Improved Security Lost in 'Maze'

Agency plans to borrow security ideas from Israel

(NEWSER) - Get ready to reveal more than just your underwear at airport security checkpoints: TSA officers plan to start chatting up more passengers as part of the screening process. The agency already has "behavior detection officers" at work in airports across the US, but the new strategy calls for more one-on-one conversations, reports Politico (picking up on an interview TSA chief John Pistole gave to CNN). It could be in place next month. More»

None—that it's publicized, at least

(NEWSER) - There's no denying that the country is in an uproar over the TSA's new heightened security procedures, raising one fairly obvious questions: Does the TSA actually catch terrorists? The answer isn't very clear-cut, writes Juliet Lapidos in Slate 's Explainer column. The TSA won't cite any specific instance when it stopped a terrorist; it says that's because of national security concerns, but some argue it's actually because the organization has never actually stopped a terrorist. More»

...because it was a cupcake in a jar

(NEWSER) - Cupcakegate 2011 is proving to have quite the shelf life. The TSA commented on the sugary brouhaha this week, by way of a blog post on the topic. If you'll recall, security agents in Las Vegas confiscated a cupcake that Rebecca Hains was trying to take through security late last month because of its gel-like frosting. Outrage ensued. But as the TSA explains, there's one problem with the whole story: Hains wasn't carrying a traditional cupcake through security. More»

Explosives, snakes, and a harmless science project

(NEWSER) - Americans love griping about the TSA, and with good reason. The TSA, for instance, pocketed an estimated $376,480 of your loose change in 2010, notes the Huffington Post . But before your blood pressure shoots too high, consider this: TSA officers stopped some crazy and dangerous things from boarding flights this year. On its blog (yes, the TSA has a blog), the much-maligned agency relates the top 10 "good catches" of 2011. Among the notables:

• A half-ounce of C4 explosives: a passenger flying out of Yuma said he just wanted to show it to his family

Both allege that medical equipment led to improper search

(NEWSER) - Lenore Zimmerman isn't the only octogenarian who says she was strip-searched by the TSA during Thanksgiving week at New York's JFK airport. Zimmerman, 84, came forward first, but now the Baltimore Sun reports that Ruth Sherman, 88, and Linda Kallish, 66, both of whom were also en route to Florida and were in the same terminal as Zimmerman, have made similar claims. All three women have health problems: Zimmerman uses a defibrillator, wheelchair, and back brace; Sherman uses a colostomy bag; and Kallish uses a glucose monitor and an insulin pump for her diabetes. More»