The latest idea in the ongoing debate over searches of passengers at airports? Official consumer advocates.
The concept seemed to move forward Wednesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, where Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano endorsed an idea for passenger advocates in airports. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., have proposed the RIGHTS Act (for Restoring Integrity and Good-Heartedness in Traveler Screening), which would require advocates who would be responsible for interceding on the passengers’ behalf at major airports.
The Transportation Security Administration has been the target of complaints for inappropriate and harassing behavior and invasive scans and searches. The complaints largely, but not exclusively, involve women.
Napolitano said the TSA will move toward doing this administratively at major airports.
Under Napolitano’s plan, TSA agents would be cross-trained as passenger advocates. An employee, then, might be screening passengers one day and serving as a supposedly neutral third party in disputes involving his colleagues the next. Other than the cost of initial training, it’s not expected to involve more staff or significant cost, Schumer says.
What do you think? Does this sound like a good development, or is this likely to just be for show? Have you flown since 9/11 prompted new security measures at airports? How has your own experience with airport security been? Do you agree all the security now is needed, or do you think it should be scaled back? How?
© 2012 Times Union
Distributed by MCT Information Services
When TSA starts treating 4 year olds like terrorists and there seems to be absolutely no grey area with the screeners (not everything is black and white), it is time that there is some sort of recourse for the flying public. It seems to me that there are very few TSA screeners that have the ability to use common sense on a daily basis. I understand that in this profession everyone is guilty (contrary to logical thinking and the letter of the Constitution) until they prove otherwise (that is the way it has to be for true security in the air environment) some common sense would go a long way. I would think that more stringent screening in the hiring process and better training would help as well.
Too bad she doesn’t watch John Stossel who recently had a very informative and insightful segment on how the PRIVATELY run security at San Francisco’s airport is better run than the government run TSA.
And why is it that the TSA has the authority to grant or reject requests from other airports to withdraw from the TSA.
No that would be what I’d like my congressional representative to do.
Privatizing isn’t the answer. Privatizing prisons has made them more abusive, not less. Quit worshiping The Market as if it’s some kind of god. That’s as bad as people who think Security is god.
SFO has just as many sadistic screeners as anywhere else. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the list of abuses (click my name; it’ll take you to the link).
Get rid of the scanners. Get rid of the gropes. Go back to security the way it was before the Reign of Molestation, when people weren’t stripped and groped and planes still weren’t being blown out of the sky left and right.
Only two things have made us safer: the cockpit doors have been reinforced, and passengers will no longer silently submit. Everything else is bullsh*t for people who think terrorists are hiding up their butts.
private security companies are still required to follow the rules set by the TSA. You may have better “customer service” from a private company, but the ridiculous rules of shoes off, no liquids ect. is still there and has to be followed. Aviation security is in need of an overhaul, privatising isn’t the answer, removal of archaic rules and the naked machines is.
Didn’t we have airport security before 9/11 ?
The show was on Fox Business – I don’t know if they re-broadcast them.
And furthermore – its sad that the BDN has to use an out of state article about an issue with our own Senator.
And then we’ll need a person to oversee the conduct of the passenger advocate. No, no, a thousand times no. What we need to do is prune back the overgrowth of all these agencies and bureaucracies.
If the war on terror is over, there is no use for the TSA to exist. The same goes for the Dept.
of Homeland Security.
While we’re eliminating waste, fraud, abuse and disgusting thuggery, we can dump the Unpatriot Act, NDAA of 2012 and a few other Unconstitutional power grabs as well.
I 100% agree. We have raised a whole generation that do not understand the basic rights and freedoms that have been taken from them.
Taken by whom? Do we need to cover the details so the politics of unconstitutional actions are “fair and balanced”? You guys cheered torture on. The arrest and unconstitutional detention of American citizens. How about a Supreme Court that made eminient domain for private profit “constitutional”? The list goes on. Stop acting like BOTH parties aren’t messing with individual rights.
Umm.. You seem a little tense. Nowhere in this post or in any of my previous posts on the subject have I ever given anyone a pass. If you have ever read me previously I have made the same argument you made.
But for clarities sake, and for the sake of your blood pressure, I will repeat my previous statements that both Bush with the initial Patriot Act and Obama when he strengthened it have taken a bit of our Freedom. (Don’t get me started on drones and the TSA and web data mining and on and on and on….)
while we’re at it lets bring our troops home and stop creating more terrorists and more debt.We should take all that foriegn aid and put that towards our debt also. we would certainly get more out of it that way.
