Tag: TSA

Trump retweets QAnon conspiracy theorist, via Larry the Cable Guy, to slam the TSA

From a QAnon conspiracy theorist to actor James Woods to comedian Larry the Cable Guy to the leader of the free world. Thus travels information in the age of Twitter and President Trump, who took a late-night swing at a familiar punching bag — the Transportation Security Administration — via a nearly two-year-old video spread by a character on the far fringes of the Internet.

“Not a good situation!” Trump tweeted on Tuesday just before midnight about the clip of a young man subjected to a very thorough pat-down by a TSA agent. Continue reading “Trump retweets QAnon conspiracy theorist, via Larry the Cable Guy, to slam the TSA”

TSA mulls a plan to eliminate security checkpoints at 150 smaller airports

The following article by Ashley Halsey III was posted on the Washington Post website August 2, 2018:

In this June 29, 2018, file photo, people wait in line to check in at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. Credit: John Locher, AP, File

Security checkpoints would be eliminated at more than 150 smaller U.S. airports under a plan being considered by the Transportation Security Administration. Passengers would instead be screened when they arrived at larger airports after their initial flight.

The idea was first floated by the TSA two years ago and was seen then by critics as a transparent effort to get Congress to spend additional money on the agency.

“This is completely nuts,” said Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation and an aviation expert. “Perhaps they want an outcry from the public to say ‘Oh, no, no, no, Congress, give them the additional $115 million that they say this would save.’ ”

View the complete article here.

Air marshals have conducted secret in-flight monitoring of U.S. passengers for years

The following article by Missy Ryan and Ashley and Halsey III was posted on the Washington Post  website July 29, 2018:

Credit: Bonnie Henderson via Morguefile.com

Federal air marshals have for years been quietly monitoring small numbers of U.S. air passengers and reporting on in-flight behavior considered suspicious, even if those individuals have no known terrorism links, the Transportation Security Administration said on Sunday.

Under a sensitive, previously undisclosed program called “Quiet Skies,” the TSA has since 2010 tasked marshals to identify passengers who raise flags because of travel histories or other factors and conduct secret observations of their actions — including behavior as common as sweating heavily or using the restroom repeatedly — as they fly between U.S. destinations.

The Boston Globe first revealed the existence of the Quiet Skies program on Sunday. In response to questions, TSA spokesman James O. Gregory offered more details of the program’s origins and goals, comparing it to other law enforcement activities that ask officers to closely monitor individuals or areas vulnerable to crime.

View the complete article here.

To fund border wall, Trump administration weighs cuts to Coast Guard, airport security

The following article by Dan Lamonthe, Ashley Halsey III and Lisa Rein was posted on the Washington Post website March 7, 2017:

The Trump administration, searching for money to build the president’s planned multibillion-dollar border wall and crack down on illegal immigration, is weighing significant cuts to the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and other agencies focused on national security threats, according to a draft plan.

The proposal, drawn up by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), also would slash the budget of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provides disaster relief after hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters. The Coast Guard’s $9.1 billion budget in 2017 would be cut 14 percent to about $7.8 billion, while the TSA and FEMA budgets would be reduced about 11 percent each to $4.5 billion and $3.6 billion, respectively. Continue reading “To fund border wall, Trump administration weighs cuts to Coast Guard, airport security”