Sound Of Impact

2007-08-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Sikhs Angered Over New TSA Hat-Checking Policy

See it HERE.

2007-05-05T08:53:00.000-07:00

TSA Loses Hard Drive With Personal Info

The Transportation Security Administration has lost a computer hard drive containing Social Security numbers, bank data and payroll information for about 100,000 employees.

Authorities realized Thursday the hard drive was missing from a controlled area at TSA headquarters. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley sent a letter to employees Friday apologizing for the lost data and promising to pay for one year of credit monitoring services.

"TSA has no evidence that an unauthorized individual is using your personal information, but we bring this incident to your attention so that you can be alert to signs of any possible misuse of your identity," Hawley wrote in the letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press. "We profoundly apologize for any inconvenience and concern that this incident has caused you."

The agency said it did not know whether the device is still within headquarters or was stolen.

TSA said it has asked the FBI and Secret Service to investigate and said it would fire anyone discovered to have violated the agency's data-protection policies.

In a statement released Friday night, the agency said the external - or portable - hard drive contained information on employees who worked for the Homeland Security agency from January 2002 until August 2005.

TSA, a division of the Homeland Security Department, employs about 50,000 people and is responsible for security of the nation's transportation systems, including airports and train stations.

"It's seems like there's a problem with security inside Homeland Security and that makes no sense," said James Slade, a TSA screener and the executive vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union chapter at John F. Kennedy International Airport. "That's scary. That's my identity. And now who has a hold of it? So many things go on in your mind."

The agency added a section to its Web site Friday night addressing the data security breach and directing people to information about identity theft.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, whose Homeland Security subcommittee oversees the TSA, promised to hold hearings on the security breach. She said Homeland Security buildings are part of the critical infrastructure the agency is charged with protecting.

"We should expect it to be secure," she said.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., called the security breach "a terrible and unfortunate blow" for an agency he said already suffered from low morale.

It's the latest mishap for the government involving computer data. Last year, a laptop with information for more than 26.5 million military personnel, was stolen from a Veterans Affairs Department employee's home. Law enforcement officials recovered the laptop, and the FBI said Social Security numbers and other personal data had not been copied.

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2007-03-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

TSA Employees Accused of Thefts at LAX

Victims include Paris Hilton, Keyshia Cole

LOS ANGELES, Mar. 22, 2007 - Misdemeanor theft cases are being filed against 10 employees and a transient suspected of pilfering the personal property of travelers at LAX, including hotel heiress Paris Hilton and singer Keyshia Cole, the City Attorney's Office announced today.

Most of the alleged thieves are employed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration, said Nick Velasquez of the City Attorney's Office.

A news conference is planned at LAX tomorrow morning to discuss details of the investigation and charges.

"We're a public law office, so whenever there's a significant announcement or a significant legal actions being taken, it's our duty and obligation to tell the public ... that we are working to ensure the safety and security of travelers at LAX," Velasquez said.

Eight of the defendants are TSA employees who work at Los Angeles International Airport and two are employees of an LAX subcontractor, Velasquez said.

City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo will be joined for the announcement by Larry Fetters, federal security director for the TSA; Jack Hook, special agent in charge with the Department of Homeland Security-Office of the Inspector General; and LAPD Capt. Bob Green, commanding officer of the LAPD-LAX Field Services Division.

During the news conference, Delgadillo will also announce the launch of his "LAX Security Enhancement Initiative," according to Velasquez.

2007-03-19T21:32:00.000-07:00

Transatlantic pilot 'more than six times over alcohol flying limit'

Pilot James Yates was almost six and a half times over the drink limit to fly a plane when he turned up at Heathrow

An airline pilot turned up for work while almost six and a half times over the drink limit to fly a plane, a court has heard.

American James Yates, 46, smelled strongly of alcohol and was unsteady on his feet when he turned up for duty at Manchester Airport, it has been claimed.

A First Officer with American Airlines, he was to be one of three pilots on a 10.30am transatlantic flight to Chicago with 181 passengers on board on February 11 last year, Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court was told.

But when he went to go through a security gate for flight crew in his pilots uniform he could not find his identification security pass.

Security staff could smell drink and called in police, who arrested Yates. He then failed a breathalyser test, Martin Walsh, prosecuting, told the jury.

"Police arrived and the defendant smelled strongly of intoxicants, alcohol, and he was asked to provide a specimen of breath," Mr Walsh added.

"He provided a specimen of breath and it was positive."

The first specimen showed Yates had 71 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit for driving a car is 35 micrograms and for an aircraft is nine micrograms, the jury were told.

Yates was arrested and taken to Altrincham Police Station where a doctor took a blood sample.

This gave a result of 129 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood, the court was told. The legal limit for flying an aircraft is 20 micrograms.

"He was approaching six and a half times the legal limit for flying an aircraft," Mr Walsh said.

Yates, from Ohio, US, told police he turned up for work to tell the captain he was sick and unable to perform his duties and it was not his intention to be part of the crew on that flight.

"The Crown say that is untrue," Mr Walsh said.

"He arrived at the airport in uniform. He tried to gain entrance through security checks used by the air crew, not by the passengers."

Yates had earlier missed a bus taking flight crew from a hotel to the airport. When the captain had gone to his hotel room he appeared "dishevelled" and followed the rest of the crew in a cab to the airport, the court heard.

Mr Walsh said: "The Crown's case, in essence, is he clearly had been drinking heavily, had consumed alcohol and when he got to the airport his intention was to go through security check-in with the intention of performing his function of first officer on the flight from Manchester to Chicago."

The flight was delayed and had to land in New York because it only had two pilots, not three as required by law for such a long flight, the court was told.

Yates is not charged with attempting to fly an aircraft while over the limit as he did not gain access to the plane.

He denies a single charge of carrying out an activity ancillary to an aviation function, that of acting as first officer, while over the limit.

The case continues.

2007-03-06T08:46:00.000-08:00

Off-Duty NWA Worker Charged With Assault On Flight

(WCCO) Minneapolis An off-duty Northwest Airlines employee was arrested after a woman on a flight from Seattle complained that the man had ejaculated on her.

The FBI identified the man as Samuel Oscar Gonzalez, 20, of Lakewood, Wash. He was charged in federal court with simple assault, a misdemeanor.

It happened on the redeye Monday morning from Seattle to Minneapolis. The woman was headed back to college.

Near the end of the flight, the FBI said Gonzalez sat next to the woman as she was trying to sleep. He touched her, which she described as spooning, lifted her shirt and then got up and left. Court documents said she felt a warm fluid on her back, clothes and seat after he walked away. She told the officers he had ejaculated on her.

The woman told the flight attendants about the incident. They moved her to another seat and called police from the air. The crew also moved the man to a seat near the front of the plane until the end of the flight.

Northwest Airlines Corp. said the flight crew asked that police meet the flight from Seattle when it arrived early Monday in Minneapolis, and that's where officers arrested Gonzalez.

The victim told her boyfriend she was told Gonzalez is a Northwest employee.

"I know she was really upset, just kind of confused about what's going on, what's happening," said the victim's boyfriend, Mark, who asked to be identified only by his first name.

Northwest said that Gonzalez was an equipment service worker, a category that includes baggage handlers, but said he was not working at the time.

They released a statement that said, “The NWA employee has been suspended pending a review of the incident. Northwest is cooperating fully with law enforcement authorities on this matter."

The FBI said Gonzalez was detained after his initial appearance in federal court on Monday. He could face up to six months in jail.

2007-01-03T16:30:00.000-08:00

2006-12-17T09:44:00.000-08:00

Fewer air controllers could lead to more mistakes, union says

WASHINGTON — Nearly 1,100 fewer air traffic controllers are guiding planes through the nation's skies than three years ago, even though flights are increasing.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the union that represents those who "move tin," says some facilities are critically understaffed, causing delays and increasing the possibility of mistakes by tired controllers working 10-hour days and six-day weeks.

"Without a doubt, I would say this rubber band has been stretched as far as it's going to go and it's not a matter of whether it's going to break, but when it's going to break," said Hamid Ghaffari, president of the union's Pacific region.

The union, embroiled in a labor dispute with the Federal Aviation Administration, claims staffing problems played a role in three air crashes this year, including the Aug. 27 crash of a Comair jet in Lexington, Ky., that killed 49 of 50 people aboard.

