TSA

TSA goes pink at Dulles Airport

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It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month and even the TSA is going pink.

TSA screeners don pink gloves for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

According to TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein, during the month of October the 650 TSA officers at Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD) will be be wearing pink gloves instead of the more familiar blue gloves as a sign of their support in the fight against Breast Cancer.

Farbstein said this is the first year the officers have chosen to wear pink gloves, but that doing so is voluntary, So while there are 210 cases of pink gloves at the ready, you may still see some officers wearing blue gloves. She notes that the pink gloves come in sizes small to extra large and that pink XXL gloves aren’t available.

(Photos courtesy TSA)

TSA finds are frightening

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I’m just now getting around to taking a good look at the TSA Week in Review from last week

Inert hand grenades, inert training detonators, knives hidden inside the lining of someone’s carry-on… it’s all getting to be so strangely familiar. The same goes for last week’s tally of loaded (25) and unloaded (4) guns.

Still, there continue to be some surprises. Take a look at some of the items the TSA shared with me for this Weird, Wacky and Just Plain Dangerous TSA Finds slide-show on MSN.

Explosives? Yup.

Spear guns? You betcha.

Knives hidden inside hairbrushes? That too.

See the full slide-show here.

Expedited airport screening for Loews Hotels loyalty program members

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Here’s a interesting offer that may just spark a trend:

Loews Hotels & Resorts has partnered with the Department of Homeland Security to promote the Trusted Traveler Network, which meshes the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Global Entry and the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Pre✓ programs.

Members of the hotel’s YouFirst Platinum loyalty rewards program will get complimentary enrollment in the Global Entry program. With a Global Entry membership, U.S. citizens are automatically qualified to participate in expedited screening with TSA’s Pre✓ program.

Current Platinum YouFirst members (which includes guests with 10+ stays) will be invited by email to participate in this one-time offer, which will made available for the next 60 days.

Good idea? For those who travel a lot and stay loyal to one hotel, you bet!

A look-see at TSA’s take at airport checkpoints

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It’s bad enough that we have to sit next to strange, smelly, arm rest-hogging people on airplanes. The thought that my seatmate might have a dagger or a gun in that greasy paper bag they’ve shoved down there underneath the seat in front of them just makes it worse.

Which is probably one the reasons I scour the weekly run-down of weapons and other items the TSA finds at airport checkpoints and lists – with photos – on the TSA blog.

No, the 13 people caught last week with stun guns and the 28 folks nabbed with loaded guns in their carry-on bags may not have been card-carrying terrorists, but they’re potentially dangerous just the same.

(Photos from the TSA Blog)

What a world: TSA more popular than Congress

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Spokane Airport TSA

A majority of Americans believe the Transportation Security Administration is doing a good job, according to a new Gallup poll released Wednesday.

The poll shows that 54 percent think TSA is doing an excellent or good job of handling the screening responsibilities at U.S. airports. Just 30 percent rated the agency’s overall performance as fair.

Compare that to public opinion of Congress, which has an approval rating hovering around 16 percent.

“We asked a different question about TSA than we typically do about Congress,” said Jeff Jones, managing editor of the Gallup Poll. “But since the ratings of TSA are generally good and ratings of Congress are so low, I think it is safe to say people are more positive about TSA than about Congress.”

Jones said that may be because “it’s easier as a task to screen a passenger than to fix the economy.” While it’s more difficult to get on an airplane now than before 9/11, “the mission of the TSA seems to be something people are taking into account, which may be why they are more positive than negative about the TSA.”

When it comes to TSA’s effectiveness at preventing acts of terror on U.S. airplanes, 41 percent of Americans said TSA was extremely effective or very effective and 44 percent considered the agency only somewhat effective.

TSA administrator John Pistole said the poll “reaffirms TSA’s commitment to carrying out these responsibilities with efficiency, integrity and in a customer-friendly manner.”

The poll showing public support for TSA comes at a time when some members of Congress have been critical of the agency. Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky.) has advocated privatizing the airport screening program. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and who helped set up TSA after 9/11, has been an outspoken critic of the agency.

The Gallup poll on TSA performance found that just over half of Americans have flown at least once in the past year and that those who have flown had a slightly better opinion of TSA’s performance than those who haven’t been inside an airport recently.

Fifty-seven percent of Americans who have flown at least once in past year and an equal number who have flown at least three times in the past year gave the TSA excellent or good marks. Of those who stayed out of airports, 52 percent ranked the TSA’s performance as excellent or good.

A majority of parents with children 18 and under at home — 54 percent — gave TSA an excellent or good rating, about the same as those who do not have children at home. Gallup researchers found this significant, given that in the fall of 2011 TSA revised and relaxed its rules for screening children age 12 and under.

The Gallup poll results are based on a telephone interviews conducted July 9-12, 2012, with a random sample of 1,014 U.S. adults.

According to the TSA Blog , during the week this Gallup poll was taken, TSA officers found seven guns, a six-bladed throwing star and 27 guns (26 of them loaded) at airport checkpoints around the country.

Souvenir Sunday: snow globes and pet tornadoes

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(courtesy Museum of the Modern Snow Globe)

A lot of souvenir hunters were delighted when the Transportation Security Administration announced that, by mid-August, snow globes would once again be permitted in carry-on bags at all airport security checkpoints.

