things more efficient, and improve customer satisfaction? That's just crazy talk. Feel the Bern!

[Cylus Maxii]

I doubt that the airports are truly all that motivated to get this fixed. If you have to arrive early to get through lines - you will spend more time in their spending zone and ultimately they will make more profit from you while you are eating/drinking/parking and so on.

[ImLawBoy]

I doubt that the airports are truly all that motivated to get this fixed. If you have to arrive early to get through lines - you will spend more time in their spending zone and ultimately they will make more profit from you while you are eating/drinking/parking and so on.

That was not my experience with the long line. I didn't even have time to get a coffee before getting on my flight, while I would have had coffee and a bite to eat had the line been reasonable.

[Moliere]

I doubt that the airports are truly all that motivated to get this fixed. If you have to arrive early to get through lines - you will spend more time in their spending zone and ultimately they will make more profit from you while you are eating/drinking/parking and so on.

That was not my experience with the long line. I didn't even have time to get a coffee before getting on my flight, while I would have had coffee and a bite to eat had the line been reasonable.

I doubt the airlines want a bunch of angry disgruntled customers boarding their planes.

[Isgrimnur]

Foxtrot Alpha

The idea of all the security we put up with at airports—the lines, the scanners, the bullshit—is so that when there’s an attack, we’ll all be orderly protected. On Sunday night at JFK Airport, we found out how wrong that is. Cheering for Usain Bolt at the Olympics appears to have been mistaken for gunfire and complete chaos ensued.
...
New York Magazine published a firsthand account of what the night was like at JFK. That there was screaming crowds and real terror even in the absence of any actual terrorists is not surprising. What’s more worrying is the complete disorder and almost total lack of protection from the airport’s security apparatus. There was no sign of communication between parts of the airport, no useful organization of panicking crowds, and almost no evidence that the airport would have protected anybody had there been an active shooter or worse. “Where was my fucking billion-dollar NYPD anti-terror force?”, writer David Wallace-Wells asks.

It’s still not entirely clear what started the non-attack, as Wallace-Wells notes. Either cheering for Usain Bolt’s 100m dash sounded like gunfire, or someone screamed they saw a gun, or already-panicking crowds knocked over the metal poles that divide airport lines, and they clacked on the tile floors sounding like gunfire. But that was enough to spawn multiple stampedes, none o which had any direction.
...
Wallace-Wells got separated from his wife after they landed and got stuck in a JFK-typical gigantic line, disrupted by the initial flash of panic. His wife’s story gives little hope to any of us that we’ll be protected in any way come a genuine attack:

She’d been running down the hallway, she told me later, when the terminal turned and her crowd of sprinters met another crowd of sprinters, which everybody took to mean there were multiple shooters, attacking from multiple directions. Somebody called out they’d seen four of them. Soon she found herself in another stairwell, where there was one guard sobbing hysterically and screaming and another dismissing anyone who turned to him for help or leadership by yelling that he didn’t want to die tonight, either.

Eventually they found each other, escaped out of the terminal and onto the tarmac with another rushing crowd breaking seemingly every airport security protocol. From there, they got ushered back into the airport and huddled into a tiny, vulnerable room, then sent back onto the tarmac again. At no point during the mess were they addressed by police of any kind, only after it was entirely clear that there was no attack whatsoever, and the biggest threat to any people in the airport was somebody else trampling them, unchecked and panicked.

[GreenGoo]

While I'm not surprised at how things went down, I think complaining about the lack of an anti-terrorism unit's presence at that stage of the situation is disingenuous. Particularly when there was no terrorist threat so it's not like they had foreknowledge that shit was going to go down. This isn't minority report.

[Isgrimnur]

Agreed. I'm not expecting nuanced policy reporting from someone that was in the middle of it, though.

[em2nought]

Foxtrot Alpha

Soon she found herself in another stairwell, where there was one guard sobbing hysterically and screaming and another dismissing anyone who turned to him for help or leadership by yelling that he didn’t want to die tonight, either.

That's some funny stuff there. LMAO

[Punisher]

Foxtrot Alpha

Soon she found herself in another stairwell, where there was one guard sobbing hysterically and screaming and another dismissing anyone who turned to him for help or leadership by yelling that he didn’t want to die tonight, either.

That's some funny stuff there. LMAO

Well, I don't think the people understand the difference between the TSA, Security Guards and the Police.
I don't expect any of the security guards or TSA agents to do anything in a situation like this, real or not. They aren't truly there to protect us, they are there to make sure airport policies are followed. They aren't going to risk their lives trying to defend anyone. they aren't armed and I don't believe they are issued bullet proof vests.
While I don't "think" I'd be crying in a stairwell, I also don't think I'd make much effort to try to "protect" anyone there if I was TSA or security.
Also, I don't think the NYPD has anything to do with the airports. It is primarily the Port Authority Police who handle it and I doubt there is any way they could control a crowd that size that is stampeding.

[NickAragua]

Well, if you don't expect the "Transportation Security Authority" to provide transportation security, why have them there in the first place? If I wanted to get felt up by a fat dude with a hitler moustache and have someone take pictures of my balls, I'd... well, actually, I'm not really sure where I'd go for that, to be honest. But probably I could get that hooked up without having to pay eight hundred bucks for a plane ticket. I mean, seriously, what's that guy going to do, *roll* after the terrorists? He's a little slow to start, but when he picks up speed down hill, hoo boy, those shoe bombers better watch out.

[Paingod]

Well, if you don't expect the "Transportation Security Authority" to provide transportation security, why have them there in the first place?

It's an excellent question. America is doing airport security extremely poorly. Test after test, they fail abysmally at doing anything other than annoying regular fliers. They miss fake bombs while concentrating on how much toothpaste you've got in your bag. The TSA agents themselves are just glorified security guards. Having worked security, I can tell you their entire approach to "protecting" is to "observe and alert" - that's it. I'm not surprised at all that the agents were crumbling under pressure.

[pr0ner]

Well, if you don't expect the "Transportation Security Authority" to provide transportation security, why have them there in the first place?

Because "you can't professionalize unless you federalize".

[Isgrimnur]

If only we could learn something from the Israelis. Without reliance on racial profiling, of course.

[malchior]

If only we could learn something from the Israelis. Without reliance on racial profiling, of course.

Yeah we totally could on the human behavior side. Overall their methods wouldn't scale here. I don't think we could effectively implement checkpoints to screen every car that approaches an airport. Also random conversations with passengers that can lead to informal detention based on 'gut instinct' is probably illegal here. However we definitely could apply human intelligence to direct certain individuals to more screening. I am pretty sure TSA has experimented with that at times (based on my observations) but never to any formal degree that i've seen over several different airports.