One controller was handling tower and radar services when the Comair flight took off from the wrong runway and crashed. FAA policy required two controllers. The FAA says a second controller wouldn't have made a difference; the union says it might have averted tragedy.

"Lexington proved that it's going to happen, and it's going to happen again," said Steve McCoy, union representative at the Northern California approach control facility in Sacramento.

The FAA says the nation's airport towers and radar facilities are adequately staffed to move planes efficiently and safely, and hiring and training is on track to cope with a wave of retirements that has begun.

"We are not understaffed today, broadly," FAA Deputy Administrator Robert Sturgell said. "There are some small number of facilities where we do need to increase staff. There are also many facilities where we are fine, where we are even overstaffed."

For example, Sturgell said, Atlanta's tower lacks enough personnel, but towers in St. Louis and Pittsburgh, where some airlines have either stopped or reduced operations, have too many.

Federal officials did not provide facility-by-facility staffing levels, but figures provided to Gannett News Service and The (Louisville) Courier-Journal by the controllers' union show towers and radar facilities in California, Chicago, New York, Dallas and other high-volume locations are moving airplanes with as few as 60% of the number of controllers that the FAA and the union agreed constituted full staffing in 2003, the most recent benchmark.

ONLINE DATA: Look up staffing at your airport

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport's tower, the nation's busiest, 34 controllers handle takeoffs and landings, well below the 55 that the union and FAA agreed in 2003 were needed. Since then, traffic has increased and a new runway has opened, complicating the workload.

"We're working six-day work weeks because we do not have the staffing," said Vince Polk, a union safety chairman who works in the tower.

Internal FAA operations logs reveal that staffing problems in November caused controllers to increase the separation, or distance, between planes out of Charlotte; Washington-Dulles, and New England airports. Union officials say that can cause delays for airlines and their passengers.

Personnel shortages also forced the FAA to take the unusual step of placing green trainees in some of the most high-pressure facilities, such as the Atlanta tower and Dallas-Fort Worth approach control, according to the union.

While some new technologies are being put into air traffic control facilities, it has not changed the need for more controllers, according to NATCA President Pat Forrey.

"God forbid that we have a major catastrophe or accident because of a staffing shortage," he said. "I think that's probably the great exception to the rule, but every time you make that more a probability or a possibility, you're threatening the safety of the system and the traveling public."

Safe vs. stressed

Union officials, the FAA and aviation analysts agree on at least one thing: the United States has an enviable safety record in aviation.

Major commercial aviation accidents are extremely rare. The Comair crash was the first major accident in the nation since Nov. 12, 2001, when an American Airlines jet crashed in Queens, N.Y., killing 265 people.

The number of times planes get too close in the air has dropped while the number of times planes end up on the wrong runway has been relatively flat from 1998 to 2005, FAA statistics show.

The industry's safety record "speaks for itself — it's the safest it's ever been," said David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents most major U.S. airlines.

But operational errors — mistakes made by controllers — rose from 894 in 1998 to 1,506 in 2005, according to FAA data. That's a 68% increase.

An operational error can be as minor as letting planes get a tenth of a mile closer than the rules allow or as significant as putting two planes on a collision course.

At Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center in Virginia, controllers committed 23 operational errors between Oct. 1 and Dec. 11, said Rich Santa, the union representative there. That's 10 more than the same period last year.

Union figures show 363 controllers and trainees at the center. That's slightly above the 2003 authorized level the union originally provided to Gannett News Service, but the union later said the center had a higher authorized number of 412.

"We are tired," Santa said. "They're working us like crazy."

Larry Newman, a commercial pilot and the Air Line Pilots Association's air traffic services group chairman, said his group believes there is a "slow but steady erosion in our safety net."

Controllers sound "more stressed out," Newman said.

Flight operations per controller, one measure of workload, was at 9,348 in fiscal 2006, down from 1999. But it's higher than in fiscal 2003 when the average was 8,779, FAA numbers show.

Systemwide, the number of flight operations — by commercial airlines, private planes and military aircraft — that controllers handle has risen from 138.4 million in 2003 to 140.7 million in 2005, according to FAA data.

But that's no cause for alarm, federal officials say. Overtime is down and safety yardsticks indicate staffing is appropriate, the FAA's Sturgell said in an interview.

Initiatives to increase controller productivity, changes in schedule to make controllers available when needed, along with other policies and technology will improve efficiency in coming years, the agency has said.

Sturgell cited Atlanta as an example. At that airport, new technology has cut pilot-to-controller communications 30% to 40%, reducing the workload, he said.

Numbers debated

Figures showed 14,618 air traffic controllers working in more than 300 FAA facilities nationwide at the end of the federal fiscal year in September. That compares with 15,691 controllers three years ago.

Whether each facility has the number of controllers it needs is hard to say.

The FAA did not respond to an Oct. 4 request, filed under the Freedom of Information Act, for the number of controllers working at each facility. The agency is working on a new staffing standard for each facility but doesn't expect to complete it until spring.

GNS and The Courier-Journal relied on facility-by-facility statistics gathered by the union and compared them with the "authorized numbers," which the union and FAA negotiated in 1998 and adjusted through 2003.

Federal aviation officials argue those benchmarks are no longer relevant, though about half the nation's air traffic facilities have staff levels at 90% or more of their authorized levels.

On average, staffing by certified and trainee controllers is 89% of the authorized figure. That average includes 29 facilities with more controllers than the authorized level.

The union says those staffing numbers look better than they really are because it can take up to five years for a trainee to become fully qualified.

Trainees comprise 20% to 30% of some controllers at some facilities as the agency tries to keep up with a wave of retirements of controllers who were hired after President Reagan fired more than 10,000 striking controllers in 1981.

The FAA plans to hire 11,851 controllers through fiscal 2015, for a total of 16,102, to offset retirements and meet the expected 25% increase in air traffic.

Accidents, incidents and delays

The union claims staffing problems contributed to two fatal air crashes this year in Indiana and Illinois involving small planes.

On April 20, five Indiana University graduate school music students were killed when their small plane crashed in fog south of Bloomington.

On Oct. 26, an Indiana economic development official was killed when his plane crashed near Lawrenceville, Ill., on approach to Mid-America Air Center airport.

"We have reached the conclusion that the absence of an experienced approach controller at Terre Haute TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control) working these flights definitely had an impact on these events," NATCA Great Lakes Regional Vice President Bryan Zilonis said in a statement.

The FAA's Sturgell said he couldn't comment on whether staffing played a role in the accidents.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating and had no comment, said spokesman Terry Williams.

At the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center, a controller missed seeing an airliner and a military jet getting too close earlier this month because he was handling too many planes, said NATCA's Ghaffari.

The NTSB confirmed that on Dec. 6, a United Airbus and a Navy DC-9 came within two-and-a-half miles of each other at the same altitude over Beatty, Nev.

Operations logs from numerous air traffic control facilities show that controllers have spaced out traffic due to staffing shortages, which the union said can lead to delays.

For example, on Nov. 7, the Washington Air Route Traffic Control Center sent an advisory that it needed 20 miles between planes leaving Charlotte, to a certain navigation point instead of the normal five miles. The reason given was "staffing."

Asked whether there were delays anywhere because of staffing shortages, the FAA's Sturgell said, "I'm not aware of a facility that has been consistently understaffed to the point where it's causing a delay at a particular place."

John Nance, a former airline pilot, aviation analyst and author, heard a lot of the same debates over safety in the 1980s, before and after the controllers' strike. Between 1985 and 1989, more than 1,400 people died in multiple aviation disasters.

The FAA is "stressing the system already stressed to the max — that's dumb," he said.

"What we've basically got here," Nance said, "is the FAA trying to ignore history and we are going to pay a heavy price if this continues."

2006-12-07T06:57:00.000-08:00

Woman’s tail wind downs jetliner

NASHVILLE - In case of emergency . . . pull finger!

Flatulence brought down an American Airlines [AMR] flight early Monday. It is believed to be the first incident in which gastrointestinal gas has forced an emergency landing.

American Flight 1053 was enroute from Washington Reagan National Airport and bound for Dallas/Fort Worth, when alarmed passengers reported smelling struck matches, Lynne Lowrance, a spokeswoman for the Nashville International Airport Authority told the Tennesseean newspaper.

