Private or TSA workers it's the same intrusive unwarranted searches that keeps me from flying again. I expect more searches on more modes of transportation in more intrusive ways. America has been beaten, our public now prefers security real or imagined over freedom and responsibility.

The airlines are getting the message from the flying public, enough already; TSA has qualified immunity from liability as a government agency; Private contractors will be held liable for their mistakes, therefore be more cautious ; and best of all they can then profile, since Homeland security is no longer in charge and political correct!

people forget that right after 9/11, there were private contractor screeners and it didn't work.

The TSA is a complete mess and with idiots at the top trying to justify their jobs the situation only gets worse. Get rid of them now so that the tax payer isn't on the hook for all those screeners pensions in a few years. Hiring private firms may be a little more costly right now but the savings will come when the screeners retire and the private companies and the workers themselves have to worry about their own retirement accounts instead of feeding off the tax payers.

Also with a private company it would be easier for each airport to get rid of an individual or individuals as well as the whole security company if needed. With on-site managers, complaints would be handled much faster.

Criminals will just find newer ways to get around protocals and security measures...We will just keep giving away our freedom and rights in order to have a false sense of security....Understand that there is no absolute security. People and machines can be comprimised. I think we should rethink the poilicies before changing people for people.

Private sector doesn't always mean easy accountability and government is not totally the bad guy.

Do any of you remember the fact that we all started complaining rather loudly after 9-11. We screamed for better security measures at airports, train platforms, and bus transportation. Now we have it, now you complain. If you think you can do it better than anyone then have at it. Until then shut up, get scanned or don't travel.

people forget that right after 9/11, there were private contractor screeners and it didn't work.

We also had intelligence agencies that failed... so do you suggest we get rid of them too?

All that needed to be done HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE and that is bolstering the strength of the cockpit door and arming the pilot.

Other than that it is impossible to stop EVERY THREAT. I do not support giving our rights to let the government senseless violate us so the former director of homeland security can sell more naked body scanners.

Without a change in policy, all this will do is give fat government contracts to friends of the connected so they can violate us and make money doing it.

Yes, we asked for BETTER security. This is not better security by any measure.

We screamed for better security measures at airports, train platforms, and bus transportation.

Knee-jerk reactions are often ill planned and ineffective.

Saxon asserted: "...TSA has qualified immunity from liability as a government agency; Private contractors will be held liable for their mistakes, therefore be more cautious".

Not a chance. No private contractor would accept the job without a liability waiver. Corporations employ armies of lobbyists and lawyers to ensure that they are not held responsible for their mistakes.

dhstraayer; Qualified immunity only applies to a government entity, not a private company; the private contractors could be held liable, they may have insurance, they may be reimbursed, but they may not hide behind the government immunity shield!

deborah

Do you think that a passenger jet is the only way a terrorist can kill people. You do realize that private planes are not required to go through the same screening process right? Just like the dude in Texas that put a few extra gas cans on his plane and flew it into the government bulding or like McVey loading up a U-haul with fertilizer and blowing up a building.

In fact if the 19 terrorists made a Mcvey style bomb and placed them in 19 strategically selected places that would have caused mass killings as well as structural damage to surrounding buildings they could have done the same amount of damage and caused much more terror because there would have been the bombings would have been more widespread and would have cost a lot less to plan build and set off.

A terrorist that sneaks in the country, builds a fertilizer bomb and blows up a building like the one in Oklahoma has a much better chance of succeeding then trying to blow up another air plane.

Someone has been doing a pretty good job. Let's not fix it.

You must be reading my mind Michael L. Concentration should be on securing the Borders, and on who we let come into the Country for any reason; a tracking system is in need here. There is a time for PC, but this is not the time for pretense...

more people (a whole lot more) die in cars every year than in all the airplane flights combined. if you have been scared for your life every time you fly the past 10 years, then the terrorists have already won. please hand over your American card.

Who would have ever thought that private enterprise could do a better job? Only those people who haven't taken the time to look at the disastrous job private enterprise is doing at Arlington National Cemetery where they have completely screwed up the operation. Only those people who have never taken a tour through a privately run prison.

Private enterprise is not about security. It's about making profits.

You've let the government scare you to death about flying, you've let government scare you to death about crime. Now they can take your money and give it to their buddies in private enterprise.

Jeez folks, open your eyes.

AMEN!!

David Walker,

Well Said! Only an uneducated moron or the head of a private security firm would want our airport security run by private FOR PROFIT corporation.

We need to turn airport security over to the US Military.

Right. Instead we are forced to accept intrusion into our personal liberties and stomach such unbelievable arrogance!

The entire nation is revulsed and revolting, Congressman John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, says TSA is a "bloated, poorly focused & top-heavy bureaucracy" encouraging the nation's 200 biggest airports to opt out, and TSA’s spokesperson stands defiant responding "TSA sets the security standards that must be followed and that includes the use of enhanced pat-downs and imaging technology, if installed at the airport".

Forget Opt Out - abolish TSA.

