Unbelievable: TSA plants "white powder" on passenger as joke!

Unbelievable: TSA plants "white powder" on passenger as joke!

Rebecca Solomon is 22 and a student at the University of Michigan, and on Jan. 5 she was flying back to school after holiday break. She made sure she arrived at Philadelphia International Airport 90 minutes before takeoff, given the new regulations.

She would be flying into Detroit on Northwest Airlines, the same city and carrier involved in the attempted bombing on Christmas, just 10 days before. She was tense.

What happened to her lasted only 20 seconds, but she says they were the longest 20 seconds of her life.

After pulling her laptop out of her carry-on bag, sliding the items through the scanning machines, and walking through a detector, she went to collect her things.

A TSA worker was staring at her. He motioned her toward him.

Then he pulled a small, clear plastic bag from her carry-on - the sort of baggie that a pair of earrings might come in. Inside the bag was fine, white powder.

She remembers his words: "Where did you get it?"

Two thoughts came to her in a jumble: A terrorist was using her to sneak bomb-detonating materials on the plane. Or a drug dealer had made her an unwitting mule, planting coke or some other trouble in her bag while she wasn't looking.

She'd left her carry-on by her feet as she handed her license and boarding pass to a security agent at the beginning of the line.

Answer truthfully, the TSA worker informed her, and everything will be OK.

Solomon, 5-foot-3 and traveling alone, looked up at the man in the black shirt and fought back tears.

Put yourself in her place and count out 20 seconds. Her heart pounded. She started to sweat. She panicked at having to explain something she couldn't.

Now picture her expression as the TSA employee started to smile.

Just kidding, he said. He waved the baggie. It was his.

http://bit.ly/7EFNGn

Experts: Sitting too much could be deadly

Here's a new warning from health experts: Sitting is deadly.

Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for prolonged periods — even if you also exercise regularly — could be bad for your health

http://bit.ly/5cVjo0

Maybe someone should tell TSA...

TSA: Security fails to spot gun at Mont. airport

BOZEMAN, Mont. – Officials say security screeners at a Bozeman-area airport failed to spot a gun in a passenger's luggage last month, but the man turned himself in when he realized his error.

Transportation Security Administration spokesman Dwayne Baird said in a written statement Wednesday that the unidentified man became aware that he had the firearm in his carryon luggage as he was boarding Dec. 13 at Gallatin Field.

The gun was confiscated and the passenger was allowed to continue on the flight.

The incident occurred nearly two weeks before the alleged Christmas Day attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner reawakened widespread concern over airline safety.

Still, Gallatin Field Board Chairman Dick Roehm says he's disappointed at the lapse and the airport is looking into turning to a private company to handle security at the airport.

http://bit.ly/6WgFeN

Body scanners can store, send images, group says

TSA has been caught red handed this time....

The TSA specified in 2008 documents that the machines must have image storage and sending abilities, the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said.

In the documents, obtained by the privacy group and provided to CNN, the TSA specifies that the body scanners it purchases must have the ability to store and send images when in "test mode."

That requirement leaves open the possibility the machines -- which can see beneath people's clothing -- can be abused by TSA insiders and hacked by outsiders, said EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg.

EPIC, a public-interest group focused on privacy and civil rights, obtained the technical specifications and vendor contracts through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

The written requirements also appear to contradict numerous assurances the TSA has given the public about the machines' privacy protections.

"The machines have zero storage capability," the TSA Web site says.

A TSA video assures passengers "the system has no way to save, transmit or print the image."

And the TSA has distributed numerous news releases with similar language as it lobbies for public acceptance of the machines as a less intrusive alternative to pat-downs.

http://bit.ly/8yUp6U

Just trust us...were doing something...

Only the government could get away with this:

Hartsfield-Jackson spokesman John Kennedy said the airport has "discreetly" increased security measures, but he didn't give specifics.

"We have implemented additional security measures in coordination with the TSA," Kennedy said. "We're not sharing everything we're doing, except we're doing more."

http://bit.ly/6CNrso

Man who caused Newark airport lockdown arrested

The man who caused the lockdown of busy Newark International Airport right after New Year has been arrested and faces charges of disorderly conduct, media reports said.

Haisong Jiang, a 28-year-old Rutgers University graduate student from China, slipped past security guards at the New Jersey airport Jan 3, the New York Times reported Saturday.

http://bit.ly/7mg2iq

Newark TSA Security Officer Walked Away from Post

Our entire security apparatus failed, when a lone TSO simply walked away from his post...

Sunday's massive security breach and subsequent seven-hour travel headache at Newark Liberty International Airport was caused by a single Transportation Security Administration guard who left his position for less than two minutes, allowing a man to enter the terminal's "sterile area" without clearing security, according to a source familiar with the tape.

http://bit.ly/7PgT9j

Shock: TSA camera broke for 6 days

The federal security camera located in the corridor where a major security breach occurred Sunday night at Newark Liberty International Airport had not been working for six days, several officials said today.

That's right folks, these are the people entrusted with our "safety"

http://bit.ly/6MvQk4

TNT turns out to be honey

A Bakersfield, Calif., airport was temporarily shut down Tuesday after officials said a passenger's luggage tested positive for TNT. The suspicious material turned out to five bottles filled with honey.

Does it bother or frighten anyone else that we have spent billions of dollars on machines that can't tell the difference between honey and tnt?

VS.

http://bit.ly/5CubuT

Foreign Govts to Obama: Yeah, we'll get to that extra security when we can...

"Everything is the same. There is no extra security," said an aviation official in Lebanon...

But at international airports in Lebanon, Syria and Libya, all on the list, there were no visible changes in screening. And several European governments, including Germany, France and Spain, said they were still studying the rules before tightening security any further...

http://bit.ly/7yQrOf

tests show body scanners don't see liquids, powders, and plastic

The explosive device smuggled in the clothing of the Detroit bomb suspect would not have been detected by body-scanners...

Since the attack was foiled, body-scanners, using "millimetre-wave" technology and revealing a naked image of a passenger, have been touted as a solution to the problem of detecting explosive devices that are not picked up by traditional metal detectors - such as those containing liquids, chemicals or plastic explosive.

But Ben Wallace, the Conservative MP, who was formerly involved in a project by a leading British defence research firm to develop the scanners for airport use, said trials had shown that such low-density materials went undetected.

Tests by scientists in the team at Qinetiq, which Mr Wallace advised before he became an MP in 2005, showed the millimetre-wave scanners picked up shrapnel and heavy wax and metal, but plastic, chemicals and liquids were missed.

If a material is low density, such as powder, liquid or thin plastic - as well as the passenger's clothing - the millimetre waves pass through and the object is not shown on screen. High- density material such as metal knives, guns and dense plastic such as C4 explosive reflect the millimetre waves and leave an image of the object.

http://bit.ly/5Qc7ah

TSA drops challenge to freedom of speech

For the second time in as many weeks, TSA has been forced to change a crazy policy, KEEP THE PRESSURE ON!!!

"WASHINGTON (AP) - The Transportation Security Administration on Thursday dropped its subpoenas it had issued to two Internet writers..."

http://bit.ly/87cuNe