[mattduke]

TSA expands family lanes. Family lanes have been a big hit and have become quite popular.

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[mattduke]

TSA to roll out family screening lanes nationwide by Thanksgiving. I guess I didn't realize just how popular these new family lanes were becoming.

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[mattduke]

What to do with your biggest critics? Engulf them into the leviathan. Suggestions swirl for him to join, but Schneier expresses no interest in joining TSA.

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2 ... or_ts.html

For those unfamilier, Schneier wrote "the red book" cryptographic bible, and actually understands security.

[mattduke]

Chief calls on air marshals to "root out" misconduct. 3 dozen air marshals have been charged so far. Street thugs and government goons. Two sides of the same coin. I know, maybe we need air marshal marshals, so that the marshals might be marshalled! Clearly we need "reform". Perhaps an entire new agency. Just so long as normal people aren't allowed to protect themselves.

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[mattduke]

[mattduke]

Given the season, a lot of folks here have been asking me about TSA policies regarding pie fillings. There has been some confusion on this matter, so I hope you will find this resource helpful.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')SA Administrator Kip Hawley said pies and cakes generally don't violate the ban on gels and liquids in carry-on luggage. He said security officials at some airports might have been confused about what foods were banned.
For instance, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and wine are fine in checked bags, but not in carry-on luggage.

[mattduke]

Most of us grown up thinking that the 3 oz barrier was unbreakable. But hand it to the TSA to make the impossible possible!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'P')assengers are now allowed to bring bottles of liquid that are medically necessary that exceed the 3-ounce limit. However, the TSA requires those passengers to use the specially marked family lanes, which are equipped with scanners that can detect liquid explosives. "It can delay your screening process if you have those liquids. But, on the other hand, it keeps you from having to put those items into checked baggage, as you had to before," said Dwayne Baird, spokesman for TSA's Salt Lake City office.

[mattduke]

Pay to go to the front of the insecurity line.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he cost of bypassing long airport security lines has gotten higher, and airlines and airports have joined private registeredtraveler businesses in reaping the revenue.

Frequent fliers enjoy the perk, but not everyone thinks paying to cut to the head of the line improves service or airport security.
Last week, United Airlines announced that its customers can pay $25 per trip for the privilege of moving to the front of the line at the ticket counter, in the security line and at the gate at certain airports. This followed an announcement by Southwest Airlines in October that allowed business-fare passengers, who usually pay an extra $15 to $30 per ticket, to go to the front of the security line at select airports.

"This is pay to play," said Michael Boyd, president of Colorado-based Boyd Group International, an airline consulting firm. "In a sense, that's almost a bribe, because they're giving money to give people a shorter line for public security in a public security facility."

[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '"')'Security theater,' It's a phrase I coined for security measures that look good, but don’t actually do anything," says Schneier, referring to the security measures that irritate airline passengers every day and that have cost billions of dollars.
That assessment angers Kip Hawley, the Bush Administration’s outgoing head of the TSA. "This isn’t theater. This is war," he tells Stahl. Hawley argues that all the security and especially the technical improvements have made people safer.

[mattduke]

Carrying gunpowder through airport security. Her boarding pass was fake too.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'L')ast Thursday, December 5, I brought five ounces (140 grams) of old-fashioned black gunpowder to San Francisco airport. I also brought along a boarding pass for United flight 720 to Denver that I had created at home, in an computer art program. TSA agents accepted the boarding pass. They also took no notice at all of the gunpowder. Accepting the boarding pass was reasonable. Boarding passes that we design and print at home look just like ones designed by the airlines that we print at home. I had thought, though, that I might elicit a short conversation about the gunpowder. Mind you, I had packed the stuff safely. It was in three separate jars: one of charcoal, one of sulphur, and one of saltpetre (potassium nitrate). Each jar was labeled: Charcoal, Sulphur, Saltpetre. I had also thoroughly wet down each powder with tap water. No ignition was possible. As a good citizen, I had packed the resulting pastes into a quart-sized “3-1-1″ plastic bag, along with my shampoo and hand cream. This bag I took out of my messenger bag and put on top of my bin of belongings, turned so that the labels were easy for the TSA inspector to read.

[mattduke]

The olives could not be taken aboard. I ate them in front of TSA and took the dangerous items aboard in my stomach.

[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ''')Explosive' wording on CD causes hour-long delay at Green Airport.

[mattduke]

Don't miss the new online TSA game!

theatlantic

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mattduke', 'D')on't miss the new online TSA game!

theatlantic

[mattduke]

The TSA will make an unwelcome appearance at the Super Bowl.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')f you’re headed to the Super Bowl this weekend and you think the last you’re going to see of those TSA agents is at the airport, you figured wrong. The TSA is going to be making a guest appearance at the game, providing a controversial new service at the gates. It’s called “behavior observation,” so if you plan on acting strangely while you’re in line to get in to the game, you’ll getting your own special interrogation before anyone allows you inside the stadium.

[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')es, so-called mule skinners -- in this case, seasonal workers who dress in colonial garb at a historical park in Easton, Pa. -- must apply for biometric Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWIC), according to the Transportation Security Administration, which says it is bound by federal law.

The requirement has officials of the Hugh Moore Historical Park perplexed. "We have one boat. It's pulled by two mules. On a good day they might go 2 miles per hour," said Sarah B. Hays, the park's director of operations. The park's two-mile canal does not pass any military bases, nuclear power plants or other sensitive facilities. And, park officials say, the mules could be considered weapons of mass destruction only if they were aimed at something resembling food.

[mattduke]

Good news! Upstart airlines cater to those who prefer to bypass the TSA!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'K')ent Craford: “We’re just wholly different than the major airlines. We’re really like having your own private plane, but on a schedule and for $149.”

Another big selling point? You don’t have to take off your shoes off at the Transportation Security Administration checkpoints.

Kent Craford: “Everybody says, don’t you want to get larger planes at some point? Well, NO! The whole point is to stay small so you stay below the T.S.A. threshold. And if we grow, we’re just gonna add units – we’ll have a fleet of mosquitoes instead of a few large buses, I guess.”

SeaPort started buzzing back-and-forth between Portland and Seattle in June.

[mattduke]

I will not be making a post about Diaper Dave's run-in with TSA.

[mattduke]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')NL: Training The Crack TSA Team In The Fight Against Liquids

[mattduke]

The mule skinners appeal was denied.

"Transportation Worker Identification Credentials" are required.

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