Despite the odoriferous menace, the plane landed safely. The FBI, Transportation Safety Administration and airport authority responded to the emergency, Lowrance said.

The passengers were taken off the plane with their luggage to go through security checks. Bomb-sniffing dogs found the matches. Astute FBI agents managed to identify and question a passenger who admitted she struck the matches to conceal a body odor issue caused by a medical condition. The flight took off again, but the woman was not allowed back on.

“American has banned her for a long time,” Lowrance said. It is unclear whether she intends to create a stink over the ban. She was not charged although it is illegal to strike a match in an airplane.

2006-11-21T13:39:00.000-08:00

Nursing Moms Stage Airport Protests

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. -- With babies at their breasts, nursing mothers staged airport protests around the country Tuesday after a woman was ordered off a plane last month for breast-feeding her daughter too openly.

About 25 women turned out at Burlington International Airport, sitting on the floor near a Delta Air Lines ticket counter amid signs saying "Don't be lactose intolerant" and "Breasts - Not just for selling cars anymore."

Similar actions were planned at more than two dozen other airports.

"We're not here to blame anyone," said Chelsea Clark, 31, wearing a "Got breast milk?" T-shirt as she nursed her 9-week-old son in Burlington. "It's about raising consciousness about our culture's sexualization of the breast. Breast-feeding needs to be supported wherever and whenever it happens."

Emily Gillette, 27, of New Mexico was ordered off a Freedom Airlines flight about to leave Burlington International Airport on Oct. 13 after a flight attendant asked her to cover up with a blanket while breast-feeding her 1-year-old daughter. Gillette refused and was removed.

The airline, which operated the commuter flight for Delta, later disciplined the unidentified worker. But the incident struck a nerve with women's rights supporters.

At Boston's Logan International Airport, Ali Crehan Feeney came with her 3-year-old daughter Moira, who wore a pink T-shirt with the phrase "Little Lactivist" written on the front.

"We're just appalled that was allowed to happen," Feeney said.

2006-10-05T15:59:00.000-07:00

Unlikely Terrorists On No-Fly List

Oct. 5, 2006(CBS) 60 Minutes, in collaboration with the National Security News Service, has obtained the secret list used to screen airline passengers for terrorists and discovered it includes names of people not likely to cause terror, including the president of Bolivia, people who are dead and names so common, they are shared by thousands of innocent fliers.

Steve Kroft's investigation, in which an ex-FBI agent who worked on its al Qaeda task force says the list of 44,000 names is ineffective, will be broadcast this Sunday, Oct. 8, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

The former FBI agent, Jack Cloonan, knew the list that was hastily assembled after 9/11, would be bungled. "When we heard the name list or no-fly list … the eyes rolled back in my head, because we knew what was going to happen," he says. "They basically did a massive data dump and said, 'Okay, anybody that's got a nexus to terrorism, let's make sure they get on the list,'" he tells Kroft.

The "data dump" of names from the files of several government agencies, including the CIA, fed into the computer compiling the list contained many unlikely terrorists. These include Saddam Hussein, who is under arrest, Nabih Berri, Lebanon's parliamentary speaker, and Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia. It also includes the names of 14 of the 19 dead 9/11 hijackers.

But the names of some of the most dangerous living terrorists or suspects are kept off the list.

The 11 British suspects recently charged with plotting to blow up airliners with liquid explosives were not on it, despite the fact they were under surveillance for more than a year.

The name of David Belfield who now goes by Dawud Sallahuddin, is not on the list, even though he assassinated someone in Washington, D.C., for former Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini. This is because the accuracy of the list meant to uphold security takes a back seat to overarching security needs: it could get into the wrong hands. "The government doesn't want that information outside the government," says Cathy Berrick, director of Homeland Security investigations for the General Accounting Office.

Berrick says Homeland Security would probably agree that leaving such names off the list is a concern. The Transportation Security Administration is trying to fix the list through a program called "Secure Flight," says Berrick, but after three years and an estimated $144 million spent on the program, there's "nothing tangible yet," she says.

Even if the list is made more accurate, it won't help thousands of innocent travelers who share a common name on the list and who get detained, sometimes for hours, when they attempt to fly.

Gary Smith, John Williams and Robert Johnson are some of those names. Kroft talked to 12 people with the name Robert Johnson, all of whom are detained almost every time they fly. The detentions can include strip searches and long delays in their travels.

"Well, Robert Johnson will never get off the list," says Donna Bucella, who oversaw the creation of the list and has headed up the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center since 2003. She regrets the trouble they experience, but chalks it up to the price of security in the post-9/11 world. "They're going to be inconvenienced every time … because they do have the name of a person who's a known or suspected terrorist," says Bucella.

Cloonan, when shown a copy of the list from March 2006, tells Kroft, "I did see Osama bin Laden, both with an "O" in the first name and "U" in the second…I was glad to see that. But some of the other names I see here…I just have to scratch my head and say, 'My God, what have we created here?'"

2006-09-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

Newly Banned Items Often Fly Past Airport Screeners

Wendy Shanker was passing through security at the St. Louis airport Friday when the X-ray machine detected a potential weapon inside her carry-on bag. A screener dug into the satchel and found a pair of scissors that Shanker used for knitting. The scissors' blades were shorter than the 4-inch federal limit so the screener plopped them back into the bag.

But he missed something else: Shanker's two-ounce container of Neutrogena hand cream, a substance banned since federal authorities clamped down last month on allowing liquids and gels into airline passenger cabins.

"They focused in on the scissors and didn't seem to see the cream," said Shanker, who didn't realize it was in her bag until she was on her way to Washington Dulles International Airport.

Like Shanker, many people are inadvertently taking banned liquids and gels through security in their pockets and carry-on luggage, according to interviews with several dozen travelers at local airports and with pilots and security officials.

Others, however, say they're simply not going to tolerate the new rules. They admit that they ignore the restrictions, slipping expensive cologne, perfume, lip gloss, lotion and other ointments into their carry-on bags or into their pockets in hopes of sneaking them past security. Some of the items get flagged by screeners, others do not.

Unlike Shanker, the cream and liquid smugglers refused to give their full names. One woman said she slipped her Blistex lip balm into a pocket because her lips dry out on flights; another stashed her perfume in her carry-on because she didn't trust baggage handlers; another kept a small container of body lotion in her purse to apply in the aircraft lavatory.

A business executive said he always traveled with hand sanitizer in his pocket because he worries about germs on planes. He has made about 10 trips since the restrictions went into effect and hasn't been caught.

Since the rules went into effect, most travelers have abided by the law, packing their hand cream, hair gel and toothpaste in their checked luggage or leaving the items at home. The flouters, however, say they hate the hassle of long waits at baggage carousels and worry that their expensive bottles of perfume will be broken or stolen if placed in their checked luggage.

A 33-year-old teacher, who was traveling with her 7-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter, brought her cosmetics case in her backpack on a trip from Orlando to Dulles Friday morning.

She would give only her first name, Nicole, saying that she worried about getting in trouble. At first, she admitted to a reporter that she was carrying a $75 hydrating gel in her backpack. Then, she revealed lip gloss, toothpaste, a bottle of expensive Chanel perfume and a $300 container of facial cleanser neatly packed in a bulging cosmetic case. Screeners never noticed the items, which she had no intention of checking, she said.

"There is no way I'm putting my Chanel in a checked bag," she said. Then she looked down at her two children: "Who knows what's in their bags?"

The federal government banned most gels and liquids from passenger cabins last month after British authorities said they had foiled a plot to bomb transatlantic flights with liquid explosives. Officials with the Transportation Security Administration said they were confident their security efforts in place at the time would have prevented the plotters from getting through security checkpoints at U.S. airports. But they said they couldn't take any chances and hastily enacted the ban early on Aug. 10.

TSA officials have no way of tracking people who succeed in disobeying the ban, but screeners have caught people trying to sneak items through checkpoints, said Ellen Howe, an agency spokeswoman. Anyone caught could face fines of several hundred dollars, Howe said, although she said it was too difficult to determine whether any fines have been levied.

TSA officials point to a 20 percent increase in checked bags as an indication that most travelers seem to be complying with the rules.