I don’t think the people and groups that want to hurt and kill Americans have gone away. We still need to keep air travel safe. The reason we take our shoes off is because of the shoe bomber, we have had the underwear bomber, we got information about bringing liquids on the plane and then mixing them once on the plane to blow it up. The screening is related to the threats that have happened or have been planned. When I get on a plan I want it to come down when the pilot lands it. Not because a bomb or terrorist. The problem is that they are forced to be so politically correct that they lord forbid profile for terrorists. Thus a computer program picks people to be checked, and if it is the 80 year old grandmother or the 4 year old toddler that’s who gets the screening.
The TSA supervisors should be the ones trained to deal with customer service issues and deal with employees that are not acting correctly. Please don’t forget what happened on 9-11, don;t forget the plots that have been foiled since then. here are people/groups out there that want to hurt us, lets not make it easier for them.
Of course the people who want to hurt us still exist but since Obama decided there is NO WAR ON TERROR then maybe they should get rid of everything that has been started since 9/11! None of it’s effective anyway. That includes the TSA, which are idiots to begin with.
Spoken like a true coward. There has not been one attempt since 2001. Wake up and stop being a fool duped into allowing your rights to be stripped away by a corrupt, self serving agency.
People who defend this abuse are a disgrace.
2002
June 14, Karachi, Pakistan: bomb explodes
outside
American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12. Linked to
al-Qaeda.
2003
1
May 12, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: suicide bombers
kill
34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners.
Al-Qaeda
suspected.
2004
May 29–31, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists
attack the offices of a Saudi oil company in Khobar, Saudi Arabia,
take
foreign oil workers hostage in a nearby residential compound,
leaving 22
people dead including one American.June 11–19, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: terrorists
kidnap and execute Paul Johnson Jr., an American, in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia. 2 other Americans and BBC cameraman killed by gun attacks.Dec. 6, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: terrorists
storm the
U.S. consulate, killing 5 consulate employees. 4 terrorists were
killed
by Saudi security.
2005
Nov. 9, Amman, Jordan: suicide bombers hit 3
American hotels, Radisson, Grand Hyatt, and Days Inn, in Amman,
Jordan,
killing 57. Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility.
2006
Sept. 13, Damascus, Syria: an attack by four
gunman
on the American embassy is foiled.
2007
Jan. 12, Athens, Greece: the U.S. embassy is
fired
on by an anti-tank missile causing damage but no injuries.Dec. 11, Algeria: more than 60 people are
killed,
including 11 United Nations staff members, when Al Qaeda
terrorists
detonate two car bombs near Algeria’s Constitutional Council and
the
United Nations offices.
2008
May 26, Iraq: a suicide bomber on a
motorcycle
kills six U.S. soldiers and wounds 18 others in Tarmiya.June 24, Iraq: a suicide bomber kills at
least 20
people, including three U.S. Marines, at a meeting between sheiks
and
Americans in Karmah, a town west of Baghdad.June 12, Afghanistan: four American
servicemen are
killed when a roadside bomb explodes near a U.S. military vehicle
in
Farah Province.July 13, Afghanistan: nine U.S.soldiers and
at
least 15 NATO troops die when Taliban militants boldly attack an
American base in Kunar Province, which borders Pakistan. It’s the
most
deadly against U.S. troops in three years.Aug. 18 and 19, Afghanistan: as many as 15
suicide
bombers backed by about 30 militants attack a U.S. military base,
Camp
Salerno, in Bamiyan. Fighting between U.S. troops and members of
the
Taliban rages overnight. No U.S. troops are killed.Sept. 16, Yemen: a car bomb and a rocket
strike the
U.S. embassy in Yemen as staff arrived to work, killing 16 people,
including 4 civilians. At least 25 suspected al-Qaeda militants
are
arrested for the attack.Nov. 26, India: in a series of attacks on
several
of Mumbai’s landmarks and commercial hubs that are popular with
Americans and other foreign tourists, including at least two
five-star
hotels, a hospital, a train station, and a cinema. About 300
people are
wounded and nearly 190 people die, including at least 5 Americans.
