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TSA Tests Consistently Evade Own Airport Screenings
ABC News reports on internal live-testing of TSA airport passenger screening procedures that successfully evaded detection of concealed weapons and explosives prior to boarding 95% of the time.
The series of tests were conducted by Homeland Security Red Teams who pose as passengers, setting out to beat the system.
According to officials briefed on the results of a recent Homeland Security Inspector General's report, TSA agents failed 67 out of 70 tests, with Red Team members repeatedly able to get potential weapons through checkpoints.
In one test an undercover agent was stopped after setting off an alarm at a magnetometer, but TSA screeners failed to detect a fake explosive device that was taped to his back during a follow-on pat down.
Officials would not divulge the exact time period of the testing other than to say it concluded recently.
While this report is alarming by itself, a TSA blog post from March 2013 commenting on the results of a previous test explains that the methods employed in these regular tests are deliberately designed to be unrealistically hard, and that the TSA's motivation is to drive improvements in security procedures ahead of terrorist capabilities to evade them:
The goal of the Red Team is to build tests that push the boundaries of our people, processes, and technology. We know that the adversary innovates and we have to push ourselves to capacity in order to remain one step ahead. With that said, our testers often make these covert tests as difficult as possible.
You might be wondering why our testers run tests that our Officers are prone to fail? It's because we want to see if our procedures, technology, and policies are or are not working. We also are constantly looking for ways to improve our performance. When a test is failed, we don't simply check a tick mark in a box and move on. Nor do we take punitive measures as this testing is a learning experience. The results are shared with TSA leadership at the airport and HQ, as well as the officers who were part of the test, noting areas for improvement where warranted.
Update
More news on this same story, now the Acting TSA director has been reassigned.
Just one of many news hits include: http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/01/politics/tsa-failed-undercover-airport-screening-tests/
Washington (CNN) The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that the acting administrator for the Transportation Security Administration would be reassigned, following a report that airport screeners failed to detect explosives and weapons in nearly every test that an undercover team conducted at dozens of airports.
Original Submission
(Score: 4, Interesting) by iwoloschin on Friday June 05 2015, @01:59PM
The last few times I've flown my Apple "Magic Mouse" has been singled out by the TSA because the agents looking at the x-ray say, "It's got a 9V battery." In reality, it's got two AA batteries, which looks nothing like a 9V, either the exterior shell, or the 6 AAA cells that go into a 9V battery. None of the agents have been able to explain to me why a 9V battery is bad, while the far bigger battery in my MacBook Pro (or even cellphone) is totally fine.
Meanwhile, the last time I flew, I forgot to empty my bag out. Argued with the screener a bit about the Apple mouse (politely, because it isn't her fault she's not trained better), but she basically stopped caring once she realized I didn't have any 9V batteries. As I picked my bag up to walk away I felt my Leatherman multitool in one of the outer pockets, which was *completely* missed, likely because I got the agent mildly flustered about her inane pursuit of 9V batteries. Of course, at that point I wasn't going to say anything, so I went ahead and boarded my flight with no further complications, all the while marveling at how easy it was to bypass security through accidental social engineering. I felt kind of bad, but at the same time I was hardly going to go to the TSA and surrender my stuff because they were too inept to catch it.
(Score: 3, Funny) by pe1rxq on Friday June 05 2015, @02:39PM
I am guessing the 9V batteries are conspiring with the nail clippers.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by wantkitteh on Sunday June 07 2015, @08:03AM
To quote Ed Byrne:
"If you can hijack a plane with tweezers, you deserve the f***in' plane!"
(Score: 1) by dime on Friday June 05 2015, @02:40PM
9v's can be daisy chained (without any extra tools) to create a super battery. So in case you manage to smuggle on 11.1264 kG of 9v batteries, you could do something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hwLHdBTQ7s [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2015, @03:46PM
None of the agents have been able to explain to me why a 9V battery is bad
We'd /love/ to tell you but we can't... It's classified! This kind of information making it out in the open would aid terrorists in attacking us, our way of life and our liberties & freedoms.
(Score: 3, Funny) by DECbot on Friday June 05 2015, @09:39PM
They check for 9V batteries because all explosives require 9V batteries.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by wantkitteh on Sunday June 07 2015, @08:05AM
Or high powered rifles, don't forget the high powered rifles.