"Travelers must realize this isn't a game," Howe said. "The threat is real and it continues, and we appreciate the public's cooperation. Is it the perfect system? No. But does it make it right to sneak things through security? No, it doesn't."

Security experts said the experiences of travelers interviewed at Reagan National and Dulles airports highlighted what they say are security gaps in the current product bans. A well-trained screener must notice the sometimes-subtle signatures of containers of gels and liquids on X-ray machines. The devices are much better at picking up the shapes of dense and metal objects, such as knives, guns or bomb components, security experts said.

Metal detectors at security checkpoints cannot sense plastic items that may contain liquids or gels.

"There are obviously limitations to this ban," said Clark Kent Ervin, a former inspector general at the Department of Homeland Security.

Ervin supports the restrictions but thinks they are flawed because authorities rely heavily on screeners' interpretations of X-ray images.

"It depends entirely on screeners' alertness and training," he said, "and there are problems with both."

Pilots groups have criticized the measures, saying they notice the security holes all the time. They say authorities should focus more on developing systems to identify potential terrorists, not just their weapons.

Gary Boettcher, a pilot and president of the Coalition for Airline Pilots Association, a trade group that closely tracks security issues, said he constantly sees people drinking from illicit bottles of water or putting on lip gloss when he walks through the passenger cabin. Most of the time, he said, it doesn't bother him.

"They are just doing their routines like they always did," Boettcher said. "An old woman drinking a bottle of water doesn't concern me. . . . The whole screening process is a facade to make the public feel safe, to show that the government is doing something."

Passengers said they didn't feel any safer after reaching their destination and realizing they had inadvertently left a banned item in their carry-on bags.

Libby Cole, 21, who flew into Dulles from Vermont on Friday, said she rushed to catch an early plane and didn't know until she landed that she had two lip glosses in her carry-on bag.

On a past trip, TSA screeners caught one out of two lip glosses, she said.

"I don't think this does anything, because obviously, if this can get through," she said, holding onto one of her lip glosses. "I think it's just kind of a pain."

2006-08-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

2 Ex-Air Marshals Get Prison Terms

HOUSTON (AP) -- Two former federal air marshals have been sentenced to prison for accepting $15,000 bribes to bypass airport security and smuggle cocaine on a flight to Las Vegas.

Burlie Sholar III, 38, and Shawn Ray Nguyen, 32, admitted in plea bargains that they accepted the money to use their positions to smuggle 33 pounds of cocaine.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt on Monday sentenced Sholar to nine years in prison on charges of bribery and conspiracy. Nguyen received a shorter sentence of seven years and three months because he cooperated with investigators, prosecutors said.

They could have faced 10 years to life in prison and fines of $4 million on the smuggling charge and 15 years in prison and $250,000 fines on the bribery charge.

2006-08-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

Report: X-Rays Don't Detect Explosives

X-ray machines that screen airline passengers' shoes cannot detect explosives, according to a Homeland Security Department report on aviation screening.

Findings from the report, obtained by The Associated Press, did not stop the Transportation Security Administration from announcing Sunday that all airline passengers must remove their shoes and run them through X-ray machines before boarding commercial aircraft.

The shoe-scanning requirement was ordered as the government fine-tunes new security procedures since British police last week broke up a terrorist plot to assemble and detonate bombs aboard as many as 10 airliners crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Britain to the United States.

Among the new procedures are a ban on liquids and gels in airline passenger cabins, more hand searches of carryon luggage, and random double screening of passengers at boarding gates.

On Sunday, the TSA made it mandatory for shoes to be run through X-ray machines as passengers go through metal detectors. They were begun in late 2001, after the arrest of Richard Reid aboard a trans-Atlantic flight when he tried to ignite an explosive device hidden in his shoe. The shoe scans have been optional for several years.

In its April 2005 report, "Systems Engineering Study of Civil Aviation Security _ Phase I," the Homeland Security Department concluded that images on X-ray machines don't provide the information necessary to detect explosives.

Machines used at most airports to scan hand-held luggage, purses, briefcases and shoes have not been upgraded to detect explosives since the report was issued.

TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said putting shoes on the X-ray machines makes the screening process more efficient and eliminates confusion. "We do not have a specific threat regarding shoes," Clark said. "In an abundance of caution we require all shoes to be removed and X-rayed to mitigate a variety of threats."

The Homeland Security report said that "even a 1/4-inch insole of sheet explosive" could create the kind of blast that reportedly brought down Pan Am flight 103, the airliner that blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, in December 1988, killing 270 people in the air and on the ground.

"To help close this gap, the percentage of shoes subjected to explosives inspection should be significantly increased," the report said.

The Homeland Security report recommends that explosives trace detection, or ETD, be used on the shoes and hands of passengers when the screeners determine they must be checked more thoroughly.

"Within the current state of the art, they afford the only meaningful explosives detection capability at the checkpoint," the report said.

ETD involves a screener using a dry pad on the end of a wand to wipe a surface _ baggage, shoes, clothing _ and then putting the pad into a machine called an ion mobility spectrometer. The machine can detect tiny particles, or traces, of explosives.

Screeners do use ETD on passengers who have been selected to be screened a second time after going through the checkpoint.

TSA chief Kip Hawley recently acknowledged that the threat from liquid explosives isn't going away _ and new security measures designed to thwart the threat may be around for awhile.

The agency is testing equipment to detect liquid explosives at six airports, Hawley said, and he called the technology "very promising."

But, he said, "with a million and a half to 2 million passengers every day, it is not practical to think that we are going to take every bottle and scan it through these liquid scanners."

"We are not going to wait for the perfect device to be deployable," Hawley said in an interview Friday. "We're going to look for a total system to be at the level to make us comfortable."

The agency wants to make better use of a limited resource _ airport screeners, whose numbers have been capped by Congress at 45,000. The TSA handles security for 450 commercial airports.

Among the changes the TSA is considering, according to TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe:

_Hire more people to take baggage-handling responsibilities from screeners so the screeners can focus on security responsibilities.

_Have screeners, instead of contract employees hired by airlines, check IDs and boarding passes.

_Expand a program that trains screeners to look for unusual behavior in passengers that might indicate malicious intent. Called SPOT _ Screening Passengers by Observation Technique _ it's used in at least 12 airports, Howe said.

Those changes may require approval by Congress and agreement with airports and the airline industry, which might have to bear some of the cost, Howe said.

The airlines might go along with the plan, an industry spokesman said.

"We favor this proposal provided it doesn't add costs to the carriers," said David Castelveter, spokesman for the Air Transport Association.

2006-07-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

HPD, airport security at odds over incident

Man allowed to board aircraft appeared to have bomb components

Houston police and the federal Transportation Security Administration disagree over who is responsible for allowing a man with what appeared to be bomb components board an aircraft at Hobby Airport last week.

Although the FBI eventually cleared the man of wrongdoing, police officials have transferred the officer involved and are investigating the incident while insisting that the TSA, not police, has the authority to keep a suspicious person from boarding a flight.

"Our job is not to be the gatekeepers," police Capt. Dwayne Ready said. "That burden falls squarely on the airline and TSA to make that final decision.

"We are looking at our role in the situation to make sure our policies were adhered to," he said. "During follow-up, we are finding that there simply was not a material threat."

TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said screeners have the authority to stop people from going beyond the checkpoint to the boarding areas, but they rely heavily on local police.

"It's just agencies talking with each other," Ready said, downplaying the disagreement.

Details of the dispute

McCauley and Ready would not comment about the June 26 incident, but a confidential TSA report obtained by the Houston Chronicle details a dispute between screeners and a police officer on duty at the airport.

The report states that a man with a Middle Eastern name and a ticket for a Delta Airlines flight to Atlanta shook his head when screeners asked if he had a laptop computer in his baggage, but an X-ray machine operator detected a laptop.

A search of the man's baggage revealed a clock with a 9-volt battery taped to it and a copy of the Quran, the report said. A screener examined the man's shoes and determined that the "entire soles of both shoes were gutted out."

No explosive material was detected, the report states. A police officer was summoned and questioned the man, examined his identification, shoes and the clock, then cleared him for travel, according to the report.

A TSA screener disagreed with the officer, saying "the shoes had been tampered with and there were all the components of (a bomb) except the explosive itself," the report says.

The officer retorted, "I thought y'all were trained in this stuff," TSA officials reported.