2009
Feb. 9, Iraq: a suicide bomber kills four
American soldiers and their Iraqi translator near a police checkpoint.April 10, Iraq: a suicide attack kills five
American soldiers and two Iraqi policemen.June 1, Little Rock, Arkansas: Abdulhakim Muhammed,
a Muslim convert from Memphis, Tennessee, is charged with shooting two
soldiers outside a military recruiting center. One is killed and the
other is wounded. In a January 2010 letter to the judge hearing his
case, Muhammed asked to change his plea from not guilty to guilty,
claimed ties to al-Qaeda, and called the shooting a jihadi attack “to
fight those who wage war on Islam and Muslims.”Dec. 25: A Nigerian man on a flight from
Amsterdam to Detroit attempted to ignite an explosive device hidden in
his underwear. The explosive device that failed to detonate was a
mixture of powder and liquid that did not alert security personnel in
the airport. The alleged bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, told
officials later that he was directed by the terrorist group Al Qaeda.
The suspect was already on the government’s watch list when he attempted
the bombing; his father, a respected Nigerian banker, had told the U.S.
government that he was worried about his son’s increased extremism.Dec. 30, Iraq: a suicide bomber kills eight
Americans civilians, seven of them CIA agents, at a base in Afghanistan.
It’s the deadliest attack on the agency since 9/11. The attacker is
reportedly a double agent from Jordan who was acting on behalf of
al-Qaeda.
2010
May 1, New York City: a car bomb is discovered in
Times Square, New York City after smoke is seen coming from a vehicle.
The bomb was ignited, but failed to detonate and was disarmed before it
could cause any harm. Times Square was evacuated as a safety
precaution. Faisal Shahzad pleads guilty to placing the bomb as well as
10 terrorism and weapons charges. May 10, Jacksonville, Florida: a pipe bomb
explodes while approximately 60 Muslims are praying in the mosque. The
attack causes no injuries.Oct. 29: two packages are found on separate
cargo planes. Each package contains a bomb consisting of 300 to 400
grams (11-14 oz) of plastic explosives and a detonating mechanism. The
bombs are discovered as a result of intelligence received from Saudi
Arabia’s security chief. The packages, bound from Yemen to the United
States, are discovered at en route stop-overs, one in England and one in
Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
2011
Jan. 17, Spokane, Washington: a pipe bomb
is discovered along the route of the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial
march. The bomb, a “viable device” set up to spray marchers with
shrapnel and to cause multiple casualties, is defused without any
injuries.
Read more: Terrorist
Attacks in the U.S. or Against Americans — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html#ixzz1tIi7l07r
Figure 2. Muslim-American Terrorism Suspects and Perpetrators, Violent Plots, 2011
Name Location Plot or alleged plot Disrupted Status of case
Emerson Begolly Mayport, PA Arrested for biting 2 FBI agents Early Trial pending
Roger Stockham San Diego, CA Plot to attack Shia mosque in Michigan Late Trial pending
Alwar Pouryan Phoenix, AZ Selling weapons to Taliban in Romania Early Trial pending
Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari Lubbock, TX Buying chemicals for weapon Early Trial pending
Ahmed Ferhani New York, NY Plot to bomb synagogues, churches, and Empire
State Building Early Trial pending
Mohamed Mamdouh New York, NY
Joseph Jeffrey Brice Clarkston, WA Testing explosives Late Trial pending
Jesse Curtis Morton New York, NY Threatening “South Park” creators Early Trial pending
Waad Ramadan Alwan Bowling Green, Plot to send weapons and money to Iraqi
insurgents Early Trial pending
Shareef Hammadi Bowling Green,
Yonathan Melaku Washington, DC Shooting at military buildings in Virginia No Trial pending
Abu Khalid Abdul-Latif Seattle, WA
Plot to attack military office in Seattle Early Trial pending
Walli Mujahidh Los Angeles, CA
Mohammad Hassan Khalid Baltimore, MD “Jihad Jane” plot on Swedish cartoonist Early Trial pending
Nasser Jason Abdo Killeen, TX Buying gunpowder for attack on Fort Hood Late Trial pending
Agron Hasbajrami New York, NY Travel to Pakistan to join terrorist group Early Trial pending
Rezwan Ferdaus Ashland, MA Plot to attack D.C. with remote-control aircraft Early Trial pending
Mansour Arbabsiar Austin, TX Plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador in D.C. Early Trial pending
Jose Pimentel New York, NY Building pipe bomb to attack mailboxes, banks, Early Trial pending
Craig Baxam Laurel, MD Travel to Kenya to join al-Shabaab in Somalia Early Trial pending
Law_n_DisOrder : another slave speaks. Now bend over and spread ’em.
