Wednesday, March 9, 2011

TSA...enough said

It's kinda like Charlie Sheen or Lindsey Lohan...what will they screw up next.

At Least 27 Honolulu TSA Officers Under Probe

HONOLULU -- An investigation is underway of more than two dozen Transportation Security Administration officers at the Honolulu International Airport after security failures that could have allowed a terrorist attack on an airplane were allowed to continue for months, KITV 4 News has learned...

...At least 27 TSA officers on the morning shift in Honolulu’s Lobby 4 are accused of not properly searching checked baggage before it was loaded on planes, sources said.

Baggage there was supposed to be opened up and checked for traces of explosives, but sources said many pieces of luggage were never checked. In some cases, TSA agents simply marked suitcases as having been screened when those checked bags had not been checked at all, according to people familiar with the investigation...
But don't worry, TSA leadership is on it!

TSA spokesman Nico Melendez released a statement to KITV 4 News that said the agency "is taking appropriate disciplinary action against several TSA officers following an extensive investigation into allegations of improper screening."

"We took immediate action and none of the personnel accused have been conducting screening duties since the allegations were made," Melendez said. “TSA is proud to hold our workforce to the highest ethical standards and will not tolerate a deviation from the commitment to carry out our mission to protect the traveling public.”

...The TSA said the problems should be put in perspective because they happened at one of Honolulu airport's 12 baggage security screening areas and the 27 or so TSA employees under investigation make up a small fraction of the agency's 750 employees in Honolulu.

...Accused employees have been given lie-detector tests and they could be fired, suspended or even fully reinstated, depending on the outcome of each of their disciplinary cases....
But don't worry, these idiots will soon be unionized...so it will be practically impossible to fire them. Not to be outdone in Hawaii.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Transportation Security Administration employee was charged Tuesday with helping an alleged drug kingpin and other suspect travelers evade security at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.

Minnetta Walker, 43, of Buffalo was suspended from her job as a behavioral detection officer for the TSA and pleaded not guilty to federal charges.

Walker "is accused of permitting a certain traveler to travel under a false name and also helping people get through the scanning features of the Buffalo airport," U.S. Attorney William Hochul said, "including the scanning of luggage and the scanning of people."

Hochul would not comment on whether Walker, a nine-year TSA employee, received any money in return.

Also charged Tuesday was Derek Frank, an alleged drug dealer authorities said Walker allowed to travel using an alias and ushered through security with lowered scrutiny.

Frank, 30, of Amherst would regularly fly from Buffalo to Arizona to buy marijuana, which he then mailed back to Buffalo, where it was sold, authorities said...

...As a behavioral detection officer, Walker was trained to observe and analyze human behavior and had unrestricted access to the airport and its security stations. Sometimes, she'd direct travelers she appeared to know, including Frank, away from security lines where body image scanners or pat-downs might detect large sums of cash, and escort them to their gates so they wouldn't be pulled aside for random inspections, authorities said. She'd also alert travelers to the presence of undercover law enforcement officers, authorities said...

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