The Trust Us Dept: TSA Worker Fired After Pulling Prank on Student at Airport

[Bob Hubbard]

TSA Worker Fired After Pulling Prank on Student at Airport

PHILADELPHIA — A college student returning to school after the winter break fell victim to a prank at Philadelphia's airport by a Transportation Security Administration worker who pretended to plant a plastic bag of white powder in her carryon luggage.
The worker is no longer employed by the TSA after the incident this month, a spokeswoman said.
Rebecca Solomon, 22, a University of Michigan student, wrote in a column for her campus newspaper that she was having her bags screened on Jan. 5 before her flight to Detroit when the employee stopped her, reached into her laptop computer bag and pulled out the plastic bag, demanding to know where she had gotten the powder.
In the Jan. 10 column for The Michigan Daily, she recounted how she struggled to come up with an explanation, wondering if it was bomb-detonating material slipped in by a terrorist or drugs put there by a smuggler.
"He let me stutter through an explanation for the longest minute of my life," Solomon wrote. "Tears streamed down my face as I pleaded with him to understand that I'd never seen this baggie before."
A short time later, she said, the worker smiled and said it was his.
The worker "waved the baggie at me and told me he was kidding, that I should've seen the look on my face," she said.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583739,00.html?test=latestnews

 

[Carol]

Good grief, shouldn't that TSA worker be up on federal charges? Isn't it illegal for civilians to joke about what is in their luggage? Or does that only relate to explosives?

 

[seasoned]

If it was the college student pulling the prank all hell would have broken loose.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

It's nice to see the guy was fired, but.....if the TSA was a bit more selective in who they hired this wouldn't have happened. Either way, it -shouldn't- have happened.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

Good grief, shouldn't that TSA worker be up on federal charges? Isn't it illegal for civilians to joke about what is in their luggage? Or does that only relate to explosives?

I do believe it is, and I do believe that, though they may have forgotten this, that TSA employees are, in point of fact, civilians.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

In the months following 9/11, I made a recommendation that I feel was excellent. I called my congressmen, I wrote letters, I posted like crazy. No one would listen. I still think my way would have been better than what we have.

The problem at the time was this - the Republicans wanted an expanded and beefed-up private security force for airports. The Democrats wanted federal employees who would be law enforcement agents. There was a Rand study out (prior to 9/11, which I had) which recommended the creation of a Department of Homeland Security, pretty much exactly what we have now. I'm not a 9/11 conspiracy buff, but take note, I read this before 9/11, and now the report it 'missing' and can't be found again. I sure wish I still had my copy. They predicted all of this, the attacks, the response, everything.

Anyway, the Republican were against federal workers because they feared that they would unionize. The compromise was the Democrats promised that the TSA would not be allowed to unionize (a promise now being forgotten, of course).

However, my idea was this: use the US Coast Guard.

The USCG is a federal law-enforcement agency. At the time, the USCG was part of the Dept of Transportation, not the US DoD (during peacetime). They were charged with protecting our coasts and entry points (sea ports) and they do far more than life-saving jobs. They interdict smugglers, they perform law-enforcement jobs. They coordinate with foreign law-enforcement agencies and they have a intelligence gathering section. They're well-run, never a hint of problems; when was the last time you heard of a Coast Guard scandal? Never, that's when.

The USCG could have been expanded, and coasties put in every airport, doing what the TSA does now. This make them federal, and law enforcement agents, which is what the Dems wanted. Being military-like, they can't unionize, which is what the Repubs wanted. They already had the apparatus in place to work with law enforcement and intelligence agencies world-wide, instead of starting over from scratch with a series of TSA idiots at the helm that succeeded in pissing off our allies immediately. They could have done the job and done it well.

USCG guards our ports. Airports are called 'ports' for a reason - they're the same as sea ports, just on land. So the USCG would have been well-equipped to handle them. They would have had to ramp up recruitment, but the TSA had to be created from scratch and hire from zero; which would have been easier?

I tried, I really tried. My brilliant idea, and no one would listen.

Uh, sorry. Ranting. OK, that's all. Carry on.

 

[Big Don]

It's nice to see the guy was fired, but.....if the TSA was a bit more selective in who they hired this wouldn't have happened. Either way, it -shouldn't- have happened.

Federalizing rent-a-cops has worked splendidly, lets federalize medicine!

 

[Jenny_in_Chico]

In the months following 9/11, I made a recommendation that I feel was excellent. I called my congressmen, I wrote letters, I posted like crazy. No one would listen. I still think my way would have been better than what we have.