Profiling would require the hiring of 3 million more TSA people. Profiling works in Israel because they are already a police state and they only have has 11 million flights a year. We have many individual airports in the US that exceed that number.

People you cannot just abolish the TSA without something else in place, get real!

How about we immediately pull all of our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan and train them to take over by this time next year.

Obviously we save money, we bring our kids home but keep them employed instead of dumping them into a crap economy. It is win, win!

Also, look at the prisons run by private firms and compare them with those run by the states.

No one should be touched by a strange publically. Terrorists will change their strategies, and they are laughing at us spending money & efforts on inconveniencing our daily life and violating good people's right, which they could not accomplish. Give everyone a gun (we all learned how to fire a gun in college in China). If there is a terrorist, most of us can and will shoot him/her. At least, pat-down should be replaced by a trained dog.

I liked 1.16 so much I had to repeat it...

David Walker

Who would have ever thought that private enterprise could do a better job? Only those people who haven't taken the time to look at the disastrous job private enterprise is doing at Arlington National Cemetery where they have completely screwed up the operation. Only those people who have never taken a tour through a privately run prison.

Private enterprise is not about security. It's about making profits.

You've let the government scare you to death about flying, you've let government scare you to death about crime. Now they can take your money and give it to their buddies in private enterprise.

Jeez folks, open your eyes.

The report states the 'bloated upper management morons' are some of the main problems. AMEN. I have yet to see any upper management that actually knows what the guy/gal on the front line is going through or how well (or not) they are actually doing their jobs. PC crap floats down through the ranks for fear of "offending" someone, and it ends up offending everyone. "Oh that's a good idea, let's x-ray everyone."--Yeah right, sounds just like upper management making sweeping decisions without even checking to see if it works, if it's safe, if it's something that a relatively untrained person can do, or any number of other practical applications. "I know, I know, we'll body search everyone! Nobody will mind be touched all over if they know they'll be safe." Puhllleeeeze. My mother would become extremely dangerous on this one, and she's 82. This is a snapshot of upper management thinking.

In my office, upper management makes similar decisions. "Oh let's change the way this system works, it'll be good for everyone." No one bothered to check to see what we actually use the system for; or how we use it; or how it's important to make sure all the functions work in the new system before it's released. "Just put it on line, it'll be fine." It's been 6 weeks, and we haven't been able to track most of our data, and it'll take us months to catch up. We'll be the group blamed for being behind, too, and some of us will get pink slipped for it. We've been covering our butts on every system failure and malfunction making totally documented reports; but something will get by us, and we'll bite the big one for it. It's happened before.

Upper management orders their TSA subordinates to do the body scans and searches, and they must be performed just so. The first guy/gal who accidentally touches someone's "junk" is going to have his/her butt in a sling.

Privatizing isn't going to help matters, they have upper management, too. And it will be one more hoop for the public to jump through to get decent service. The problem is getting decent upper management on any group. Instead of hiring someone's good buddy who looks good on paper, maybe the government (or even private enterprise) would find someone who actually knows how things work. Maybe, just maybe, someone with a balanced view of security, safety, and public service might actually take an upper management post, and this person will insist on taking a pragmatic and functional view of how to get things done.

When I traveled in Germany a couple of years ago, I went through a very high security examine. The Germans were courteous to a fault, completely respectful, helpful but thorough. To say the least, I was impressed. I get back to my home country, and I was treated like dirt. I'm a mid-50s, Caucasian woman who's slightly crippled. I'm no threat. We need some balance and good sense in management who recognizes how to make security work.

Time for common sense! Robotic Personalities = TSA, can not think on their own!

I am retired from the FAA after 37 years, the last 20 as a first line manager. I can say from experience that getting rid of the government TSA screeners and hiring private screeners that are under the oversight of the government is the best way to go. About 18 years ago, the FAA contracted out the Air Traffic Control services at some of the smaller airports and brought in companies to do the ATC services under the same guidelines as federal controllers. The level of service by the contractors were day light and dark better than the feds, even when the contract controller was a retired FAA controller hired by the contractor to do the same job. The FAA controllers were a royal pain in the butt to work with, they were arrogant prima donnas, who thought they were not accountable. Once the contract controllers were in place they were professional and courteous to work with. The improvement was primarily because they knew if they did not do their job and do it correctly and with courteous service they would be booted.

Without a question here is the answer. It's in a blog I stumbled on....

http://boardinginbedlam.blogspot.com/2010_11_01_archive.html

Private contractors will be held liable for their mistakes, therefore be more cautious

You mean like Blackwater?

Why wasn't I given the choice of "None of the above"?

My vote is that hot men with good bodies do the pat downs for women and vice versa for the men.

Don't stop with the TSA - let also move the USPS, Amtrak, SS, and the rest to privitization and profitability!

Doesn't matter who or what the airports do because the flying public can not read nor follow simple instructions!

Profile 750 million passengers a year? Atlanta International screens more passengers in two days than El-AL does all year. Lets not forget that they still search bags and each passenger is interrogated by officers with submachine guns.

Michael Lockwood please learn to spell it is McVeigh not McVey !

