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A federal program that puts armed undercover guards on commercial airliners is in such disarray that it does little to deter terrorists, many of its employees say, and is being investigated by Congress.
On a much more mundane level, a close friend of mine just returned from a trip to The Philippines.
He was very careful to buy and use TSA-approved locks on his luggage. These locks allow TSA employees to use a passkey (or something of that nature) to open the locks without having knowledge of the combination code.
Well, upon his return to The US, we found that one of his suitcases on the luggage carousel was open and unsecured because the lock was missing, and the zipper had been destroyed. Upon opening the suitcase, we found a boilerplate notice to the effect of ........ TSA has opened your luggage for random inspection, and if there is any damage to your luggage, we bear no liability.
Well, upon his return to The US, we found that one of his suitcases on the luggage carousel was open and unsecured because the lock was missing, and the zipper had been destroyed. Upon opening the suitcase, we found a boilerplate notice to the effect of ........
You are making a tremendous assumption that the damage was done by US personnel. It could very easily done in the Philippines by baggage handlers looking for valuables. The Philippines has a terrible reputation for 1) thefts from luggage and 2) for adding bullets to incoming luggage as a means of extorting bribes off of Western tourists.
In the last ten years, I have received twenty parcels from Manila through Phil Post. Not ONE has made it intact without someone cutting into the envelope or package trying to see if there were valuables. That is why most of my friends have nothing shipped outside of the balikbayan box which is done by private shippers.
You are making a tremendous assumption that the damage was done by US personnel. It could very easily done in the Philippines by baggage handlers looking for valuables. The Philippines has a terrible reputation for 1) thefts from luggage and 2) for adding bullets to incoming luggage as a means of extorting bribes off of Western tourists.
In the last ten years, I have received twenty parcels from Manila through Phil Post. Not ONE has made it intact without someone cutting into the envelope or package trying to see if there were valuables. That is why most of my friends have nothing shipped outside of the balikbayan box which is done by private shippers.
We had the same thing happen on our way back from Cuba....suitcase zipper was destroyed and the contents rifled through. There was nothing of value, unless you consider a straw bag and a few t-shirts valuable, so they were disappointed. We had a TSA approved lock on the suitcase and it was gone, too. In our case, however, there was no note from the "TSA".
We had the same thing happen on our way back from Cuba....suitcase zipper was destroyed and the contents rifled through. There was nothing of value, unless you consider a straw bag and a few t-shirts valuable, so they were disappointed. We had a TSA approved lock on the suitcase and it was gone, too. In our case, however, there was no note from the "TSA".
Cuba is a pandemic of luggage theft. I've been going since the 90's, and it's gotten progressively worse over the years. The best advice I can give is to pack NOTHING of value in your checked baggage, as it will walk away, especially on an outbound flight when it will be far too late to do anything about it.
A federal program that puts armed undercover guards on commercial airliners is in such disarray that it does little to deter terrorists, many of its employees say, and is being investigated by Congress.
Another "WTH?" moment for me. I should stop being so surprised.
- Why is this not run by the military or other agency where bureaucracy, though inevitable, plays second banana to ruthless efficiency? The mission first: stop terrorism, with the highest standards of fitness, weapons training, etc. being requirements? Maximum agent age maybe 30, with weight, height, and fitness standards enforced?
- "Alcohol abuse?" What...the...frack? Do these people not having training regimens, clear schedules of time on/time off, max shift durations, and a day or two per week at Quantico or whatever doing P/T, weapons training, etc? No time for "alcohol abuse" and other BS problems, or at least none at a greater rate than, say, those suffered by Army Rangers?
- What "burnout?" What kinds of schedules are they making these people work? You fly on what, 8-12 hour shifts, any given 24 hrs/day and mix it up week over week, then back to your home base for the aforementioned training, debrief, PT, etc. then scheduled time off?
Who the frack is running this program, Donald Duck? How does Mossad run their program? If they have 3,000 marshals, it must be an extensive and detailed program with clear management guidelines, safeguards, internal affairs monitoring, etc. like any police force or paramilitary. What were the actual results of audits, declassified version? Why are their "Congressional investigations" of the effectiveness?
Do they have either stats wonks working for them, or work closely with NSA in terms of what flights to staff? Those questions, we probably shouldn't know answers to, but I sure hope so. With 42K flights/day and limited officers, they damn well should be playing the odds in terms of where terrorists are, by the odds, most likely to hit. And that probably ain't on the three o'clock milk run to Omaha.
(Reading further): We need a "union" and "laws" to figure the above out (previous paragraph)? Oh haysus cristi, I see the problem already.
(still further): "Lost their weapons" too, on planes. Wow. I'm tempted to blame the agents, but using a retention holster pseronslly from time to time (legal, lawful carry in my home state as a civilian) that's hard to happen. Howver, extreme fatigue leads to extreme mistakes, too, and that's a fact. Mismanagement, people.
ENOUGH! Put a retired one star US Ranger general officer in charge, move it out from under Homeland into an agency that isn't a miserable ____mn ____ing bureaucracy. I'm really sick of reading stuff like this, this is where my country falls flat time after time: politics and lack of efficiency until someone lights a match under it.
- Why is this not run by the military or other agency where bureaucracy, though inevitable, plays second banana to ruthless efficiency? The mission first: stop terrorism, with the highest standards of fitness, weapons training, etc. being requirements? Maximum agent age maybe 30, with weight, height, and fitness standards enforced?
What? TSA is mainly people watching scanners, checking IDs, and giving instructions. Why would they senselessly filter for fitness? An obese woman can watch a scanner with as much skill as 25 year old fitness instructor. They aren't law enforcement officers.
I just returned from a trip included flying from Canada to Chicago then to Nashville and my one checked suitcase was placed on the baggage claim conveyer with the zipper undone.
There was only 30 minutes from when the first plane landed in Chicago and the next pushed back from the gate, so I am pretty sure they did not have time to mess with the bag there. I was happy it made it onto the next plane.
So, would one say Canada unzipped my bag and left it open? There was no note, and only thing missing was a few socks and underwear, which likely just fell out, with it unzipped. Most of my clothes were in bags, but a few pieces were loose.
BTW, the same suitcase was opened and checked by TSA when I left, but apparently they were not interested in anything as they put in their paper saying they looked and if something is wrong...too bad.
My checked luggage was inspected on a domestic flight from Chicago - there was a TSA note inside saying it had been opened. They "confiscated" a diamond hone sharpening steel - a blunt stick-like thing, about 10" long with no sharp edges at all.
Can't find anything anywhere that says it isn't allowed in luggage and this is one of those head-shaking moments. It'll be about $40 to replace, but I have no idea why it was taken in the first place.
I've flown with it in checked luggage about 5 times, particularly when I have a rental for more than a week with a kitchen/kitchenette - the knives they have are usually in horrid shape and I prefer a sharp knife. I figured traveling with my best kitchen knife was out (although I do that when I am driving) and this was a substitute.
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Last edited by PNW-type-gal; 05-28-2018 at 11:25 AM..
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