The report says the TSA screener notified Delta Airlines and talked again with the officer, who said he had been unable to check the passenger's criminal background because of computer problems.

FBI involvement

The incident gained enough attention at higher levels of the TSA that the FBI was asked to investigate. The TSA issued a statement saying its screeners "acted in accordance with their training and protocols."

FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett in Atlanta said agents there investigated the passenger.

"It was looked at and deemed a non-event," Emmett said, declining to give further details.

Meanwhile the officer involved in the dispute, J.O. Reece, has been transferred to a desk job, "the same place they send officers who are relieved of duty," said Chad Hoffman, attorney for the Houston Police Officers Union.

Hoffman said Reece doesn't understand why he was transferred "when it seems clear from the onset of the investigation that he didn't have probable cause to detain anybody and that his actions were consistent with the law and HPD policy."

2006-05-18T11:49:00.000-07:00

A New Tack for Airport Screening: Behave Yourself

Airport screeners plan to shift tactics, focusing less on scissors and more on passenger behavior

In the four years since it was created, the Transportation Security Administration has been trying — and often failing — to find dangerous things that passengers might bring onto an aircraft. Now the TSA is aiming to become less obsessed with scissors and cigarette lighters and focusing more on passenger behavior. Government sources tell TIME that the agency will announce in the next few weeks that it will introduce a race-neutral profiling program at the country's busiest airports, among them New York's John F. Kennedy, Los Angeles International and Chicago's O'Hare. The program has an awkward title, Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques, but a clever acronym, SPOT. It has been tested over the last three years at several airports in the northeast, including Boston's Logan Airport, where two of the 9/11 hijacking teams launched their operations.

Unlike the TSA's troubled and controversial use of computer databases to scan for individuals whose names occur on passenger "watch lists," SPOT is based on observing passenger behavior. George Naccara, the TSA's Federal Security Director who has been overseeing the SPOT program in Boston, is a big booster. "This system is conducted by trained personnel and closely monitored by supervisors," he says. "It provides another significant layer of security."

Here's how it works: Select TSA employees will be trained to identify suspicious individuals who raise red flags by exhibiting unusual or anxious behavior, which can be as simple as changes in mannerisms, excessive sweating on a cool day, or changes in the pitch of a person's voice. Racial or ethnic factors are not a criterion for singling out people, TSA officials say. Those who are identified as suspicious will be examined more thoroughly; for some, the agency will bring in local police to conduct face-to-face interviews and perhaps run the person's name against national criminal databases and determine whether any threat exists. If such inquiries turn up other issues countries with terrorist connections, police officers can pursue the questioning or alert Federal counterterrorism agents. And of course the full retinue of baggage x-rays, magnatometers and other checks for weapons will continue.

So far, the results for SPOT have been encouraging. According to Naccara, the SPOT program has resulted in the arrest of more than 50 people for having fake IDs, entering the country illegally or drug possession. It also has caught one of its own: several months ago a representative from the Department of Homeland Security tested the system by trying to get a fake weapon through the screening checkpoint; he was successfully stopped by a STOP screener. The TSA will also consider deploying SPOT teams to other transportation systems like train and bus stations.

The SPOT program comes none too soon, since the current TSA system of screening for threats on airplanes has been, well, spotty. Earlier this month TSA screeners not trained in the SPOT program pulled over three Marines in dress uniform for special screening. After being patted down and scrutinized closely, the Marines were finally let go and allowed to continue their duties — escorting the body of one of their colleagues killed in Iraq.

2006-05-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

Transportation Security Administration Slogans

Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Doing a job RIGHT the first time gets the job done. Doing the job WRONG fourteen times gives you job security.

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings, they did it by killing all those who opposed them.

We put the "k" in "kwality."

If something doesn't feel right, you're not feeling the right thing.

Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity.

A person who smiles in the face of adversity...probably has a scapegoat.

If at first you don't succeed, try management.

Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid altogether.

TEAMWORK...means never having to take all the blame yourself.

Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups.

We waste time, so you don't have to.

Hang in there, retirement is only thirty years away!

Go the extra mile. It makes your boss look like an incompetent slacker.

When the going gets tough, the tough take a smoke break.

INDECISION is the key to FLEXIBILITY.

Succeed in spite of management.

Aim Low, Reach Your Goals, Avoid Disappointment.

We waste more time by 8:00 in the morning than other companies do all day.

Work: It isn't just for sleeping anymore.

2006-05-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

Prostitution Alleged In Homeland Security Contract Award

Federal authorities are investigating allegations that a California defense contractor arranged for a Washington area limousine company to provide prostitutes to convicted former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) and possibly other lawmakers, sources familiar with the probe said yesterday.

In recent weeks, investigators have focused on possible dealings between Christopher D. Baker, president of Shirlington Limousine and Transportation Inc., and Brent R. Wilkes, a San Diego businessman who is under investigation for bribing Cunningham in return for millions of dollars in federal contracts, said one source, who requested anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Baker has a criminal record and has experienced financial difficulties, public records show. Last fall, his company was awarded a $21 million contract with the Department of Homeland Security to provide transportation, including limo service for senior officials. Baker and his lawyer declined to comment yesterday.

The Cunningham investigation's latest twist came after Mitchell J. Wade, a defense contractor who has admitted bribing the former congressman, told prosecutors that Wilkes had an arrangement with Shirlington Limousine, which in turn had an arrangement with at least one escort service, one source said. Wade said limos would pick up Cunningham and a prostitute and bring them to suites Wilkes maintained at the Watergate Hotel and the Westin Grand in Washington, the source said.

Cunningham resigned from Congress after pleading guilty last November to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from four co-conspirators, including Wilkes and Wade. The former lawmaker was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison. Wade pleaded guilty to his part in the scheme in February and is cooperating with investigators. Wilkes has not been charged.

The allegations about prostitutes were reported this week by the Wall Street Journal. Asked yesterday about the allegations, Wilkes's attorney, Michael Lipman of San Diego, said: "My client denies any involvement in that conduct." Cunningham's lawyer, K. Lee Blalack II, declined to comment.

The San Diego Union-Tribune yesterday cited a letter from Baker's lawyer, Bobby Stafford, saying that Baker "provided limousine services for Mr. Wilkes for whatever entertainment he had in the Watergate" from the company's founding in 1990 through the early 2000s. The letter also stated that Baker was "never in attendance in any party where any women were being used for prostitution purposes." Reached by telephone yesterday, Stafford would not comment on the letter.

Before starting Shirlington Limousine, public records show, Baker compiled a lengthy criminal record. Between 1979 and 1989, he was convicted on several misdemeanor charges, including drug possession and attempted petty larceny, as well as two felony charges for attempted robbery and car theft, according to D.C. Superior Court records.

The Internal Revenue Service filed a tax lien against Baker in 1996. He lost his house in 1998, and he filed for personal bankruptcy protection in 1998 and again in 1999.

Although Baker's company began receiving small federal contracts in 1998, it also fell into debt, records show. In early 2002, Arlington County Circuit Court ordered Shirlington Limousine to pay American Express Travel Related Services Co. $55,292.

That summer, Howard University terminated a contract with Shirlington Limousine to supply shuttle bus service, citing poor service and other problems.

In 2003 and again in 2004, the company received eviction notices for an office it maintained in a luxury D.C. apartment building. And in September 2004, the company was sued in D.C. Superior Court for $1.8 million, for failing to make payments on buses it bought for the Howard contract. The case was settled last month, with Shirlington Limousine agreeing to pay $300,000.

During these financial troubles, Baker's company won a contract worth $3.8 million with the Department of Homeland Security in April 2004. It appears from federal records that Shirlington Limousine was the only bidder. The contract was awarded under a program that limited competition to businesses in poor neighborhoods.

Baker was able to close his bankruptcy case last April after he made nearly $125,000 in payments to creditors, according to court records.

The Homeland Security Department said it awarded Shirlington Limousine, one of three bidders, another one-year contract for $21.2 million in October.

Homeland Security spokesman Larry Orluskie said the department does not routinely conduct background checks on its contractors. Instead, it relies on a list the government keeps of vendors who have had serious problems with federal contracts, he said.

In Shirlington Limousine's case, only the drivers were subject to criminal background checks, he said.