Sure, lets get rid of the TSA...while were at it...I really dont like the fact that those annoying guys in the towers tell my pilot when he can take off, so how about we get rid of the FAA also? We can surely privatize this also as a cost saving measure.

Are you kidding me? Yes, lets privatize the security screeners, so then our airline tickets can be raised even more....oh, and by the way, it will be the SAME PEOPLE working at the gates. Nothing is going to change....except now there will be a company worried about profit margin.

FrustrastedInca

Whoopie doo, so I spelled his name wrong. He was a piece of sh#t and should have been executed the same way he killed those people in Oklahoma. They should have tied him to a post and then pulled a U Haul truck up beside him and then set it off. There wouldn't have been anything left to worry about and would have cost a lot less than giving him lethal injection.

Fot the people that don't like the idea of private enterprise conducting searches at Airports. Read the story again, they have been in place in 16 airports since the beginning of TSA. Also do you know who makes TSA's uniforms? Most are made in China and Mexico. Our tax dollars at work. They had a $98 million dollar contract paid for by our tax dollars and they gave the contracts to companies in China and Mexico.

SAXSON - airlines aren't hurting. Some are reporting record profits. You're only doing the rest of us a favor by not flying. Sorry, but you're not making an impact. You're just doing the rest of the flying public a service by staying home. THANKS!

So describe for us what a terrorist looks like would you!

I gotta give ya credit. It takes a REAL racist to think that one up! Just think what people would do if President Bush had gov employees stickin their hands down your pants and up your crouch under the 1st Patriot Bill. NowiIt's ten times as intrisive and not a peep out of the left! Recon I got me a nice shower waitin at a FEMA Camp for me! Sorry, this was for the commenter below.

No they just had people listening in on every phone call and email. They just put political opponents on the no fly list, for no reason. No just opened illegal prisons around the world and snatched innocent people off the streets to torture!

Besides, the whole idea of improving our safety never really occurred to them. Hell, when they were told by the CIA, FBI and NSA that they were tracking known terrorist taking flying lessons in the USA they told those agencies to stand down. Why would they have ever been concerned about our safety. There was to much money to be given away to Haliburton in Iraq!

Now we just kill like 10 times more "suspects " their families and neighbors with drones and every twet and phone call is keept for ten years at least. Add to that your medical record has to be kept by the FEds by 2014. It's the same Trans National Globalist New World Order BANKSTERS that run BOTH parties! Hail to Soros and Goldman Sachs!

Hopefully the Security Company bases its hiring on background checks and test results regardless of color.

Private contractors wil do anything to maximize profits.

Expect armed agents doing body cavity searches on certain passengers.

Blackwater for example killed people and was not held accountable.

Wow, the airport is a war-zone now? Way to misunderstand the situation, bicfj.

Why yes, it is in fact the front line of terrorists who have intruded.

no

No more FEDERAL MONEY FOR AIRPORTS NEITHER FEDERAL AID FOR AIRLINES MAINTENANCE ( or bailout ).

Whoever used an airline or airport should pay for security and maintenance for those airports, NOT TAXPAYER MONEY.

_______________________________________________________________________

And don't forget to charge rent for SCANNERS THAT WERE BROUGHT WITH OUR MONEY.

UH WCRITIQING...The govt does not pay for it, you do when you but a ticket on a plane, it is part of the landing fees airports charge the carriers, maybe you should check the actual cost of your ticket and how it breaks down. Sure the airport writes the check, but it is from the money they get from the airlines, which the airloines get from you.

Annapolis is a little over the top, but not too far. I've seen it happen - all the riff-raff in the security line and the TSA guy selects the cute buxom blonde to go through the scanner. Why? Because no doubt his buddy does the same for him when he's on scanner monitor duty. I've seen TSA guys standing and giggling while a cute coed gets patted down. There are reasons why the travelling public hate the TSA.

The terrorist decided to take our freedoms away. So annapoils can you come up with a better plan. If I fly anytime soon I will get scanned or what ever is necessary to make others feel safe while flying with me. If we could profile that would be ideal, but liberals think it is wrong. So we have to play the hand we are dealt. Deal with it.

The terrorist decided to take our freedoms away.

Terrorists did not create the TSA, unless you are referring to certain people in the US government as terrorists.

If I fly anytime soon I will get scanned or what ever is necessary to make others feel safe while flying with me.

And that is all these procedures have done, give the illusion of security. The fact remains that there are many things that you are more likely to die from, such as you killing yourself in various ways, such as suicide, or driving.

What a bunch of whiners. They touched my bottom, oh my! There is something wrong with you people.

Yes security could be better at airports, but throwing out scanners and pat downs is not the answer.

If you want to fly in the modern world, walking through a scanner is the cost deal with it!

That's easy for you to say spg64. I presume you are a man and without young daughters!