My wife and I were returning from Manchester England Saturday to Philiadelphia to change planes home and were actually yelled at by the TSA for forgetting to remove a tiny vial of insulin from our luggage. Admittedly, we should have removed it, however it was a very honest mistake. I agree creating another layer of government employees to ensure current ones act properly is ludicris. How about firing the offenders and replacing them with competent staff? Lots of really nice people are looking for work.
We have countless honest, decent hard working people looking for jobs. Why does the TSA keep on hiring perverts, thieves, sadists, child molesters and traitors?
The pay must be very low.
Another dumb idea. Is Collins losing her mind? A passenger advocate? My goodness, whats next, milk and cookies? TSA needs to screen the screeners and develop a better training program. People who fly need to develop thicker skins, follow the rules, and shut up. Or take the bus.
They don’t need better training, they need to be gone.
ya and anyone who dissagree’s or has a differant point of view should be put in a concentration camp and re- educated on what freedom means correct?
Are you kidding?? These pizza-box-hired, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing molesters are going to be passenger advocates??
Fox guarding hen house much?
We are so far down the rabbit hole there’s barely any use fighting anymore. Napolitano is pathetic. She embarrasses herself every time she opens her mouth. She and Pistole should be fired. And Pistole should be criminally prosecuted.
None of that will happen, of course. And people will just keep putting up with the abuse. As long as they’re flying when they’re not forced to — I mean forced by job or medical condition — they’re part of the problem. Quit flying and bring the airlines, who are complicit, to their knees. Then watch how fast the TSA disappears.
There is no way an employee can automatically turn on a switch from a TSA agent to a “consumer advocate” within any given day. You CAN NOT cross train for that!! I can not imagine doing this in my job and think the whole process would be more of a mess. And something needs to be done on baggage checks, there simply is not enough scans happening there.
I’m thinking that the TSA supervisor “should” be the perfect advocate. Cross Training is not going to work !!! This would be a position of someone who has done the job, but realizes or has achieved a higher level of skills for the position. Again, the supervisor should be the one to step in …. If not qualified for this level of thinking / acting, they should go back to the agent status.
Oh, that’s just brilliant! We’ll put the foxes to work guarding the henhouse. Why hasn’t anyone else ever thought of that?
Wait a minute. I remember why. Nobody else “thought” of it because it’s so irrational, stupid and obviously doomed to failure that to even suggest it constitutes waste, fraud and abuse on a scale grand enough to qualify as treason!
This clown’s constituents need to recall him and send Bozo or Ronald McDonald back to Washington DC in his place.
Too little security, Too many security personel
Great reporting by BDN. The photo in the article is at least five years old. TSA has not used the white shirt uniform since 2007. Do you think it would be too much trouble to get a staff photographer and reporter to go out to Bangor International Airport and get a current photo and maybe actually do some news reporting, instead of reprinting press releases as news. What is next? Headlines next week proclaiming the “Japs Attack Pearl Harbor”.
Until the truth about Sept.11 is revealed, we will continue to be groped and herded like the sheeple we are.
1500 architects and engineers agree we have been lied to.
The Sheeple have predictably sacrificed freedom in exchange for a false security…the result is sad, pathetic and anti- American.
If you keep the tin foil hat on the government will leave you alone.
Use TSA agents as part time neutral advocates, that sort of thinking would never work.
The use of more common sense by supervisors and agents would be more appropriate. Just as I can read these comments and can just about tell who are employees (job Preservation), ..the regular passenger/traveler can be distinquished from the suspect or potential threat passenger and given more scrutiny. To screen everyone the same way (as in a template) is inefficient and economically wasteful.
Identification, Passports (exception: suspect countries), frequent flyer status, age, medical impairments, U.S. military service, roots in the community,routes and travel destinations are all indications of a regular passenger. In adition TSA agents must continually be trained in that they are actually a public service operation, no need to yell or “Bark” at passengers. Their authority should not go to their heads. If they don’t learn from their mistakes, it will lead to their demise as a public supported entity.