Past performance is one key factor the government weighs in awarding a contract, Orluskie said. But he said he did not know whether contract officers checked with Howard University before awarding Shirlington Limousine its first contract.

He stressed that Shirlington Limousine has performed well, saying: "We have not had any problems with this service -- we don't question whether they can deliver because they are delivering."

Steven L. Schooner, an associate professor and contracting expert at George Washington University Law School, said that although there is no explicit prohibition against giving contracts to felons or people with poor business histories, the government is obligated to ensure that potential vendors have a satisfactory record of business ethics and integrity, and that they have the financial resources to meet contractual obligations.

"There's a fundamental government responsibility to investigate," he said.

2006-04-21T16:03:00.000-07:00

Supermodel arrested for allegedly hitting flight attendant

Danish supermodel May Andersen has been arrested for hitting a flight attendant on a flight from Amsterdam to Miami, police said.

The 23-year-old bombshell was aboard Martinair Flight 643 on Thursday. She was ''loud and disruptive all throughout the flight,'' according to a Miami-Dade police spokeswoman.

Airport police arrested the woman when the flight landed. She continued her unruly behavior with officers, police said.

Andersen was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital to check for signs of alcohol or drug abuse, then booked into Miami-Dade County Jail.

The leggy model has worked in advertising for J. Crew and Victoria's Secret, and has posed in Sports Illustrated's famed swimsuit edition.

She has been charged with simple battery, resisting arrest without violence and disorderly intoxication.

2006-04-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

Airline Meals

If flying isn't scarey enough, check out the food they are going to serve you HERE.

2006-04-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

Mystery Silence At Sea-Tac Control Tower Prompts Investigation

SEA-TAC AIRPORT - For 25 minutes in the wee hours of April 11, the control tower at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport did not respond to airplane traffic.

"There were two planes affected - one trying to take off and one trying to come in," airport spokesman Bob Parker said Monday.

The unexplained silence, which started at 3:15 a.m. that day, ended at 3:40 a.m. when a Port of Seattle staff member drove to the guard shack at the base of the control tower.

"They went over to the guard shack at the tower and he (the guard) was able to raise someone," Parker said.

Airport officials said that a Boeing 747-400 flown by Taiwanese carrier EVA was on its final approach to Sea-Tac at around 3:15 a.m. when it radioed the control tower for permission to land.

There was no response. Eventually, the airliner reached a dispatcher at the airport's departure control facility, who is not in the control tower, and made a plan to remain airborne until a controller could be reached.

Meanwhile, a Delta Airlines jet attempting to back away from the airport's south satellite got no response when it sought clearance to leave.

The airfield - the runways and taxiways - was cleared of maintenance workers until the tower resumed communications, Parker said. "They followed procedure and left the immediate area," he said.

The EVA plane landed safely once contact was reestablished. The matter is being investigated by the FAA, which oversees air traffic control, Parker said. The FAA would not comment on the incident.

2006-04-04T20:48:00.000-07:00

Homeland Deputy Arrested in Seduction Case

The deputy press secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was arrested Tuesday for using the Internet to seduce what he thought was a teenage girl, authorities said.

Brian J. Doyle, 55, was arrested at his residence in Maryland on charges of use of a computer to seduce a child and transmission of harmful material to a minor. The charges were issued out of Polk County, Fla.

Doyle, of Silver Spring, Md., had a sexually explicit conversation with what he believed was a 14-year-old girl whose profile he saw on the Internet on March 14, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

The girl was an undercover Polk County Sheriff's Computer Crimes detective, the sheriff's office said.

Doyle sent the girl pornographic movie clips and had sexually explicit conversations via the Internet, the statement said.

During other online conversations, Doyle revealed his name, that he worked for the Homeland Security Department and offered his office and government issued cell phone numbers, the sheriff's office said.

Doyle also sent photos of himself to the girl, but authorities said they were not sexually explicit.

On several occasions, Doyle instructed her to perform a sexual act while thinking of him and described explicit activities he wanted to have with her, investigators said.

Doyle later had a telephone conversation with an undercover deputy posing as the teenager and encouraged her to purchase a web camera to send graphic images of herself to him, the sheriff's office said.

He was booked into Maryland's Montgomery County jail where he was waiting to be extradited to Florida, the sheriff's office said.

There was no immediate response to messages left on Doyle's government-issued cell phone and his e-mail, and he could not be reached by phone at the jail for comment.

Homeland Security press secretary Russ Knocke in Washington said he could not comment on the details of the investigation. "We take these allegations very seriously, and we will cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation," Knocke said.

Doyle, who is the fourth-ranking official in the department's public affairs office, was expected to be placed on administrative leave Wednesday morning.

2006-04-02T13:08:00.000-07:00

Office of Special Counsel Investigating TSA Officials at Buffalo Niagra Airport

According to an anonymous source, an investigation directed by the United States Office of Special Counsel has begun at airports in the Buffalo area. The investigation follows a number of controversies surrounding the Buffalo Niagara International Airport and surrounding airports over the last year.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel is an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. OSC’s primary mission is to safeguard the merit system by protecting federal employees and applicants from prohibited personnel practices, especially reprisal for whistleblowing.

The agency provides a secure channel through its Disclosure Unit for federal workers to disclose information about various workplace improprieties, including a violation of law, rule or regulation, gross mismanagement and waste of funds, abuse of authority, or a substantial danger to public health or safety.

The Buffalo Niagara International Airport is the largest Category II airport in the country.

According to the source, several high ranking TSA officials are among the subjects of the investigation, including: David F. Bassett, Federal Security Director at Greater Rochester International Airport; Lawrence (Larry) Fogg, Buffalo's current acting Federal Security Director; and Tom Koch, Assistant Federal Security Director of Operations at Buffalo International.

Bassett and Fogg have reportedly been instructed to meet with the TSA's Northeast Area Federal Security Director, George Nacarra, in Boston next month.

Buffalo area airports have been the subject of controversy for some time.

Two TSA training officers were terminated from employment by the agency earlier this year after blowing the whistle on unsafe practices at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. Thomas Bittler and Ray Guagliardi reported a number of security violations to management, including the failure of screeners to test some bags for explosives as required by federal law.

"I've seen so many violations, I don't know where to begin," Guagliardi said.

"I trained these people," Bittler said, "so I knew what they were supposed to be doing."

But local TSA management failed to heed the warnings and act on the reports, the two have said. In fact, management's reponse was to tell the security-conscious trainers that they were responsible only for assisting screeners, not for supervising them.

"When I questioned what was going on," says Bittler, "I was told to keep my mouth shut and do what I was told whether it was right or wrong."

Both men claim that TSA officials told them that they should never have complained.

"If you people would just learn to shut your mouths, you would still have your jobs," one supervisor reportedly told Bittler.

Management's response seems to contradict TSA's own published policy. According to the agency's Interim Policy on Employee Responsibilities and Conduct, TSA screeners are required to "Report known or suspected violations of law, regulations or poplicy through appropriate channels and fully participate in inquiries."

The same document states that supervisors must "provide positive leadership and serve as a role model for subordinates by demonstrating a commitment and sense of responsibility to their job and loyalty to the organization."

Not deterred by management's apparent lack of interest, the men then wrote a letter detailing their concerns to TSA headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Two months later their service was rewarded with termination from employment.

"[T]he new FSD fired [them] for documenting policy deviations and violations," wrote one TSA employee, "...to intimidate the screeners. He said loud and clear, 'this is what happens to people who write letters of greviance'."

The TSA claimed the terminations were simply part of a "staff reorganization."

This past November, Bittler was among a number of other TSA employees who were recognized for their exemplary service during an agency awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

"It's pretty ironic to have Adm. James Loy (then head of the TSA) personally give me a bronze award for individual achievement in November and be terminated in January," he said. "I think this tells you something is very wrong at TSA Buffalo."

Bittler filed a complaint with Office of Special Counsel for wrongful termination.

Former TSA staff members also contend that TSA management has created an atmosphere of intimidation and fear among screeners at Buffalo. One screener, who asked not to be identified, said a manager had told a group of workers that Bittler's termination is an example of what happens "to people who write letters."

Similar complaints have been echoed from screeners around the nation. And the TSA's own 2004 Organizational Assessment Survey of more than 22,000 screeners lends credence to the complaints. According to a "Corporate Snapshot" of the survey results, released by the TSA in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the majority of TSA employees are dissatisfied with supervisors, communication, and work conditions.