I have a beautiful fourteen year old daughter who has never been exposed to an enhanced pat down or a machine that lets someone look through your clothes. It raises my hair to think of my daughter having her breasts touched and someones hands put down her pants to fondle her private parts! I can't stomach the thought of her going through that experience at her age. It is like an assault! And I certainly don't like the thought of some man looking at her naked on a screen--like child pornography. I bet every guy out there with pedophile tendancies would love to have a job at TSA! And I bet there are some creeps like that who get hired because they don't yet have a record. And do they have mandatory counseling and periodic psychological testing required for TSA workers to make sure they aren't getting into it a little too much and doing "too good" of a job? What authority is watching them and checking to make sure they are appropriate and level headed?

Thank You !

It raises my hair to think of my daughter having her breasts touched and someones hands put down her pants to fondle her private parts!

Your idea of this is quite disturbing and warped. They are not fondling, that is your projection. They are searching for something suspicious, and it would be foolish to rule out children since parents or "caretakers" could easily put something on them.

I can't stomach the thought of her going through that experience at her age. It is like an assault!

You cannot stomach it? It sounds more like you have played it out in your head in explicit detail more than once!

And do they have mandatory counseling and periodic psychological testing required for TSA workers to make sure they aren't getting into it a little too much and doing "too good" of a job?

If you do a Google search, I am sure there are people who have looked into that concern.

What authority is watching them and checking to make sure they are appropriate and level headed?

The TSA is a government agency.

Andrew-
I don't have to play it out in my mind, I saw and heard plenty on the TV, even one woman saying that she had a TSA agent feeling her genitals inside of her underwear! As an adult I can reason that "they are looking for something", but a young girl might not perceive that so well and might take it totally different. Since you are not a woman or a girl I don't think you get that. You probably don't have a daughter either. As far as the TSA being a government agency and checking their workers, what makes you think they are any better than any other employer as far as checking or tracking workers for their psychological health? If they were they would not have so many postal workers going "postal".

As an adult I can reason that "they are looking for something", but a young girl might not perceive that so well and might take it totally different.

You do not talk to your daughter? Parents explain things to their children so that they can better understand things. If a 14 year-old still cannot understand, then she will not see anything wrong with the pat down. Perhaps you are underestimating her?

Since you are not a woman or a girl I don't think you get that. You probably don't have a daughter either.

I see that you are assuming much about me. I bet there are plenty of things that you have assumed about me that you wouldn't write.

Of course, you are using this to try to diminish the value of my comment. The thing is, there are many women who do not view this the same way you do, just as there are many men who agree with you fully, although I have a sneaking suspicion that you wouldn't say "oh you're a man so you wouldn't understand" to them. This isn't about gender, it's about whether somebody agrees with you or not.

sjgc- don't take her to a doctor! Heaven forbid she have x-rays done! Go to your local ER and you will see many people looking at X-rays! The images are exactly the same, maybe that could excite you but not most people!

Don-2141764, exactly the same? Not even close. Exciting? Correct, not even close.

Yes, that is Marilyn Monroe's real x-ray and somebody bought it for $45,000. Ew.

Full-body scanner

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.indiatalkies.com/images/body-scanner537n.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.indiatalkies.com/2010/11/fullbody-scanner-row-denies-checking-travellers.html&usg=__sCX0Y86BOdgW8AkRjZ_4O2pkECs=&h=724&w=634&sz=180&hl=en&start=27&sig2=upAW6JfAM0PsCxrK8Oq3Pg&zoom=1&tbnid=pOZBURMH1aEiEM:&tbnh=140&tbnw=123&ei=XKAiTa7rA8L38AbvtKnGDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfull%2Bbody%2Bscanner%2Bimages%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D711%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1

Marilyn Monroe's x-ray

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01023/mon3802_1023228a.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2929291/Marilyn-Monroe-X-ray-for-sale.html&usg=__NpapglbPn-pJeG98nNCN9B91GZY=&h=392&w=380&sz=24&hl=en&start=9&sig2=87RGglKpn863GO4Rr4p_OQ&zoom=1&tbnid=f6JsIDL-eX5ZAM:&tbnh=123&tbnw=119&ei=v6AiTYKpMYH-8AaL0p3dDQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmarilyn%2Bmonroe%2Bx-ray%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DG%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D711%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1

Sjgc,

You presume too much!

I find it interesting that all of these people who are ranting about being searched all have stories about something they heard!

Lets deal in FACTS people!!!!

The pat downs are OUTSIDE the clothes. If they deem it necessary to look under your clothes you are taken to an enclosed room and searched by a person of the same sex!

The scans are not "pornographic" they are body outlines.

All I can say is I hope you look good naked.

There are only so many puke bags on an aircraft.

Not like you..have nothing to hide...if you know what I mean! LMAO

Plus its only at the gate not on the aircraft the search!

born in the usa? the blowing up the plane routine is getting freaken old.the foreign terrorists are looking dorn softer targets, shopping malls churches stuff like that.planes are old hat.now there's foreign terrorists and there's domesticv terrorists. the domestic terrorists are ones who you'd strip nude for to board a plane.

please don't strip nude!not only are so many barf bags on an aircraft and at the airport, but my eyes couldn't take the fallout either.

