TSA forces cancer survivor to show prosthetic breast

[Dennis Hultman]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-terror-checkpoints-20111220,0,3213641.story

By Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau

December 20, 2011, 5:03 p.m.
Reporting from Charlotte, N.C.—
Rick Vetter was rushing to board the Amtrak train in Charlotte, N.C., on a recent Sunday afternoon when a canine officer suddenly blocked the way.

Three federal air marshals in bulletproof vests and two officers trained to spot suspicious behavior watched closely as Seiko, a German shepherd, nosed Vetter's trousers for chemical traces of a bomb. Radiation detectors carried by the marshals scanned the 57-year-old lawyer for concealed nuclear materials.

When Seiko indicated a scent, his handler, Julian Swaringen, asked Vetter whether he had pets at home in Garner, N.C. Two mutts, Vetter replied. "You can go ahead," Swaringen said.

The Transportation Security Administration isn't just in airports anymore. TSA teams are increasingly conducting searches and screenings at train stations, subways, ferry terminals and other mass transit locations around the country.

"We are not the Airport Security Administration," said Ray Dineen, the air marshal in charge of the TSA office in Charlotte. "We take that transportation part seriously."

The TSA's 25 "viper" teams — for Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response — have run more than 9,300 unannounced checkpoints and other search operations in the last year. Department of Homeland Security officials have asked Congress for funding to add 12 more teams next year.

According to budget documents, the department spent $110 million in fiscal 2011 for "surface transportation security," including the TSA's viper program, and is asking for an additional $24 million next year. That compares with more than $5 billion for aviation security.

TSA officials say they have no proof that the roving viper teams have foiled any terrorist plots or thwarted any major threat to public safety. But they argue that the random nature of the searches and the presence of armed officers serve as a deterrent and bolster public confidence.

"We have to keep them [terrorists] on edge," said Frank Cilluffo, director of the Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington. "We're not going to have a permanent presence everywhere."

U.S. officials note that digital files recovered from Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan after he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in May included evidence that the Al Qaeda leader had considered an attack on U.S. railways in February 2010. Over the last decade, deadly bombings have hit subways or trains in Moscow; Mumbai, India; Madrid; and London.

But critics say that without a clear threat, the TSA checkpoints are merely political theater. Privacy advocates worry that the agency is stretching legal limits on the government's right to search U.S. citizens without probable cause — and with no proof that the scattershot checkpoints help prevent attacks.

"It's a great way to make the public think you are doing something," said Fred H. Cate, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, who writes on privacy and security. "It's a little like saying, 'If we start throwing things up in the air, will they hit terrorists?' ''

Such criticism is nothing new to the TSA.

The agency came under fresh fire this month when three elderly women with medical devices complained that TSA agents had strip-searched them in separate incidents at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Lenore Zimmerman, 84, said she was ordered to pull down her pants after she refused to pass through a full body scanner because she was afraid the machine would interfere with her heart defibrillator.

TSA officials denied the women were strip-searched, but they announced plans to create a toll-free telephone number for passengers with medical conditions who require assistance in airport screening lines. TSA officials said they also are considering a proposal by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to designate a passengers advocate at every airport.

The TSA's viper program hasn't drawn that kind of attention, although it is increasingly active.

In Tennessee in October, a viper team used radiation monitors and explosive-trace detectors to help state police inspect trucks at highway weigh stations throughout the state. Last month in Orlando, Fla., a team set up metal detectors at a Greyhound bus station and tested passengers' bags for explosive residue.

In the Carolinas this year, TSA teams have checked people at the gangplanks of cruise ships, the entrance to NASCAR races, and at ferry terminals taking tourists to the Outer Banks.

At the Charlotte train station on Dec. 11, Seiko, the bomb-sniffing dog, snuffled down a line of about 100 passengers waiting to board an eastbound train. Many were heading home after watching the Charlotte Panthers NFL team lose to the Atlanta Falcons after holding a 16-point lead.

No one seemed especially perturbed by the TSA team.

"It's probably overkill," said Karen Stone, 26, after a behavior-detection officer asked her about the Panthers game and her trip home to Raleigh.

"It's cool," said Marcus Baldwin, 21, who was heading home to Mebane, near Burlington, where he waits tables to help pay for computer technology classes. "They're doing what our tax money is paying them to do."