The problem at the time was this - the Republicans wanted an expanded and beefed-up private security force for airports. The Democrats wanted federal employees who would be law enforcement agents. There was a Rand study out (prior to 9/11, which I had) which recommended the creation of a Department of Homeland Security, pretty much exactly what we have now. I'm not a 9/11 conspiracy buff, but take note, I read this before 9/11, and now the report it 'missing' and can't be found again. I sure wish I still had my copy. They predicted all of this, the attacks, the response, everything.

Anyway, the Republican were against federal workers because they feared that they would unionize. The compromise was the Democrats promised that the TSA would not be allowed to unionize (a promise now being forgotten, of course).

However, my idea was this: use the US Coast Guard.

The USCG is a federal law-enforcement agency. At the time, the USCG was part of the Dept of Transportation, not the US DoD (during peacetime). They were charged with protecting our coasts and entry points (sea ports) and they do far more than life-saving jobs. They interdict smugglers, they perform law-enforcement jobs. They coordinate with foreign law-enforcement agencies and they have a intelligence gathering section. They're well-run, never a hint of problems; when was the last time you heard of a Coast Guard scandal? Never, that's when.

The USCG could have been expanded, and coasties put in every airport, doing what the TSA does now. This make them federal, and law enforcement agents, which is what the Dems wanted. Being military-like, they can't unionize, which is what the Repubs wanted. They already had the apparatus in place to work with law enforcement and intelligence agencies world-wide, instead of starting over from scratch with a series of TSA idiots at the helm that succeeded in pissing off our allies immediately. They could have done the job and done it well.

USCG guards our ports. Airports are called 'ports' for a reason - they're the same as sea ports, just on land. So the USCG would have been well-equipped to handle them. They would have had to ramp up recruitment, but the TSA had to be created from scratch and hire from zero; which would have been easier?

I tried, I really tried. My brilliant idea, and no one would listen.

Uh, sorry. Ranting. OK, that's all. Carry on.

I take back what I said in another post. This is the smartest thing I've ever heard you say.

 

[Gordon Nore]

Good grief, shouldn't that TSA worker be up on federal charges?

I would have thought so. Since the Christmas Day attempt, I believe there have been two security breaches in the USA (both in part due to TSA staff not being at their posts) which have resulted in inconvenience for travelers, and civilians led away in handcuffs.

Isn't it illegal for civilians to joke about what is in their luggage? Or does that only relate to explosives?

It is illegal here too. There was a case back in the eighties of a federal MP who cracked wise about an explosive in his luggage. Don't remember his name, but there was a huge stink about it. Travelers were advised not to even discuss contraband etc. when going through security.

 

[MJS]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35033582/ns/us_news-airliner_security/


"PHILADELPHIA - A college student returning to school after the winter break fell victim to a prank at Philadelphia's airport by a Transportation Security Administration worker who pretended to plant a plastic bag of white powder in her carryon luggage.
The worker is no longer employed by the TSA after the incident this month, a spokeswoman said.
Rebecca Solomon, 22, a University of Michigan student, wrote in a column for her campus newspaper that she was having her bags screened on Jan. 5 before her flight to Detroit when the employee stopped her, reached into her laptop computer bag and pulled out the plastic bag, demanding to know where she had gotten the powder."


Its good to see that this prankster got the boot. Another reason why, IMO, TSA needs to hire quality workers, with quality training, who take their job seriously. In this day, playing jokes on a plane, or in the airport, are the last things people should be doing. Personally, I dont think any of this was funny. It'd be interesting to know, how many real threats snuck thru the screening process, while the joker was playing games. Take your job seriously or dont do it at all.

If you're going to supposedly 'train' workers, as it was stated, then I'd imagine that the 'badguy' would be in on it, and not be unsuspecting, such as in this case.

 

[Omar B]

There's already a thread about this.

 

[MJS]

Oppss...my bad. I'll just merge my reply into the other thread.

 

[crushing]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35033582/ns/us_news-airliner_security/


"PHILADELPHIA - A college student returning to school after the winter break fell victim to a prank at Philadelphia's airport by a Transportation Security Administration worker who pretended to plant a plastic bag of white powder in her carryon luggage.
The worker is no longer employed by the TSA after the incident this month, a spokeswoman said.
Rebecca Solomon, 22, a University of Michigan student, wrote in a column for her campus newspaper that she was having her bags screened on Jan. 5 before her flight to Detroit when the employee stopped her, reached into her laptop computer bag and pulled out the plastic bag, demanding to know where she had gotten the powder."

Pretended? It sounds like the TSA employee actually did it. I guess the sorry state of journalism is another thread. Perhaps, I don't understand what "pretend" means?