In the mindless hysteria following the attack of 9/11 then-Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) insisted on federalizing air screeners, famously declaring that you can’t “professionalize unless you federalize”. Pundits said it was to pack the democratic rolls with new federal union employees that will mindlessly vote democratic. Daschle claimed that it gave the federal government the power to control who was hired and fired and control rigid professional standards. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the chief Senate sponsor, called the measure “the single most important thing we can do now” in building better defenses against terrorism within U.S. borders.
I work for a US-based international commercial airline at a major US international airport. I can tell you, first hand, that much of what the TSA pretends to be is, in reality, a laughable joke.
A Texas woman was forced to remove a nipple ring – with pliers – in order to board an airplane. Yep, that’s professionalism right there.
The TSA operations center outside of Washington DC has a 4,200-square-foot fitness center (complete with towel service) for just 79 federal employees. Yep, that’s carefully watching out for taxpayer dollars right there.
Since May 1, 2003, close to 500 officers have been terminated for theft. Yep, that’s professionalism right there.
Security screeners at two of the nation’s busiest airports, LAX and ORD, failed to find fake bombs hidden on undercover agents posing as passengers in more than 60% of tests last year, according to a classified report obtained by USA TODAY.
In 2005, the US General Accounting Office discovered that the Department of Homeland Security lost employees at a rate that was more than twice the average for a Cabinet level agency and more than four times the federal average, with most leaving because of the behaviors of the TSA’s Transportation Security Officers. More than 67,000 individuals who entered into employment contracts with TSA have left the agency over a period of six years, out of a work force of 43,000. Yep, that sounds like some really rigid professional standards right there.
The entire premise of the TSA is to counter the threat of terrorists, many of who are trained for jihad over a lifetime. When you measure a screener with 120-hours of training – someone who earns $13.99 an hour and who’s statistically more likely to leave their job than stay – up against that kind of terrorist threat, the outcome looks grim.