"I'm mostly curious," said Barbara Spencer, 75, who was heading home to Chapel Hill after watching her grandson perform in a Christmas play. She asked the officers whether a terrorist threat had required the extra security. No, they replied.

Vetter, the lawyer, had attended the game with his son, Noah. They jogged for the train after Seiko had finished his sniff, but Vetter had bigger worries on his mind. "The Panthers blew it," he said.

 

[SamanthaJane13]

Snakes (Nearly) on a Plane: TSA Unveils Top ‘Catches’ of 2011
Travelers attempted to smuggle firearms, animals and even land mines on board.
By Frances Romero


or all the ways that NewsFeed called out the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in 2011 — creepy notes, frustrating pat-downs, potentially cancerous body scanners — it seems that the administration did have its successes.

In a recent blog post, the TSA recounted some of its most notable “catches” in 2011, including a stun gun disguised as a cell phone found at LAX (though the TSA did miss a similar contraption found on a plane at Newark airport — just sayin’!); a veritable zoo of animals at various airports; and even inert land mines.

They also intercepted your everyday weapons (knives, firearms, C4 explosives — okay, not quite your usual finds). The big lesson to be learned from the TSA’s 2011 haul? Be sure you don’t try to bring aboard a science project that looks like an improvised explosive device.


http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/01/05...ils-top-catches-of-2011/?xid=rss-nation-yahoo

 

[kiss1069]

Id hate to think that when and if any of you get on a plane after just calling your loved ones that youll be there in a few hours, have a slight detour due to some terrorist(foreign/homegrown) having decided that this day you will not make it to your destination and all because you decided that the TSA or any similar type of agency was not there to deter these terrorist. Unfortunately you dont seem to understand that in order for someone to carry out their plans, will go through whatever means necessary from shoving C4 up their asses to smuggling in parts of guns bombs piece by piece in any manner shape or form not leaving out the possible use of an elderly colostami bag to an infants diaper. Not trying to make anyone all paranoid but if this means that you have to undergo a patdown or eventually stripped down (especially if you refuse), or having your person scanned then by all means let it happen. I have gone through the TSA searches and dont have a problem with it, just think of all the stuff that they have prevented from being brought into a plane and was publicized as well as those things that werent. We all just want to sit and think that were untouchable but as proven by all the attacks prior to 9/11 as well as the OKC bombing...then we look at the middle east...see how many bombings take place...and these bombings have taken place before the US ever got involved...so sit back and relax...drink your drink and eat your food and hope and pray that the TSA did their job right...see ya in the air.

 

[Wraith]

Id hate to think that when and if any of you get on a plane after just calling your loved ones that youll be there in a few hours, have a slight detour due to some terrorist(foreign/homegrown) having decided that this day you will not make it to your destination and all because you decided that the TSA or any similar type of agency was not there to deter these terrorist. Unfortunately you dont seem to understand that in order for someone to carry out their plans, will go through whatever means necessary from shoving C4 up their asses to smuggling in parts of guns bombs piece by piece in any manner shape or form not leaving out the possible use of an elderly colostami bag to an infants diaper. Not trying to make anyone all paranoid but if this means that you have to undergo a patdown or eventually stripped down (especially if you refuse), or having your person scanned then by all means let it happen. I have gone through the TSA searches and dont have a problem with it, just think of all the stuff that they have prevented from being brought into a plane and was publicized as well as those things that werent. We all just want to sit and think that were untouchable but as proven by all the attacks prior to 9/11 as well as the OKC bombing...then we look at the middle east...see how many bombings take place...and these bombings have taken place before the US ever got involved...so sit back and relax...drink your drink and eat your food and hope and pray that the TSA did their job right...see ya in the air.

TSA has done NOTHING to stop a damn thing - all they do is take our tax money and waste it. And NO you won't see me in the air because I will not give up my rights and be publicly humiliated, stripped searched, pornographically photographed, and sexually harassed just for the privilege to spend a lot of money to get on a plane and then be subjected to even more abuses by the airlines themselves. I will drive thank you.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

TSA Manager Arrested for Running Prostitution Ring

www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/local/tsa-...unning-prostitution-ring-032812#ixzz1qRISaevM

SILVER SPRING, Md. - A manager at the Transportation Security Administration has lost his job after being arrested on prostitution-related charges. According to court documents, the agency had received a complaint of "very similar" activities back in 2009.

