The latest TSA ridiculousness thread

[chrisinhouston]

The TSA at Houston's IAH (Bush) airport now has all of the ID/BP screeners ask each passenger to pronounce their name out loud. I did some research and found that it is a test program at a few busy airports and is in response to the slip up this summer at JFK where a passenger was cleared at the checkpoint after presenting an expired ID and some other passenger's used boarding pass. I contacted TSA national customer relations and was told it was a voluntary program and was also contacted by our local TSA man in charge of customer relations who also told me I could decline but it may cause a delay in clearing security but in no way would prohibit me from flying.

So my wife and I challenged it because we both travel a lot and are so tired of the TSAs security theater approach to feel good type of security (Feel good in the sens of everything is so much safer). On a recent trip to NY, when we were asked our names we both refused to comply. They were dumbfounded and called over 2 supervisors who wanted to know why we would not comply and I told them that it was my Constitutional right as an American to remain silent. I further told them my right was further secured by 2 Supreme Court rulings, Miranda v Arizona and Berghuis v. Thompkins.

My wife took a different approach and told them she feared for her personal safety and the chance of ID theft and would not say her name out loud when in public.

I questioned the supervisor about the fact that the TSA national office and local office told me that it was voluntary and also pointed out that it is not listed as a security procedure at the TSA website where they list all the required details on types of ID, screening procedures and the fact that one can Opt Out of the Xray image nudeoscopes. She looked me in the eye and told me that they can make up the rules as they go and also told me that my Constitutional rights are invalid in the screening area, both of which I really take issue with. She took our Id's (passports) made a few phone calls and made copies of them and gave them back and told us we could continue but it might keep us from flying in the future if we do not comply!

We have created the TSA and a heightened level of authority for Homeland Security and it is really scary!

Now at Boston's Logan airport passengers are asked questions like "where are you going, who are you seeing, what is the nature of your trip and when will you return" as part of a new Behavior Detection screening. "None of your GD business" I would say! The TSA falsely claims that this program is based on Israel's BDO program but in Israel they actually use security personnel who are college educated, have served in the military and also are well trained, not the flunkies that the TSA hires.

Call me fed up!

[chrisinhouston]

I forgot to add a point. The TSA claims that by asking passengers to pronounce their names out loud they might catch would be terrorists who are using a fake ID pr BP and haven't taken the time to learn their assumed name. OH PLEASE!!!! The guys who crashed the jets on 9/11 carried out their missions like top trained commandos, you think they would not have learned their names?

The truth is that checking IDs and BPs all day is a boring job so people like Olajide Olwaseun Noibi (the man who slipped by the TSA) can get by. And just how in the hell do you pronounce Olajide Olwaseun Noibi??? And how would the TSA agent know if it was correct or not.

Furthermore if a passenger gets on the a flight that he or she is not supposed to isn't that more of an airline's profit or loss issue? That's your BP and ID are screened at the baggage check in area for each airline and why your BP is checked as you board the plane and that is why the flight attendant gets involved when you try to sit down and someone is in you seat saying it is their seat (usually one of the passengers doesn't understand which side of the plane they belong on even though it is listed just above each row.

[sexobon]

Originally Posted by chrisinhouston

... She looked me in the eye and told me that they can make up the rules as they go and also told me that my Constitutional rights are invalid in the screening area, both of which I really take issue with. ...

Police can also tell you to open the trunk of your car without probable cause even though you are Constitutionally protected from unreasonable search. The courts have upheld that it's perfectly legal for the police to tell you to do it and that it's your responsibility to know your rights and refuse to do it. If you comply and they find something illegal, it's admissible as evidence obtained via consensual search. Even if you say that you felt intimidated by the fact that a police officer was armed and you feared reprisal for noncompliance, the courts have upheld that unless the police threatened to shoot you your fear was unsubstantiated since the police officer was required to be armed.

This cat and mouse game with citizens' rights has been going on since long before 9-11 and applied to potential suspects of being gang members, drug traffickers, illegal aliens ... etc. long before being applied on a high visibility national scale in airports to thwart terrorism. Some people assert their rights through knowledge and perseverance while others cry rape and fall by the wayside. You seem to be among the former, congratulations.