TSA Screeners and trainers are not the only ones who have been treated unfairly, however. According to a document obtained by Screeners Central, Buffalo airport's former Federal Security Director Jay W. Stroup was also targeted.

The document, purportedly a transcript of a deposition of Tim Glasow, the former Acting Northeast Area Director for TSA, is related to a Merit Systems Protection Board review case (docket no. NY-1221-04-0193-S-1). (Note: the authenticity of the document has not been independently verified.)

Glasow has drawn criticism from screeners, including several who have posted comments on screener-related web sites and message forums.

"He served as Acting [Area Director] for over a year," wrote one screener. "Yet, his only qualification is that he went to the Naval Acadamy with several individuals who are now -- or were at one time -- his superiors."

When confronted with reports of security violations, Glasow allegedly replaced the Federal Security Director Jay Stroup with Rochester security director David Bassett, a former Naval Acadamy class mate of Glasow's, who was named Acting Federal Security Director at Buffalo airport in mid-November, 2003.

When Buffalo News staff reporter Sharon Linstedt attempted to contact Bassett to comment on Stroup's allegations he did not return her phone calls.

Jay Stroup was appointed as Buffalo's Federal Security Director (FSD) by Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta on October 11, 2002. In February, 2003, he was quoted as saying, "[A]ll of us recognize that security is an on-going process and it works at the optimum level only through commitment and consistency," according to one news article.

Indeed, Stroup seemed to have a reputation for dealing with problems and trying to help rank-and-file screeners.

"He was strict but fair," said one former employee, who noted that Stroup was known as a hard-nosed leader who tackled problems and addressed security issues head-on. "If you did your job you had no problems. But if you didn't, he would deal with it."

"He was responsible for saving over 45 jobs when the right sizing issue was going on," said another.

Stroup, who Transportation Secretary Mineta once characterized as an "experienced professional" who was "integral in furthering the Transportation Security Administration's commitment to first-class security and first-class customer service," found himself on the receiving end of unhappy superiors within the administration.

Stroup said that he was forced to resign his Senior Executive position with the TSA on October 2, 2003, under pressure from TSA superiors, after allegations of nepotism and mishandling of a disciplinary matter involving a subordinate. His resignation came after just one day before his probation period would end.

In the purported deposition transcript, Area Director Glasow was asked who made the decision to terminate Mr. Stroup and when? Glasow replied "I did," and "after viewing the management inquiry."

According to the deposition transcript, the management inquiry was an administrative fact-finding document, which was prepared by a member of the Syracuse Federal Security Director's staff "to look into some allegations that headquarters had received regarding matters in Buffalo."

Glasow indicated that his termination letter indicated that he had "lost trust and confidence in Mr. Stroup's ability to continue to lead the effort there at Buffalo."

According to a Buffalo News report this past February, Stroup's key concerns included improper handling of baggage screening at the airport. Stroup alleges that screeners ran only a fraction of bags through explosives-detection devices, in violation of a federal mandate requiring all checked luggage be scanned.

"I know of several instances where one in five bags is screened, and that aggravates me to no end," Stroup was quoted in the article. "That means there's a four-out-of-five chance of a bomb getting onto a plane in Buffalo. It's dangerous and it's wrong."

"Several of his staff members, along with some screeners, were responsible for his removal," says one former TSA employee who worked at the Buffalo airport.

Others also support Stroup's claims. According to several former TSA employees, Stroup reportedly terminated three screeners who were caught sleeping in the baggage-screening room while on duty, but the screeners were later reinstated by the new management team after Stroup left.

Five TSA employees even contacted the Washington office of Congressman Jack F. Quinn (R) regarding "personnel issues" and later met with Quinn in Buffalo in January.

Some screeners say that the congressional representative lost interest in their complaints, and later his office refused to take their calls or allow them to see TSA responses to their concerns. New York Senator Hillary Clinton's office was also contacted by some of the concerned screeners, with "very little reaction," they say.

"It's amazing how many people who just don't care," said one screener.

"The bottom line is if you're TSA management, all the people in [Washington] D.C. want to hear is good news," said one former TSA employee, "If they hear bad news they [TSA] will fire you!"

According to Bittler, however, Congressman Quinn has been "very, very supportive" in regards to his and other cases.

Stroup has said that he decided to break his silence on what he called "a very frightening situation" after a security incident at the Buffalo airport in which screeners discovered a jar containing an unknown substance in a passenger's luggage but the passenger was allowed to depart even though the substance had not been identified or declared safe.

"I hope that by going public," Stroup has said, "I can help protect the people who use the ... airport and the TSA staff members who want to do the right thing."

Stroup has filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel claiming whistleblower protection and has indicated that he is concerned that his resignation could taint the serious nature of his allegations.

Stroup has a hearing before the Merit System Protection Board in Buffalo next month.

When previously asked about Stroup's resignation by a reporter, TSA Northeast regional spokeswoman Ann Davis declined to comment on Stroup's allegations, stating that she wasn't aware of any concerns about security and safety at the Buffalo airport.

"The TSA at Buffalo would be pleased to cooperate with any security or policy review," she did say, however. "They are confident security at Buffalo is top-notch."

But "top-notch" is not the descriptor that some TSA employees would use, about security at the airport or the management in general.

According to sources familiar with the complaints and investigation, TSA Internal Affairs staff have visited the Buffalo airport on five separate occasions, but did little more than identify employees who made complaints and report those names to the Acting FSD and Area Director Tim Glasow.

According to one employee, "Internal Affairs came to [Buffalo airport] ... and did nothing but criticize those of us who expressed our concerns."

"There was no investigation," wrote one TSA employee at Buffalo, "or any attempt by the IA agents to validate the complaints, verify facts and follow-up on leads."

Indeed, according to the deposition transcript, Glasow stated, "Mr. Dennehy was asked to do some fact finding for me. I wouldn't call it an investigation."

While a formal investigation never took place, sources and the deposition transcript indicate that local TSA officials conducted a "Management Inquiry," which found no wrong doing on the part of management.

According to Mr. Glasow's testimony, employee Olivia Robinson told Glasow that there existed a hostile work environment at Buffalo and described "the abusive nature" of FSD Stroup and "his ability to lead the operational mission up there." She indicated that a lot of his staff felt that way. She didn't mention names or numbers, but she said that a lot of the staff feels that way. In addition, Robinson described Stroup "yelling at employees," his demeaning nature, and restrictions on allowing TSA staff to communicate with Area Director Glasow's staff here in Washington.

"They feared for their jobs if they were caught communicating with our staff," Glasow said.

But some employees allege that Mrs Robinson intentially did not file a formal complaint with the agency regarding the alleged sexual harassment or hostile work enviroment due to time constraints.

"Mr. Stroup's probationary period was coming to an end," said one screening, suggesting that the informal complaint was made in order to justify Stroup's termination prior to him passing his probationary period.

When asked if he caused any inquiry or investigation to be initiated with respect to the allegations against Mr. Stroup, Glasow said, "No," indicating that he "had enough with the management inquiry" and "that her (Robinson's) discussion with me validated in my estimation some of the things that came out of the management inquiry."

Stroup was not approached about the allegations by Ms. Robinson and the other anonymous employees, however, before Glasow drafted his letter of termination to Stroup.

"Don't you think it would have been fair to confront him with that," Stroup's attorney asked, to which Glasow replied, "In hindsight, maybe yes."

A charge of nepotism was also leveled against FSD Stroup. An anonymous letter included in the management inquiry alleges Stroup violated TSA's policy against nepotism when he hired his brother-in-law, Dallas Ulbrich, as the screening operations officer at Buffalo.

But according to statements in the deposition, the inquiry report did not conclude that the charge was substantiated, however, or that the hiring was, in fact, a violation of TSA policy. Glasow said under oath that he did not conduct any research into the degrees necessary to determine whether or not nepotism rules were actually violated but instead relied on the opinion of other staff.

Glasow indicated that the management inquiry was the primary justification for Glasow's decision to terminate Stroup, although the management inquiry report itself states "There is no indicia of proof of any wrong doing by Mr Stroup."

