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NEWS ABOUT: airport screener

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TSA: We Were Right to Take That Cupcake

...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... More »

TSA's Best 'Catches' of 2011

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... More »

Two New Elderly Women Accuse TSA of Strip Search

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... More »

TSA Procedures That Won't Infuriate You: Coming Soon

Agency chief hints that focus will shift

(Newser) - Could the TSA finally be responding to public outcry over its often-controversial procedures ? In his most recent appearance before Congress, TSA chief John Pistole moved away from his typically adamant defense of the agency’s screening process. "I have listened to ideas from people all over this country,... More »

TSA to Fire Screener Who Left 'Get Your Freak On' Note

A woman found it in her suitcase, near her sex toy

(Newser) - The TSA screener who found a sex toy in a woman's suitcase and left a note saying, "Get your freak on girl" will soon be out of a job. The agency called the note "highly inappropriate" and said it plans to fire the Newark screener, reports AP... More »

TSA's New Strategy: Chats With Passengers

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... More »

Homeland Security Blowing $300M on Sketchy Scanners

Department skipped a mandatory test on ASP device, GAO complains

(Newser) - Homeland Security plans to buy 400 new radiation detection machines, even though it’s skipped its own internal requirements to test them first, the Government Accountability Office complained in a report today. These Advanced Spectroscopic Portal machines have a checkered past, the Washington Post reports: In January, the National Academy... More »

Lawmakers Blast TSA Over 25K Security Breaches

Agency providing poor security at great expense, critics say

(Newser) - There have been more than 25,000 known security breaches at American airports since the Transportation Security Administration was created in 2001, agency officials told a House committee probing security shortcomings. The breaches include 14,000 people who have found their way into sensitive areas and 6,000 travelers who... More »

Stun Gun Found on JetBlue Plane

No word yet on how it got past TSA on flight from Boston to Newark

(Newser) - More bad press for the TSA? Possibly: A stun gun somehow made it onto a JetBlue flight from Boston to Newark last Friday, the Star-Ledger reports. The crew found the weapon tucked into a seat back as the plane was being cleaned after a late-night flight. A Port Authority spokesperson... More »

Cops: TSA Agent Took $50K in Electronics From Bags

He allegedly sold iPads, cameras online—often before his shift ended

(Newser) - Passengers traveling through a Florida airport might have noticed their luggage feeling a little lighter upon landing. Police say a TSA agent at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport was caught shoving a passenger's iPad down his pants, and that's just the beginning, reports CBS Miami . The agent—responsible for... More »

TSA Makes Elderly Woman Remove Adult Diaper

Woman, 95, was sick and in a wheelchair

(Newser) - The latest TSA horror story: A 95-year-old, wheelchair-bound, 105-pound woman—who has end-stage leukemia, to boot—was forced to remove her adult diaper during a pat-down at a Florida airport last weekend. Wheelchairs are always swabbed for explosives and their passengers patted down, a TSA spokesperson says. Jean Weber’s... More »

TSA Pats Down 6-Year-Old

Anna Drexel cried after procedure, mom says

(Newser) - A video getting quite a bit of attention today shows a TSA agent patting down a 6-year-old girl. The video was posted on YouTube yesterday, Jezebel notes, and it shows the New Orleans agent running her hand over Anna Drexel's chest, groin, and inside her waistband. When asked by... More »

NH Bill Would Make Some TSA Workers Sex Offenders

Full-body scans, pat-downs would be considered sexual assault

(Newser) - New Hampshire lawmakers debated a bill last night that would classify airport security pat-downs and full-body scans performed "without probable cause" as sexual assault, and punish any TSA employees who conducted them. "Let’s put their name on the sex offender registry, and maybe that will tell them... More »

Rodents: The New Airport Bomb Sniffers

In Israel, mice being trained to detect explosives, drugs

(Newser) - Which would you rather be exposed to: those pesky new “naked” airport scanners , or … rodents? In Israel, mice are being trained to sniff out bombs and drugs, in a system researchers say will be more accurate than pat-downs, x-rays, or sniffer dogs. The mice would be hidden in... More »

TSA Just Wanted Closer Look at My Boobs: Flier

Woman claims agents were ogling her before extra screening

(Newser) - It was only a matter of time before this TSA complaint came out: A woman claims she was selected for further screening ... because the TSA agents liked her breasts. Eliana Sutherland was flying out of Orlando International Airport when she saw two male agents staring at her chest, the Daily ... More »

Profiling, Not Pat-Downs, Key at Most World Airports

Including Israel's airport, one of the world's best at security

(Newser) - Ditching the TSA's new security procedures in favor of profiling seems like a controversial move —despite a new poll showing 70% support the idea —but at most world airports, that's how it's done. Airports like Israel's Ben-Gurion International, widely considered to be one of the world's most effective... More »

64% Support Full-Body Scanners

Pat-downs, however, are less popular: new poll

(Newser) - Despite the uproar over the TSA's enhanced security procedures, a new poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans actually support the new full-body scanners. Even so, only 48% believe the enhanced pat-downs are justified, according to the Washington Post -ABC News poll. Some 68% of those surveyed said the government... More »

Man Skips Pat-Down, Opts for Strip-Down

And he's now facing charges

(Newser) - Not a big fan of full-body scans or TSA pat-downs, a San Diego man chose Option C: Stripping down to his Calvin Kleins to demonstrate he wasn't carrying anything untoward in them. Samuel Wolanyk was told to put his clothes back on for a proper pat-down, but refused to dress,... More »

TSA Searches Shirtless Boy

Youngster's father removed shirt 'in frustration,' says filmer

(Newser) - Another day, another inconvenient video for the TSA to explain: In this one, a shirtless young boy is patted down by a TSA agent at the Salt Lake City airport. Luke Tait, who filmed the video with his cell phone and posted it on YouTube, writes in the video description... More »

Get Ready for Big Delays on 'National Opt-Out Day'

Even a small number of participants could tie up lines

(Newser) - You may want to get to the airport really early on Wednesday: With the country in a fervor over the TSA's new enhanced security procedures, experts believe "National Opt-Out Day" will indeed create delays at dozens of major airports. The day, conceived by Brian Sodergren (who, ironically, will not... More »

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