“Snow globes that appear to contain less than 3.4 ounces (approximately tennis ball size) will be permitted if the entire snow globe, including the base, is able to fit in the same one clear, plastic, quart-sized, resealable bag, as the passenger’s other liquids, such as shampoo, toothpaste and cosmetics.”


The news had the folks at Kansas City International Airport wondering if the rule change meant they’d soon be able to once again stock Pet Tornadoes in the airport shops, which at KCI are all located pre-security. Airport spokesperson Joe McBride said the tornado toys – which are small, liquid-filled cylinders that create a little tornado or water spout inside when shaken- used to be big sellers at the airport.

I asked the TSA if pet tornadoes will now be allowed past airport security along with snow globes. And, after a bit of back and forth with a spokesperson about the definition of a snow globe, I got this response:

“Pet Tornadoes are not specifically listed on the prohibited
items list. With that said, if you have a liquid of 3.4 ounces or
smaller and you put it into your 3-1-1 bag with your other 3-1-1 items,
then it should be permitted. As long as it’s in that one sealed clear
quart-sized bag and nothing in the bag is larger than 3.4 ounces-whether
it is in a shampoo bottle, a snow globe, or a tornado souvenir novelty.”

So it seems like the answer is “Yes!”.

TSA will allow snow globes through airport security checkpoints

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Souvenir hunters rejoice: Later this summer, you will able to pack snow globes in your carry-on luggage when you go to the airport.

Transportation Security Administration officers will permit the items as long as they are packed in a passenger’s plastic, quart-sized, resealable bag along with other gels and liquids.

TSA will permit snow globes “that appear to contain less than 3.4 ounces (of liquid), which is approximately the size of a tennis ball,” spokesperson David Castelveter said, “but only if the entire snow globe, including the base, is able to fit in the bag.

“And it has to be the same bag. You don’t get a 3-1-1 bag and a snow globe bag,” he added.

Tennis balls will not be used to determine the size and volume of snow globes. Instead, TSA officers will be aware of the size requirement and apply “some discretion in their evaluation of the item being transported,” Castelveter said. As a general rule, he said, if a snow globe is the size of an average fist, it should get through.

The move is part of TSA’s ongoing reassessment of its rules and is expected to be fully in place by mid-August — just in time for end-of summer trips to Disneyland, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens.

(My story ‘TSA relaxing rules on snow globes at airport checkpoints‘ first appeared NBCNEWS.com)

Reviewing TSA’s weekly gotcha’ list

Guns, Security, ,

On most Fridays, TSA’s blogger Bob Burns posts a tally of the number of guns (loaded and unloaded) caught during the prior week at US airport security checkpoints and gives a review of the forbidden, and often truly far-out, items TSA officers find.

Last week was no different. According to the TSA blog, last week 26 guns (only one unloaded!) were discovered along with at least seven stun guns, throwing stars, inert novelty grenades, fireworks and loads of knives.

(Photo courtesy TSA)

TSA eases airport security routine for wounded warriors

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Staff Sgt. Guillermo Tejada lost both legs to an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2010. Now rehabilitating in San Diego, Tejada travels regularly to compete in hand-cycling races and marathons.

When flying out of San Diego International Airport, Tejada receives the royal treatment. “They’re waiting for us at the curb and take us through the whole process of checking in and going through security,” he said.

Getting through airport security can be stressful on anyone. For wounded military service members, it can be a nightmare.

The Transportation Security Administration recently expanded a program to make the checkpoint experience for wounded warriors as simple as possible.

“Depending on the airport, the assistance provided can be meeting the passenger curbside when they get to the airport, assisting with checking of bags, getting boarding passes, and assisting through screening,” said TSA spokesperson Nico Melendez.

TSA’s Wounded Warrior Accommodations program is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. While TSA doesn’t directly provide all the services Melendez listed, it will — if alerted — coordinate a wounded warrior’s airport experience with airport staff, USO volunteers and airlines.

Many of the severely injured service members are traveling to or from hospitals and military bases, but many are going home, to a new duty station or on vacation.

The program has been active at a few airports for several years, serving more than 5,000 wounded military personnel traveling through Washington’s Reagan National Airport since 2010, Melendez said. In the past year, 1,500 people have been assisted at San Diego International Airport, according to Cheryl Paine, the TSA official who coordinates the program there.

Pre-check and other expedited, risk-based screening programs for people 75 and older and for those age 12 and under are now in place at most airports, so Melendez said it’s  possible to offer the wounded warrior program nationwide. “If we know who they are and know they are coming through, we can expand the pre-check program and tailor it to their limitations and needs,” he said.

“After a decade of war we have more and more wounded warriors going through airports,” he said. “If they don’t know these tools are available it won’t do them any good.”

(My story – TSA eases airport security routine for wounded warriors – first appeared on msnbc.com’s Overhead Bin.)

Massachusetts woman arrested for false bomb threat on JetBlue

Airports, Security, ,

Talk about fighting dirty.

Today a Massachusetts woman was arrested after being charged in federal court for making threats and false reports she made to authorities about explosives being carried by a passenger on board a JetBlue flight that ended up getting diverted.

It turned out no explosives were on board. The person Nicole Anna Miller (23) claimed had explosives was her cousin and the two were having some sort of dispute.

Still, Miller was charged for allegedly making a series of phone calls to JetBlue saying, among other things, that a passenger on a flight from Logan International to O’Hare International was carrying explosives. The flight was diverted and forced to land at Buffalo.

Miller had an initial court appearance today, July 3, and will go back on July 6th for a detention hearing. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.