Bryant Jermaine Livingston, 39, was arrested while on the job as a supervisor of TSA agents at Dulles International Airport. The Manassas, Virginia resident, said by phone he is innocent of the charges, but declined to discuss the details of the case.

According to charging documents, on February 15th, Livingston used cash to rent a room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring, Md. The hotel manager recognized Livingston as a previous customer who, on earlier occasions had "groups of males and females frequently entering and exiting Livingston's room," according to a court document.

Similar activity was happening on February 15, so the manager called Montgomery County Police to report likely prostitution. Responding officers offered to accompany the manager as she went to evict the people from the room.

At the doorway, Livingston denied prostitution was occurring, and invited the manager and police into the room.

Responding officers say they saw, "11 people inside the room [including] three naked females and four males attempting to get dressed. Multiple people were laying on the two beds and other people were sitting in chairs and standing in the room."

In a hallway interview, Bryant Livingston told the police officers he "runs the airport security at Dulles," according to the charging document.

A spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration confirmed that Livingston had worked for the agency since Oct. 29, 2002, but he is now "no longer employed by TSA."

In a subsequent interview, one of the men in the room told Montgomery County police that, "he paid Livingston $100 to enter the hotel room to engage in sexual activities." Charging documents also say a TSA investigator told police that, "in 2009, a very similar complaint concerning Livingston was on record. The complaint alleged that Livingston was operating a prostitution ring and charging individuals $25. for sexual acts."

The TSA spokesman had no immediate explanation as to what, if anything, the agency did about the earlier complaint.

Bryant Livingston is facing five prostitution-related charges. His attorney, Jason Cleckner, declined to comment on the case. Livingston has been released on his own recognizance, and faces trial on May 8th.

In Maryland, a person convicted of prostitution can face up to a year in jail.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Ex-Boston TSA screener sentenced for child porn

BOSTON (AP) - A former employee of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration has been sentenced to nearly three and a half years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Federal prosecutors say 34-year-old Andrew Cheever of Lowell was sentenced Wednesday to three years and five months behind bars and two years of probation. He was also ordered to read victim impact statements of six children depicted in the pornography he collected.

He pleaded guilty in December.

Authorities say Cheever had thousands of child pornography images and videos on his home computer and made them available on the Internet using peer-to-peer file sharing software.

Cheever was a security checkpoint screener at Logan International Airport until he was taken into custody in September.

He no longer works for the TSA.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

TSA officers charged with trashing South Beach hotel room, shooting gun
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/28/2718902/tsa-employees-charged-with-trashing.html

Two Transportation Security Administration officers are accused of trashing a South Beach hotel room and repeatedly shooting off a gun.


Miami Beach police say two Transportation Security Administration officers partied a little too hard Tuesday night, trashed their South Beach hotel room and then picked up a semi-automatic handgun and shot six rounds out the window.

One bullet pierced a $1,500 hurricane impact resistant window at a nearby Barneys New York, penetrated a wall and tore into some jeans in the closed store’s stockroom, according to store manager Adelchi Mancusi.

No one was injured.

Jeffrey Piccolella, 27, and Nicholas Anthony Puccio, 25, were arrested just before midnight. The Palm Beach County men have been charged with criminal mischief and use of a firearm while under the influence.

In a city known for wild, late-night behavior, merely tossing speakers, lamps, a phone, ice chest and vase out a second floor room at the Hotel Shelley, 844 Collins. Ave., might not have drawn much attention.

But according to an incident report, a front desk clerk and security guard called police about 11:18 p.m. after they heard one gun shot, followed by three to five more after a few seconds. When the clerk went back inside the hotel, a guest told him someone was throwing furniture and bric-a-brac out the window of room 217, where Piccolella and Puccio were staying the night.

Detective Vivian Hernandez, a police spokeswoman, said officers arrived and, after a shell casing was found on the ground amid broken room furnishings, the SWAT team was called out.

Investigators went to the mens’ room and then took them to police headquarters.

In a recorded interview, Piccolella told a detective he and Puccio were drinking before returning to their hotel room, according to the incident report. He allegedly said they opened a window, tossed several objects out and then Piccolella grabbed a .380-calliber pistol from his luggage and they took turns shooting out the window.

Puccio said the story was untrue, according to the report.

Police impounded the gun.