One source familiar with the investigation said that since the Office of Special Counsel's investigation was announced, "they [management] have all been very, very nervous. [T]hese guys have never ever told the truth and for them to do so now means there is alot of pressure on them."

2006-04-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a former San Diego police officer was rightfully terminated from his job for producing pornographic videos and selling them on eBay. Fortunately for the man, he currently has a job -- with the Transportation Security Administration.

According to a January, 2004, a U.S. appeals court ruled that Luis Acevedo was wrongly fired from his job with the San Diego Police Department in 2001 for selling home made pornagraphic videos and selling them on eBay under the eBay username "Code3Stud."

In the videos, which were posted in auctions in the site's Mature Audiences section, Acevedo is featured in a fake police uniform performing sexual acts including masturbation.

Acevedo was fired after his "hobby" was discovered by Sergeant Robert Dare (SDPD), who originally came across another of Acevedo's auctions for police department paraphernalia, and recognized Acevedo in a picture from the video. Acevedo was charged with violating department policies on unbecoming conduct.

The department ordered him to stop selling the tapes, which Acevedo did, but he was fired on June 29, 2001, for disobeying orders after police officials found that his eBay seller profile still included references to the videos.

A Gay & Lesbian Times article mentions that he was terminated "even though he received a satisfactory performance evaluation for that time period as well as a letter of commendation."

Acevedo sued, using an alias "John Roe," claiming his activity was a "public concern" because the sex videos were made while he was off-duty and away from the workplace. Acevedo’s attorney, Michael Baranic, of Gattey Baranic LLP, argued the Flanagan “protected expression” test as a basis for the appeal.

In the lawsuit, Acevedo claimed investigators contacted Acevedo via e-mail to request a custom video, instructing him to act out a scene with another man, asking for Acevedo to be “pretending that you (Acevedo) are giving him a ticket” and then to “strip down while writing the ticket and make him a deal to take it back, which would end up with you cumming all over him.”

The San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Acevedo, in January decision, that his "actions outside of the workplace were protected by the First Amendment right to free speech," according to a news report.

But the the U.S. Supreme Court reviewed the case and ruled Monday (December 6, 2004) that officials of the San Diego Police Department were correct to fire an officer who sold pornographic video tapes of himself in uniform.

According to a recent news report, "the unsigned, unanimous opinion reverses a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in favor of the officer, who sued under the alias John Roe [aka Luis Acevedo] and claimed his free speech rights were violated. "

Fortunately for Acevedo, he still has a good paying job with the Transportation Security Administration.

"This fine example of law enforcement, Luis Acevedo, is a TSA regulatory inspector at [the San Diego airport]," said an unidentified source. "How this gentleman got hired [by TSA] after being fired from the SDPD is beyond me."

According to the TSA web site, the position of Assistant Federal Security Director for Regulatory Inspection "serves as the principal advisor to the Federal Security Director on all matters concerning enforcement and compliance with security directives pertaining to airport and aviation security," and "manages an inspection program for compliance by airlines, vendors, and other airport tenants."

More importantly, however, the AFSD of Regulatory Inspection "advises/informs [the] FSD on unusual or complex managerial or personnel disciplinary issues," "directs the work of supervisors, program managers and other subordinate employees" and "exercises discretion and sound judgment in dealing with sensitive human resources matters or issues."

I find it not a little ironic that a person who was terminated from civil service employment as a city police officer for making pornographic videos of himself in a police uniform (albeit not the uniform of his employing agency) is now responsible for exercising "discretion and sound judgment in dealing with sensitive human resources matters or issues" for the TSA.

To be frank, TSA screeners have enough problems right now and they need every ounce of professionalism, sound judgment and discretion that management can muster to avoid getting the proverbial shaft.

Is this man the best that the TSA can offer screeners at San Diego's airport? I doubt it. If he is, then that itself is a very sad testament to the TSA's ability to value it's "most valuable resource" -- its employees.

But Acevedo may have some 'splaining to do to the TSA, if it's on the ball. According to TSA Human Resource Management Letter 735-1, "Interim Policy on Employee Responsibilities and Conduct," while off-duty, "employees are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that does not adversely reflect on the TSA or negatively impact its ability to discharge its mission, cause embarrassment to the agency, or cause the public and/or supervisors to question the employee's reliability, judgment, or trustworthiness."

Call me a right wing radical or ultra-conservative nut job if you must, but I can't shake this feeling in the pit of my gut that videotaping oneself jerking off in a police uniform and selling those videos is, well... not indicative of "good judgment" by a federal employee and it does, indeed, adversely reflect on the TSA and "cause embarrassment" to the agency. But what do I know?

This is what I know. Screeners can be fired for any reason (or no reason at all), thanks to the wording of the Aviation Transportation Security Act of 2001 and the decisions of several courts (as well as the MSPB). But in case the TSA needed a little justification, however slight, TSA Management Directive 1100.75-3, "Addressing Performance And Conduct Problems," an employee may be "suspended, removed or reduced in pay band or rate of pay for such cause as will promote the efficiency of the service."

To those TSA officials who are reading this column (and I know there are at least a few), I would suggest you consider removing this person as a manager who "exercises discretion and sound judgment in dealing with sensitive human resources matters or issues," as it would most certainly promote the efficiency of the service. It might even bump up employee morale a tad, if that's still possible.

I don't expect that the TSA will follow my advice. It hasn't yet, at least not in those areas that would have a positive impact on its work force.

I would hate to think that my wife, who is a TSA screener, would have to rely on someone who masturbates on camera for cash to deal with her sensitive human resources matters or issues.

The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General just lost his job, purportedly for pissing off the administration from his "overly critical" investigative reports, and yet the TSA has managers like this guy handling screeners' "sensitive human resources issues."

No wonder Tom Ridge resigned. The TSA is an embarrassment of monumental proportions. To claim that it is building a "model workplace" is more than a pathetic joke, It's a blatanat lie and an insult to all hard-working screeners, especially those that have suffered at the hands of corrupt, abusive or just plain stupid managers.

The TSA rather reminds me of that old Star Trek episode, "And the Children Shall Lead," with the angel entity Gorgan and those little kids. Remember the end of the episode when Kirk was urging the kids to see the angel for what he "really" was?

Bingo.

I call 'em the way I see 'em, folks.

Thanks, TSA, for all but solidifying my opinion that the TSA should be disbanded and all airport security returned to private companies. At least those companies can be held to certain standards and federal laws.

This fits with TSA's pattern to "protect" the incompetent and morally degraded because they "know" someone, and fire those with integrity and charactor to "do the right thing" by disclosing blatent violations of Law, Security Policy and CFR. I see this every day at Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF).

Look at all the former federal employees at TSA. Many from the FAA and FBI who are recieving 2 federal paychecks, yet have no management or security training or skill. It is a known fact that just because someone has a law enforcement background, doesn't mean they know how to manage security operations at an airport.

In BUF's case, we have 2 ex-Navy/Coast Guard dunderheads with no security training or background and can only manage people by threats and lies. But they are well acquainted with HQ buddies from the Naval Acadamy who put them here.

Also, I believe it is Fraud and Abuse of public funds to give waivers to ex-FAA and ex-FBI agents so they can collect 2 federal paychecks. They quit (or retired) from their former jobs knowing that they can "rake it in" with TSA until they get caught.

2006-04-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

TSA screener checks out potential-crazed-shoe-bomber before would-be-terrorist dozes off.

2006-03-23T06:16:00.000-08:00

DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY SHOOTS DOWN MOVIE SCRIPT

A Los Angeles screenwriter is claiming that the Department of Homeland Security has informed him that he may not use the agency's name "or any of the Department's official visual identities" in the script for his film, Lady Magdalene, despite the fact that the film presents a positive image of the DHS.

The writer, J. Neil Schulman, said Tuesday that he had received a notice from Bobbie Faye Ferguson, director of the NHS's office of multimedia, informing him that his "project does not fit within the DHS mission and that it is not something we can participate in."

In response, Schulman wrote to Ferguson that he had already received assistance from a special agent of the NHS's air marshal service while he was preparing his screenplay and that the agency's notice to him now represents a violation of his First Amendment rights.

"Merely the claim that you have the power to restrict such official images is chilling to the process of writing and producing a movie -- and certainly to an independent film in pre-production with a start date for principal photography only six weeks away," Schulman said.