Sorry Gloria..but if the rules are strip I will do..just don't look..like I hate to look at you also nude..can picture it (since you got something to hide)! LMAO

you couldn't picture the backend of a horses ass. no i don't hide anything, i just go for the juggler. ya live alot longer.you sir or madam are a fool. you're endoctrinated with the fear factor desease. you let a bunch of thugs and bullies ramrod you into believing in boogymen who exist, but not in the way they'd have you believe.

their safety angles are a crock of bull sh it. there's nothing safe about them. infact sir or madam they're making a total fool out of you. their methods don't keep anyone safe.all these abusive methods do is give these goons a minimum wage job to nowhere.they're a falso phony window dressing disguised as protecting you from terrorism.

you want to know who the real terrorists are. why their right in front of you, groping, patting and porno scanning you,you fool.

smarten up you've been played hook line and sinker. it's all a SCAM.

there's better methods of safety that let you keep your dignity, 4th amendment rights, and don't treat you like a common criminal at the hands of these goons and terrorist.

HIDE THAT FOOL

the

The same can be said of the neighbors in Stalin's Russia and Hitler's Germany - They had nothing to hide as well - yet, "someone" informed on them.

born-in-the USA, do you recall what it was like to fly before these rules were enacted?

I do , I set off the metal detectors so I got patted down every flight, NO BIG DEAL.

Andrew.... I remember what it was to fly without security. Atleast once a day someone was going to Cuba.

Johan-616123............. Yeah, me too... I could walk my grandmother all the way to the gate and sit a chat with her while waiting for the plane to board...and she could sit in the back 20 rows and enjoy a cigarette or two on the 3 hour flight home....the good ol' days...

That is ridiculous! Have you no sense of our rights? And do you really think these pat downs and machines are making us safer?

As intrusive as it is.. when any1 of "us" sees the amt. of ppl that Airport Security does, every day, going travelling around, in the big picture, all we're seeing is, a herd of cattle, in the big picture, it's not like it's personal, and individual.

it's a lump sum, and really we should be thinking it's for our own good, whoever does the pat downs, and the scanning.

it's better to be embarrassed and degraded, if it means you don't loose your life.

wait a minute, did someone say, the terrorists won? does everyone feel like they're being forced to live in a box? Someone needs a good swift kick in the $ss, and it's not small ppl.

Someone(s) hasn't been doing their job..properly.

createsutoo, please refer to post #16.5 for more information.

I referred to your comment 16.5 Andrew, and i agree.

someone hasn't been doing their job, cuz it's not working, and like you said regarding the chemicals and that, "it's not working"

i just want people to feel like, well, you know, the security people are not "looking at them" in an inappropriate way, as an individual. so i thought maybe if i said, we;re all just abunch of cattle in the securites eyes, it might help relieve someones anxiety or something, when they have to be patted down.

and i do believe for the most, the security personel isn't centreing anyone out. and that they're just doing their job.

cept it isn't working. they're sending it through the mail instead. (what next) this world has seen better days, that's for sure.

thanks again Andrew, i enjoyed reading what you have to say. and i sure hope they get this down pat..on the double. If the government had loved ones, who had to fly for work purposes, or if they were visiting, and traveling, i'm sure they would be just as worried.

i don't know why they haven't adopted Israels system, apparently it work very well.

After all, they've done such a cost-effective and bang-up job in Iraq and Afghanistan, conveniently 'losing' billions of tax-payer dollars, breaking laws and having no accountability. That's exactly what we need at airports.

I don't like TSA, either, but this notion that private is always better is just plain idiotic.

Michele EXACTLY!

NYC... You're soooooo right!  I agree 100%.

Let's explore this a bit further...

The delay is creating a new set of problems. Knowing that a private contractor will eventually take over, "[Transportation Security Officers] are retaliating against authority and the airport management staff," Martin said, "and we're getting no help from TSA management."

This is another example of a Bloated, over-powered, grossly over-priced government agency not willing to give up the reins!

Consider this: The cost to the airport is the same... Contractor or TSA! With an outside contractor, the TSA no longer pays the salary and benefits for their power-hungry zealots throughout the airport, so they get laid off! TSA Management oversight stays the same since that's the rules of the game on an Opt-Out, but nevertheless, a major reduction to taxpayer outlay. Multiply that by thousands of airports nationwide and it greatly reduces the money our government is able to fleece us out of. Force Napolitano to return those funds to pay down our out-of-control debt. Everybody is much better off, any way the sheeples will try to spin this.

Finally... cut the PC Crap and PROFILE like all the best airports internationally do! If they look like a duck, quack like a duck, look nervous like a duck facing a shark... guess what... most likely they're a duck that needs a good pat-down. Leave Granny, the Kids and the rest of us alone.

TCG

One more thing, I forgot to mention above.....

Those laid-off TSA workers could apply for jobs with the contract firms and go through a real selection and qualification process. The ones truly qualified could be rehired by the contractor and all of a sudden, there's more income tax, FICA, and all the rest of the hidden taxes being collected by our government instead of being doled out.