Hotel management said $400 in furniture was destroyed.

The two men were booked at the Pre-Trial Detention Center on $5,500 bond each.

TSA spokesman Jon Allen wrote in an email that Piccolella and Puccio are part-time officers who have worked one and two years, respectively, for the agency. They were not in Miami Beach on TSA business, according to Allen.

“TSA holds its employees to the highest professional and ethical standards,” Allen wrote. “We will review the facts and take appropriate action as necessary.”

 

[Dennis Hultman]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...andmother-passing-security.html#ixzz1sxAVHmrN

Weeping four-year-old girl accused of carrying a GUN by TSA officers after she hugged her grandmother while passing through security

Of all the many complaints about airport security and the TSA, one of the most common is that they make little distinction between plausible security threats and passengers unlikely to be doing anything wrong.

And a recent incident in Wichita, Kansas has reinforced that argument, as a four-year-old girl was apparently subjected to a humiliating ordeal after she hugged her grandmother while she was waiting in line.

The girl was accused of having a gun and declared a 'high security threat', while agents threatened to shut down the whole airport if she could not be calmed down.

When asked about the overbearing treatment the girl received, a TSA spokesman did not apologise and insisted that correct procedures had been followed.

Terror threat? Four-year-old Isabella was subjected to a full body pat-down and accused of carrying a gun in an airport

Four-year-old Isabella's horrific experience in Wichita earlier this month was recounted on Facebook by her furious mother Michelle Brademeyer.

The family was in Kansas for a wedding, and was travelling home to Montana with Ms Brademeyer's mother.

Ms Brademeyer and her two children had passed through security when the grandmother was detained after triggering an alarm on the scanners.

More...

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Isabella then, according to her mother, 'excitedly ran over to give her a hug, as children often do. They made very brief contact, no longer than a few seconds.'

The young girl was immediately detained by security agents, who apparently shouted at her that she would have to be frisked too, and refused to let her mother explain what has happening.

Ms Brademeyer wrote: 'It was implied, several times, that my mother, in their brief two-second embrace, had passed a handgun to my daughter.'

In her terror, Isabella tried to run away rather than face a full body pat-down, which unsurprisingly enraged the TSA officers further.

One officer even told the girl's mother that the airport would have to be shut down and every flight cancelled if the four-year-old did not co-operate.

They also apparently described the little girl as a 'high security threat'.

As Isabella was taken into a side room for a pat-down, accompanied by her mother, she could not stop crying and refused to let the agents touch her.

An officer repeatedly said she had 'seen a gun in a teddy bear' in the past, in an apparent attempt to justify the situation.

Ms Brademeyer continued: 'The TSO loomed over my daughter, with an angry grimace on her face, and ordered her to stop crying.

'When my scared child could not do so, two TSOs called for backup saying, "The suspect is not cooperating." The suspect, of course, being a frightened child. They treated my daughter no better than if she had been a terrorist.'

Isabella continued to cry, and officers said the family would have to leave the airport as the TSA was unable to frisk the four-year-old.

When a manager was called, he decided that the distraught Isabella could be checked alongside her mother, and let the family pass through security at last.

But their nightmare was not yet over, as on a connecting flight in Denver, an airport employee demanded to know which of the family was Isabella - and 'looked really confused' when the girl was pointed out to her.

Ms Brademeyer concluded her Facebook post by drawing attention to TSA rules against separating children from their parents, and added: 'I feel compelled to share this story in the hope that no other child will have to share in this experience.'

When The Consumerist approached the TSA for comment on the bizarre incident, a spokesman said: 'TSA has reviewed the incident and determined that our officers followed proper current screening procedures in conducting a modified pat-down on the child.'

Last month the agency came in for criticism when a video of a three-year-old boy in wheelchair having a full pat-down and being swabbed for explosives circulated on the internet.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Congressman says he was assaulted during pat-down

http://www.kens5.com/news/local/I-T...ssaulted-him-during-a-pat-down-148756365.html

U.S. Rep. Francisco Canseco said he was assaulted by a TSA agent at the San Antonio International Airport.

The Texas Congressman said the security agent went too far during a pat-down earlier this month.

"The agent was very aggressive in his pat-down, and he was patting me down where no one is supposed to go,” said Canseco. “It got very uncomfortable so I moved his hand away. That stopped everything and brought in supervisors and everyone else."