So this is how we plan to fix unemployment. Create jobs for TSA to keep an eye on TSA. You gotta be kidding.
This bill is nonsense, and the proposed actions by Napolitano are insane.
Look, are we really going to take the same people who think fingering the crotch of a 4-year old girl, who along with their supervisors and management are backed up against the American people, is appropriate to then turn around and act on the citizen’s behalf? These are the same people that through several co-workers and members of management only escalated the abuse, and then called ahead to the arrival airport to continue their little game of harassment.
Or what about the 7 year-old girl with cerebral palsy? After she and her family were abused at the security checkpoint, several TSA co-workers and a member of their management followed them to the gate and demanded more abuse, thereby causing them to miss their flight.
These people cannot be trusted. These people are inept. These people cannot act in a way that is impartial and in the best interests of American citizens. They already abuse us for sport. Every last one of them needs to be tried for treason.
Ms Collins please privatize the screening instead. Use your influence like Pelosie did to get San Francisco off the TSA.
Let the airlines do the screening.
Profile …and didn’t I hear a report from the Administration where terrorism is over …have to profile…ask the Israelis they know…
So I’m wondering if the Senator wants one of the many TSA Thives, Drug Dealers, Child Abusers, or other criminal acting as an advocate?
I agree an advocate is needed but this person should not be on the DHS/TSA payroll.
The second issue is just why is government providing security to a private business? That is not the responsibility of government or taxpayers. Shut down TSA and return some sanity to airport/aircraft security.
There needs to be screening of the TSA itself, having seen recent reports of some screeners being pedophiles, etc. How well is their background checked? They are allowed to go too far in their treatment of passengers, and that must be addressed. Obviously, the head of Homeland Security gave the suggestion of consumer advocates, and that should be a red flag in itself. Then, we have our junior senator stating that it is a good idea–no surprise that she collaborates with the LEFT.
All good except for the big scary “LEFT’ part.
I’m far left, and I’ve been writing and speaking out publicly against the abuses of the TSA for years. We’re all in this together. Civil liberties are important to all of us. Let’s not play Divide-and-Conquer, which is precisely what our overlords want us to do.
Something has to be done about these goons patting down women and children for more than men, especially those that might actually fight back. However, going back to the “let anyone on a plane without checking” days of 2000, may not be a good idea, either. Is it possible there is some middle ground? I forgot, everything must be either black or white. Or, to quote some former president, “you’re either with us, or agin’ us”.
scooterj, Yes, there is a middle ground. What we had before 9/11, on 9/11, and after 9/11 — until November 1, 2010, when the Reign of Molestation was implemented.
No bombs were brought onto planes on 9/11. That’s not what happened. And the infamous box cutters were allowable on 9/11.
The only things that have made us safer since then are that the cockpit doors have been reinforced and passengers will no longer silently submit. That’s it.
Everything else is a sham for a credulous populace who thinks A Terrorist Is Hiding Around Every Corner! And a money-making boondoggle for the so-called “security” industry, which is contributing to the campaign of every single member of Congress.
Obama called the War on Terror DONE so why do we still need the TSA, Homeland Security, or this? Stop spending my money!
The advocate cannot be neutral if they are on the TSA payroll. All decisions would have an agency minded solution because that’s how the screener was trained.
First she loads the country down with this stupid idea, then she wants to be the fairy godmother to protect us from her hoard.
Collins, you are such a LOSER. Just buy the terrorists a ticket for the plane next time. Save all the hassle.
“An employee, then, might be screening passengers one day and serving as a supposedly neutral third party in disputes involving his colleagues the next.”
Translation: “OK team, whose turn is it to pretend to care today?”
This is a sick joke. They’re going to use screeners to monitor other screeners they work with, like that will help. Same as having the fix guard the hen house.
These “reforms” this sounds an awful lot like the lies they told about not groping children anymore. That was last April.
Last fall they said they would stop groping people over 75 and then robbed and molested a 95 year old man and 85 year old woman last week.
Then they said they hold their screeners to the “highest standards” and this week four more were arrested for smuggling drugs through LAX.
TSA always lies to pacify their critics and then, just like the child molesters that hey are, they go back to their old crimes until they get caught again. This is no different.