The obviously unqualified ones weeded out can go back to flipping burgers or standing at the back of a garbage truck!

Again... The Taxpayers and traveling public win!

TCG

NYC2011:

a overweight dognut eating TSA agent who can't even control his desire to eat crap

Please tell me you meant "doughnut" not "dognut" even if the latter might be true lol

con servicer Guru,

So please explain to us what a terrorist looks like, so we all know. I mean if you are all for profiling you must have a profile to use right!

Israel flies a few million a year, we fly a few hundred million. Can't be done, it would take you 6 hours just to get to your interviewer.

Yes let go private great Idea we can pay them $7.80 an hour think of all the money we would save on our taxes a wonderful Idea.... Do you want your son or daughter on a plan that had some high school drop out reading an x-ray machine or running the explosive detector?

Patc46510......what the heck do you think you have now ??? Pass a simple civil service exam and you're hired....No experience required.

Never Deluded... You have become Always Deluded by the NRA and their band of assassins.

Wise Up !!!!!

Never Deluded is merely suggesting a "Cold War" whereupon no rational passenger would utilize the weapon. The catch is that it is supposing that each person does not want to die. Islamic terrorists have a death-wish because they believe that they will be martyrs, although the case could be made that they would not act in this situation due to the fact that they couldn't kill as many "enemies" as they would like.

I know you will all be surprised to know that the MAJORITY of TSA employees, specially Management are ex military.

You think there is an uproar now, let TSA do full military patdowns and everyone would go hog wild.

How about the shoe bomber he was English or the Underwear bomber he was an English educated African. How about Eric Rudolph or a Tim McVeigh. Terrorist come in all sizes and colors. Please stop with the moronic Bigotry, it is just stupid!

Turn it over to the military, everyone else in the world has!

Private companies would not rely on customer service or lose their contract; they would rely on having the lowest bid for the job. It is not the hapless passengers who will pay their salaries, it will be the airlines. And we all know what the airlines' customer service is like.

Geez, you people. It was private contractors that let the 9/11 terrorists on with box cutters. Private security companies, who frequently skimped background checks on their personnel, with the result that they occasionally had convicted felons working the security lines. Private companies, who will not be paying their people $13 an hour, but something much closer to minimum wage, thereby making the likelihood of theft even higher. Private companies, who are answerable to no one but their stockholders. I loathe TSA, but I'd much rather try to reform them than with trying to regulate scores of different security companies -- who by the way, all stand to make big bucks if airport security is returned to the pre-9/11 system, which is undoubtedly why this is coming up now.

The customer service accountability at the TSA is VERY high. TSA people are removed from their positions daily because of bad customer service experiences. But, get this fact if an airport goes private. The ONLY employees that are contract are the officers themselves. Each airport will have a TSA employed Federal Security Director, Training Coordinator, and Screening Managers, just like now. Plus a whole other handful of TSA employees to oversee the operations. TSA oversight will watch and still dictate every move made by a private security officer. And guess what, your tax dollars will pay for the private contractors as well, because the security company that is awarded the job for each airport is paid by the TSA, through funding paid to the aiport, and then to the contractor to pay their workers. And, the workers are paid exactly the same as a TSA officer employed by the federal government. Please read through the Aviation and Transportation Security Act that created the TSA in the first place. All of the above information is in there, in plain old black and white ink. And, it's law. So, no matter who you have in there doing the job, either way it's still the TSA, and your tax dollars. Plus, here's a nice catchy point. If an airport does go private, they have to, by law offer the TSA federal employees the positions that they're replacing. So, you go through an airport one morning and you get patted down by a TSA employee. Three weeks later you come through the same airport. The exact same employee gives you the exact same pat down, but, now he's wearing a shirt representing the private firm. What exactly just happened here??? NO CHANGE!!!! Private contractors have to go through the exact same training as a TSA employee. They have to be certified in each and every machine before they can use them, and they have to follow each and every rule set forth in TSA's operating rules. They cannot change a procedure, deviate from a procedure, or anything of the sort without facing probable dismissal, just as it is now. So go private if you want to!!!! Just know that the minute you switch over, everything will be the same except the color of the shirts.