Canseco told the KENS 5 I-Team the agent said he too was assaulted when Canseco pushed his hand away.

According to TSA, neither man was cited.

A week later when going through the San Antonio International Airport, Canseco was once again selected for a pat-down.

"I did not see it as a coincidence,” he said. “I asked them why are you going to pat me down again, so we discussed it further and after discussing it further, they patted me down."

However, before the discussion was over, San Antonio Police Department officers were called to the security check point area.

Again, no one was cited.

TSA issued the I-Team the following statement about the incident:

"TSA incorporates random and unpredictable security measures throughout the airport. Once a passenger enters the screening process, they must complete it prior to continuing to a flight or secure area."

Canseco said his experience illustrated changes in the airport security are needed.

"It is very important that Americans feel safe and secure as they travel in our nation’s airways - safe and secure from acts of terrorism and all that. But, I also think that TSA sometimes gets too aggressive, and it's not just about me. It's about every American that goes through those TSA scanners."

The I-Team requested video from TSA of both incidents. A TSA spokesperson said our request is being reviewed.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

TSA defends pat-down of 4-year-old at Kan. airport

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The grandmother of a 4-year-old girl who became hysterical during a security screening at a Kansas airport said Wednesday that the child was forced to undergo a pat-down after hugging her, with security agents yelling and calling the crying girl an uncooperative suspect.

The incident has been garnering increasing media and online attention since the child's mother, Michelle Brademeyer of Montana, detailed the ordeal in a public Facebook post last week. The Transportation Security Administration is defending its agents, despite new procedures aimed at reducing pat-downs of children.

The child's grandmother, Lori Croft, told The Associated Press that Brademeyer and her daughter, Isabella, initially passed through security at the Wichita airport without incident. The girl then ran over to briefly hug Croft, who was awaiting a pat-down after tripping the alarm, and that's when TSA agents insisted the girl undergo a physical pat-down.

Isabella had just learned about "stranger danger" at school, her grandmother said, adding that the girl was afraid and unsure about what was going on.

"She started to cry, saying 'No I don't want to,' and when we tried talking to her she ran," Croft said. "They yelled, 'We are going to shut down the airport if you don't grab her.'"

But she said the family's main concern was the lack of understanding from TSA agents that they were dealing with a 4-year-old child, not a terror suspect.

"There was no common sense and there was no compassion," Croft said. "That was our biggest fault with the whole thing — not that they are following security procedures, because I understand that they have to do that."

Brademeyer, of Missoula, Mont., wrote a public Facebook post last week about the April 15 incident, claiming TSA treated her daughter "no better than if she had been a terrorist." The posting was taken down Wednesday. Another post said the family had filed formal complaints with the TSA and the airport.

The TSA released a statement Tuesday saying it explained to the family why additional security procedures were necessary and that agents didn't suspect or suggest the child was carrying a firearm.

"TSA has reviewed the incident and determined that our officers followed proper screening procedures in conducting a modified pat-down on the child," the agency said.

The statement noted that the agency recently implemented modified screening procedures for children age 12 and younger to further reduce the need for pat-downs of children, such as multiple passes through a metal detector and advanced imaging technology.

"These changes in protocol will ultimately reduce — though not eliminate — pat-downs of children," the statement said. "In this case, however, the child had completed screening but had contact with another member of her family who had not completed the screening process."

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, pressed the TSA for more information Wednesday. Tester, a member of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said he was concerned the TSA went too far.

"I am a staunch advocate for effective transportation security, but I'm also a strong advocate for common sense and the freedoms we enjoy as Americans," Tester wrote to TSA Administrator John Pistole. "Any report of abuse of the power entrusted to officers of the TSA is especially concerning — especially if it involves children."

In a phone interview from her home in Fountain Valley, Calif., Croft said Brademeyer tried to no avail to get TSA agents to use a wand on the frightened girl or allow her to walk through the metal detector again. She also said TSA agents wanted to screen her granddaughter alone in a separate room.

"She was kicking and screaming and fighting and in hysterics," Croft said. "At that point my daughter ran up to her against TSA's orders because she said, 'My daughter is terrified, I can't leave her.'"

The incident went on for maybe 10 minutes, until a manager came in and allowed agents to pat the girl down while she was screaming but being held by her mother. The family was then allowed to go to their next gate with a TSA agent following them.