Dog Gone It.. Do you work for the TSA or are they paying you to write this BS?
The TSA is run and operated by arrogant idiots. Anyone with any common sense and intelligence doesn't believe for a second that the current safety procedures will guarantee terrorist free flying. I can list at least 20 different ways to bypass security, but will not do so for obvious reasons. I will say one of the biggest threats are not from passengers, but from Ground Crew. What is to prevent a terrorist from stealing a small aircraft and packing with explosives? The same plane could be used as a missle and destroy a passenger plane taking off or landing. Do your really think airline travel is Safe? Well actually it is safe, but don't pat the TSA on the back for keeping us safe. Has the TSA caught even one terrorist attempting to board an airplane? I don't think so.
There is only one way to allow for safe air travel. (an attack from "on board"), and actually it is pretty simple.
Airlines need to "Know" ther passengers. You, me, my grandmother, your neighbor, your school teacher, your preacher, my dentist, your Proctologist,(well he might be) are no threat to airline travel. We should be allowed immediate boarding upon passing minimum security.
No detailed body scans, no intrusive pat downs. The current body scanning technology in use today is an embarrassment. This is another example of "No Common Sense". The body scanners should have been designed not to show any "private parts" to the security screener. The screener nor anyone else should be able to see "Your Junk". Period.
The software of the scanners should only show a generic body outline and then "tag" a body area if something is detected. Then at that point the individaul should have the right to allow for a more in depth view or opt out for a physical inspection of that area only.
TSA and airline security is chasing away business. I now drive to any location within a 5 hour radius and only fly when absolutely necessary. I know several people who do the same or refuse to fly, period. These security procedures are driving customers away and costing the airline industry plenty. I sincerely believe a private contractor employee will be much more sensitive to Customer Service than most TSA agents. Working for the TSA guarantees Federal benefits and long term job security. How many TSA employees have been fired for bad behavior and customer complaints? You could count them on one hand.
It is time for an overhaul and the TSA overhaul needs to start at the top.

BobbyVE...what you wrote about, and what I wrote about are two different things. I was talking about what would happen if an airport moves to private contractors. Did I mention once about the effectiveness of the screening processes? Did I discuss safety factors, or how the airlines feel about their passenger's safety? No, I merely stated what would happen if a federal screener staff is replaced by a private contractor. From a responsibility standpoint, most airports won't even entertain the idea of moving to a private company. This is because they know, or should know, that if the TSA were to let someone, or something through that did result in a disaster of some kind, the federal government is held accountable. If a contractor is being paid by an airport to provide security measures, and something happens, then both the contractor, and the airport that pays them are responsible. I can't imagine an airport board of directors that would want that type of possible fallout, no matter what kind of insurance they can obtain.

Do airports go with the opt out and get private companies? Yes, and just as many that have gone that route have turned around and terminated the contracts, and reinstated federal workers within a 5 year period.

Either way, as I said in my first round. Nothing changes. As far as it being BS, like I mentioned, if you read the law, the Aviation & Transportation Security Act of 2001, it's all in there. Yes, the law is bloated, and long winded, and full of reactionary steps that were taken after 9/11. It needs to be changed to reflect the current threats. And, most unfortunately, it will probably never happen unless some new type of threat is actually used against an aviation target.

As far as me working for the TSA? Or being paid by them? Not a chance. However, I am exposed daily to things that go on inside the TSA, and this is why I know that the rate of attrition at airports is off the chain high. People leave because they are disgusted by the way it's run at the top. But, a very high number are dismissed because of customer service related issues. I have seen first hand how some of these people are treated by the traveling public. They've been thrown to the ground, spit on, shoved against the wall, and punched just to name a few things that I have personally witnessed. I watched a passenger take a swing at an employee, and the employee put their arm up to block the hit. The employee was fired. For what??? Self defense?? Under the eyes of the TSA, he exhibited poor customer service, and was let go. They are treated horribly by their management that is filled with under qualified, power hungry individuals that will mostly stop at nothing to gain the most for themselves.

Yes, colon cleanse the TSA, start at the top and work straight down to the managers.

The bottom line here is this: we both agree that the TSA needs a desperate overhaul. What I think the general public is missing is the fact that if an airport moves to a private contractor then it's 'YEAH! there goes the TSA!!", when in reality it's not going to be any different. The TSA will still be there regardless of the choice the airport makes.

I travel for business on average 150K miles a year. I see airports from all parts of the US, and the world. The US airports that have private contractors (San Francisco and Kansas City are 2 out of the original 5) that I travel through frequently have actually treated me worse than airports with federal employees. Some days are great, some days are not so great. But, in the end, they are both performing the same procedures. As far as the AIT machines go, please read about the second generation units that are about to go into use. The pictures generated by them are nothing more than just a stick figure (kinda like the old hangman game from years ago) with specific markings to indicate where on a person's body there is a possible item they shouldn't have.

I hate going through TSA. But, the geographic area in which I live dictates that I MUST fly if I am to go anywhere ouside of a 40 square mile radius. I cannot drive anywhere except to the post office or grocery store, etc.

So, write your member of congress. Write your senators. Scream for someone to go back in and update the ATSA. Until it's changed, we are all going to be faced with whatever TSA decides to pull on us. I feel sorry for a small portion of the TSA employees who have to be treated the way they are. The internal TSA structure basically leaves most employees at the hands of Respect from one human to another shouldn't be forced, but, an instinctual gesture.

You've got that one right! Those who sacrifice their rights for the illusion of freedom deserve neither...Benjamen Franklin.

We should absolutely profile and end ALL visas for people to come here to attend college. These folks come here to learn how to destroy us, so we should not allow them to study here.

It used to be, but now, well????

I don't fly much, but law abiding citizens of USA should not be treated as criminals any where and certainly in airports I think they are treated terrible with the new security searches...are we loosing our rights in the name of safety?...there has to be a better way!!!!!!