Croft said that for the first few nights after coming home, Isabelle had nightmares and talked about kidnappers. She said TSA agents had shouted at the girl, telling her to calm down and saying the suspect wasn't cooperating.

"To a 4-year-old's perspective that's what it was to her because they didn't explain anything and she did not know what was going on," Croft said. "She saw people grabbing at her and raising their voices. To her, someone was trying to kidnap her or harm her in some way."

 

[Dennis Hultman]

TSA screeners let drug-filled luggage through LAX for cash...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/04/tsa-screeners-drug-arrest.html

Four current and former Transportation Security Administration screeners have been arrested and face charges of taking bribes and looking the other way while suitcases filled with cocaine, methamphetamine or marijuana passed through X-ray machines at Los Angeles International Airport, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

The TSA screeners, who were arrested Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, allegedly received up to $2,400 in cash bribes in exchange for allowing large drug shipments to pass through checkpoints in what the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles called a “significant breakdown” of security.

In addition to the two current and two former screeners, prosecutors also indicted two alleged drug couriers and a third who allegedly tried to smuggle 11 pounds of cocaine but was nabbed when he went through the wrong security checkpoint.

The TSA employees “placed greed above the nation’s security needs,” Andre Birotte Jr., U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a statement.

The 40-page indictment outlines five alleged smuggling incidents over a six-month period last year. In one incident, screeners schemed to allow for about eight pounds of methamphetamine to pass through security, then went to an airport restroom where he was handed $600, the second half of the payment for that delivery, according to prosecutors.

Briane Grey, acting special agent in charge of the DEA in Los Angeles, said the scheme was particularly reprehensible because it took place at LAX.

“The defendants traded on their positions at one the world’s most crucial airport security checkpoints, used their special access for criminal ends, and compromised the safety and security of their fellow citizens for their own profit,” he said in a statement.

The indicted screeners are Naral Richardson, 30, and Joy White, 27, who were both fired by TSA last year; and John Whitfield, 23, and Capeline McKinney, 25, both currently employed as screeners. All four have been taken into custody, and face up to life in prison if convicted.

The accused drug couriers are Duane Eleby, 28, who is expected to surrender, and Terry Cunningham and Stephen Bayliss, both 28, who are both at large.

The TSA’s security director at LAX said the agency was assisting with the investigation. “While these arrests are a disappointment, TSA is committed to holding our employees to the highest standards,” Randy Parsons said in a statement.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Family Misses Flight after TSA Gives Pat-Down to 7-Year-Old -- with Cerebral Palsy!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2012...a-gives-pat-down-to-girl-with-cerebral-palsy/

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – The Transportation Security Administration is once again the subject of national scrutiny, this time after aggressively screening a 7-year-old female passenger with cerebral palsy which caused her family to miss their flight.

The girl, identified as Dina Frank in a report by The Daily, was waiting with her family on Monday to board a flight departing from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York headed to Florida.

Since Dina walks with the aid of leg braces and crutches, she cannot pass through airport metal detectors, and must instead submit to a pat-down by TSA agents.

Dina, who is also reportedly developmentally disabled, is usually frightened by the procedure. Her family reportedly requests that agents on hand take the time to introduce themselves to her.

However, the agents on duty at the time began to handle her aggressively instead.

Air travel is difficult to the family due to Dina’s disabilities, but the nature of Monday’s inspection was especially traumatic for the child.

“They make our lives completely difficult,” her father, Dr. Joshua Frank, a Long Island pediatrician, told The Daily. “She’s not a threat to national security.”

Frank taped the encounter, which ended when a supervisor inspected her crutches and let them pass. But agents followed up and insisted upon doing a full inspection of Dina.

Ultimately, the family missed their flight.

“They’re harassing people. This is totally misguided policy,” Frank told The Daily. “Yes, I understand that TSA is in charge of national security and there’s all these threats. [But] for her to be singled out, it’s crazy.”

Dina, from Long Island, had recently experienced triumph after Botox and phenol injections helped her to gain control of her legs, enough to take several unassisted steps.

After being born prematurely and suffering from bleeding in the brain, Dina struggled for years to get around, even enduring a double hip replacement to assist in her recovery, CBS New York reported.

UPDATE: The TSA issued a statement defending their decision to pat-down the girl.

“TSA has reviewed the incident and determined that our officers followed proper screening procedures in conducting a modified pat-down on the child,” the agency said.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Priest Defrocked After Sex Abuse Charges Now Works For TSA as a supervisor!!


http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/20...ry-due-to-sex-abuse-allegations-works-at-phl/

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The CBS 3 I-Team has learned that a Catholic priest who was removed from the ministry over sex abuse allegations now holds a sensitive security post at Philadelphia International Airport.

The security checkpoint between Terminals D and E is a busy place where thousands of people – including lots of kids – pass through every day. But you might not believe who the I-Team observed working as a TSA supervisor at that checkpoint this week: Thomas Harkins.

Until 2002, Harkins was a Catholic priest working at churches across South Jersey. But the Diocese of Camden removed him from ministry because it found he sexually abused two young girls. Now, in a new lawsuit, a third woman is claiming she also is one of Harkins’ victims.

The I-Team asked Harkins about the suit as he was leaving his shift at the airport.

“I have nothing to say,” was Harkins’ reply.

The new lawsuit, filed in federal court against the Camden Diocese says quite a bit. It accuses Harkins of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl 10 to 15 times in 1980 and 1981. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the alleged victim, claims the abuse occurred while Harkins was a priest at Saint Anthony of Padua parish in Hammonton, NJ, with one assault even occurring in Harkins’ bedroom at the rectory.

The I-Team asked Harkins if the traveling public should be worried.

“No, they shouldn’t be,” he said.

“The public should not be worried with you in a position like this despite your past?” reporter Ben Simmoneau asked.

“I have nothing to say,” Harkins repeated.

He then used his TSA badge to walk into a restricted area where our cameras could not follow.

“They should know who they’re hiring,” said Karen Polesir, a Philadelphia spokeswoman with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). She believes Harkins’ TSA job is inappropriate.

“As the public, we are screened to our underwear getting on a plane, and yet they hire a man like that.”

A TSA official tells the I-Team Harkins’ title is “Transportation Security Manager, Baggage,” meaning he deals mostly with luggage, not passengers.

“Sure, that’s his title,” Polesir said. “That doesn’t mean that’s where he stays, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t fill other roles when necessary.”

The TSA says all its employees go through a criminal background check before they’re hired, but because these cases are so old, criminal charges were not filed. A spokesman says the Camden Diocese settled the first two lawsuits with Harkins’ accusers–it has not seen this suit just yet.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

There's no background check. There is nothing... What people fail to realize is that we took a bunch of baggage handlers, You know like those multiple reports and news specials years ago of handlers streaming into work with nothing in their hands then leaving work with bags and bags of stuff they stole out of travelers suitcases. Well, we gave those people a nifty new title and a badge.

They gave themselves permission to go down you and your children's pants. They weren't law enforcement trained. They weren't schooled in the Law and Constitution. They were trained on regulations and given the ability to permit or deny travel. That's a lot of power to give to such a group of people.

Think about it....

They lie about there own regulations to Congress.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

TSA Agent Brutally Rapes Woman

 

[Dennis Hultman]

Humiliates Woman with Prosthetic Breast

 

[Ana J.]

Did you hear about what they did to the four-year old?!?!?!?!?!

 

[Dennis Hultman]

TSA Agent laughs when she spills grandfather's ashes

Confrontation With TSA Agent Leaves Grandpa's Ashes On Floor
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/31224633/detail.html

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man's attempt to bring the ashes of his grandfather home to Indianapolis ended with an angry scene in a Florida airport, with the ashes spilled on the terminal floor.

John Gross, a resident of Indianapolis' south side, was leaving Florida with the remains of his grandfather -- Mario Mark Marcaletti, a Sicilian immigrant who worked for the Penn Central Railroad in central Indiana -- in a tightly sealed jar marked "Human Remains."

Gross said he didn't think he'd have a problem, until he ran into a TSA agent at the Orlando airport.

"They opened up my bag, and I told them, 'Please, be careful. These are my grandpa's ashes,'" Gross told RTV6's Norman Cox. "She picked up the jar. She opened it up.

"I was told later on that she had no right to even open it, that they could have used other devices, like an X-ray machine. So she opened it up. She used her finger and was sifting through it. And then she accidentally spilled it."

Gross says about a quarter to a third of the contents spilled on the floor, leaving him frantically trying to gather up as much as he could while anxious passengers waited behind him.