If you don't like it don't fly. As for Ben Franklin if he saw people getting into an aluminum tube that was to travel 500mph, I am sure he would want everyone screened and have their sanity checked.

Zog the Obvious,
I believe there was a documentary done about an FBI agent called "The Man Who Knew". Funny, just this moment I can't remember his name, but he knew everything about 9/11 leading up to its happening and tried to warn the government but they wouldn't hear him. To my remembrance, ironically, he died in the World Trade Center. Look it up. There is clearly no excuse the Bush Administration can give to say they didn't know it was coming. There is no possible fig leaf in my mind. Bush just wanted a modern day Alamo so he could launch his war on Iraq. We lost everything under Bush and now we are bankrupt too because of him. I'm with you, there should have been a nobody option and this new infringement on our rights is just another in a long string of civil rights violations that began after 9/11.

agreed

I agree to the umpth degree! I really don't get it. People do not want pat downs or the scanner thing.

So say we do without the intrusive measures. Someone gets on the plane with some type of explosive or destructible object, passengers get killed or hurt. I GUARANTEE you, these same people who complain now will make an uproar because security was lacking.

Am I right?!

Am I right?!

No, not at all.

No, Not at all, my arse!

I can hear it now, "That horrible Obama left us unprotected!"

Quit your whining! If you don't like the scanners, Drive!

Quit your whining! If you don't like the scanners, Drive!

You tell me to quit whining by whining. Classic.

Take a look at this quote:

So say we do without the intrusive measures. Someone gets on the plane with some type of explosive or destructible object, passengers get killed or hurt. I GUARANTEE you, these same people who complain now will make an uproar because security was lacking.

Do you see what is incorrect about this? These events occur despite these "intrusive measures," not because of the lack of them. Do you remember the "underwear bomber"? If he had gone through this new detector it would not have noticed his bomb.

And experts in the US said airport "pat-downs" – a method used in hundreds of airports worldwide – were ineffective and would not have stopped the suspect boarding the plane.

Tests by scientists in the team at Qinetiq, which Mr Wallace advised before he became an MP in 2005, showed the millimetre-wave scanners [used by the "full-body" scanner] 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://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/are-planned-airport-scanners-just-a-scam-1856175.html

Explain to me why I would complain about not being kept safe if these procedures were removed when they do not even protect us from our threats? Do you even verify what you are told?

Exactly! Andrew_

Just because someone says something will make something 'safe', does not mean either that it will actually make it safe, or that it is worth the disruption, time, cost, or intrusion.

So, you don't ride in a car or walk across the street?

Walk across the street? Heck no! I load up in my giant SUV and drive to the other side of the street while calling a friend!

Next time take the train. Bigger seats and better food.

I set off the metal detectors as well and have been getting the pat downs for a number of years now. I have never felt it was any kind of hassle. I do not understand what the big deal is!

Would you people rather walk on to the plane with no security only to find out you are sitting next to some fundamentalist nut case with an uzi shoved down his drawers. Come on people get real!

The ridiculous security measures HAVE NEVER CAUGHT A TERRORIST. New measures are put into place only after a failed terrorist is caught - like the shoe-bomber, the underwear bomber.

The current assault on rights and privacy are NOT keeping us safer. The terrorists have won - we are a sniveling bunch of cowards and they are laughing their asses off.

I agree 100 percent. That's a seriously slanted poll they have.
No where to write in a considered rebuttal. How about the constitution or is that regarded now as naive. It is what defines us, not some fear-mongering obsession with security, unproven at that. This is the hallmark of police state tactics.

so why should I be groped by a person getting paid a little more than minimum wage?

Here is the salary for a Transportation Security Specialist in Arlington, VA $88,648.00 - $137,402.00 /year, with only 1 year of relevant experience required to take the job.

At TSA, we act swiftly and with integrity to:

• Discover and stop emerging transportation security threats, utilizing state of the art technology.
• Educate and provide friendly customer service to travelers.
• Screen passengers and gather intelligence.
• Coordinate security involving aviation, rail, and other surface and maritime transportation.
• Oversee most transportation-related responsibilities of the Federal government during a national emergency.

. http://jobview.usajobs.gov/GetJob.aspx?JobID=95092055&JobTitle=Transportation+Security+Specialist+-I1801-J&lid=316&sort=rv,-dtex&rad_units=miles&brd=3876&pp=25&qt=default&jbf574=HSBC&vw=b&re=134&FedEmp=N&FedPub=Y&caller=basic.aspx&ss=0&AVSDM=2010-12-27+12:43:00

Yoou're an idiot. Go to the same sight and look up screeners, and you'll see it's about $14 an hour and almost always part-time.

If you are referring to a Transportation Security Officer, their starting salary is $15.50, which is more than twice minimum wage. There is no job called "screener."

Yoou're an idiot.

Are you prone to using words that you don't understand? Is "idiot" too complicated a word for you to use correctly?

Idiot? For useing the word screener in the search engine? Wow; Id have fun with you. Be hard to decide if I should sweat-ya or just have a full cavity done.