"She didn't apologize. She started laughing. I was on my hands and knees picking up bone fragments. I couldn't pick up all, everything that was lost. I mean, there was a long line behind me."

TSA rules say a crematory container in carry-on baggage must pass through the X-ray machine at the security checkpoint.

But the agency's own website says human remains are to be opened under, “no circumstances.”

"I want an apology,” said Gross. “I want an apology from TSA. I want an apology from the lady who opened the jar and laughed at me. I want them to help me understand where they get off treating people like this."

 

[Labinnah]

There's no background check. There is nothing... What people fail to realize is that we took a bunch of baggage handlers, You know like those multiple reports and news specials years ago of handlers streaming into work with nothing in their hands then leaving work with bags and bags of stuff they stole out of travelers suitcases. Well, we gave those people a nifty new title and a badge.

They gave themselves permission to go down you and your children's pants. They weren't law enforcement trained. They weren't schooled in the Law and Constitution. They were trained on regulations and given the ability to permit or deny travel. That's a lot of power to give to such a group of people.

Think about it....

They lie about there own regulations to Congress.

I just wanted to comment on this. I worked for TSA for a little over a year, and can say without a doubt, yes, there is a background check. A rather extensive one at that (it took me four months from application date to hire date with two home visits).

That being said, there are a number of reasons I (voluntarily) no longer work for TSA. Legally I'm not allowed to go into detail about what I opposed that cost me my job, but I think the thread speaks for itself as far as some of the major problems with the organization.

 

[Dennis Hultman]

http://www.examiner.com/article/tsa...f-passenger-illegally-confiscate-bagged-candy


TSA agents verbally abuse deaf passenger, illegally confiscate bagged candy

Like taking candy from a deafie. That sums up the policy exhibited this week by TSA airport screeners in Louisville toward an airline passenger. “Deafie,” should the term be unfamiliar, is evidently screenerspeak for deaf people.

The man had been in town for the biennial conference of the National Association of the Deaf and chronicled the agents’ antics on his blog, Tea & Theatre (h/t Reason). The entry, titled “(Deaf relevant) Why I will never be flying United or flying into/out of Louisville ever again,” begins:

It was a very public week-long event downtown, make no bones about it. As such, the shirt very clearly identified me as deaf.

While I was going through the TSA, some of them started laughing in my direction. I thought it might’ve been someone behind me, but I found out otherwise.

They went through my bag … and found a couple bags of candy I brought. I was told I wasn’t allowed to fly with that (wtf? I’ve flown with food before—these were even sealed still because I brought them right in the airport). I was then asked if I would like to donate the candy “to the USO.” Since I know the airport there has an Air National Guard base, and I figured it would go to the soldiers, I (annoyed) said sure, why not?

The guards, as I was getting scanned, started eating the candy they just told me was for the soldiers. In front of me, still laughing at me (very clearly now). One of them asked why they were laughing, and one of them came up to me, pointed at my shirt, laughed at me and said, “F***ing deafie.” The Louisville TSA called me a “f***ing deafie” and laughed at me because I was deaf, and they expected wouldn’t say anything back (or wouldn’t hear them). Make no bones about it—she was facing me and I read her lips. There was no mistake. I would later find out that they had called at least 4 other individuals the same thing. [Emphases in the original]

The TSA’s website is reasonably clear in its statement of policy on transporting food and beverages through security. Namely, it notes that “all food must go through the X-ray machine” and “must be wrapped or in a container.” It would appear that the blog writer’s candy met the requirements for being waved through. (I scoured the TSA website and couldn’t find its official policy toward “deafies,” so I will assume that the screeners in this particular case were improvising.)

The TSA has not responded to the allegations, but allow me to quote another sentence from the agency’s website that is regurgitated tediously often: “TSA takes all input very seriously and will respond promptly and appropriately to all complaints or comments.” The statement is generally followed by another by an agency spokesperson that reads, “TSA has reviewed the incident and determined that our officers followed proper screening procedures in [insert your complaint here].”

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TSA Agents Laugh At Deaf Man, Call Him “F***ing Deafie,” Steal His Candy
“You’re dumb deafies anyway so no one would believe you”

http://www.prisonplanet.com/tsa-agents-laugh-at-deaf-man-call-him-fing-deafie-steal-his-candy.html