More Security Issues Uncovered At South Florida Airports

[Billy Burnett]

More Security Issues Uncovered At South Florida Airports
IDs Being Checked By Janitorial Service Employees, Not Security Personnel

The people who ask you for photo IDs and boarding passes at both of our major airports are not Transportation Security Administration employees. They are sub-contractors hired by the airlines. If you didn't know that, you aren't alone -- Jilda found out that even some members of our congressional delegation thought that the TSA was in control of all checkpoints.

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After seeing video of ID checkers accepting a 30-year-old picture ID, a VISA credit card, and even five WPLG station IDs made using a Poloroid camera, Diaz-Balart said, "It's hard to believe that it's going on at this level."

Jilda says an even bigger shock was finding out that the company handling the ID checks for Delta at Terminal No. 2 at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport is a janitorial service that is headquartered out of Orlando.

Jilda found out Monday that 10 years ago the janitorial service, Kanon Service, Inc. -- or Kannon Associated Services -- was fined $56,000 by the federal government for hiring illegal aliens.

Since ID checkers aren't considered security personnel by the state of Florida, they don't have to be licensed -- meaning criminal background checks aren't required.

More.... http://www.local10.com/news/4738641/detail.html

[rexcat]

1. It is the rare airport in the US where a TSA screener...

reviews the boarding pass and photo ID. I fly every week and the TSA screening is just window dressing for the inexperienced fliers. Every six months the TSA will release information stating that they are doing no better than prior to 9/11. It is usually buried in the 6th or 7th page of the newspaper.

The photo ID matching the boarding pass is useless exercise. What counts is what gets by the TSA screeners and who can get access to the tarmac at the airport. A determined terrorist won't be stopped by the idiots who work for the TSA. The crew and passengers will stop any terrorist, that is why the scenario of 9/11 is highly unlikely.

[DELUSIONAL]

2. I have to agree

The check points are merely "window dressing for inexperienced fliers".

I grew up on secure military bases -- and got used to professionals on the gates. In no sense of the word are the TSA "professionals" -- although there has been a slight improvement since the early days of post 9-11.

What I have seen is deliberate intimidation of airline passengers by people who aren't trained to do the job. I just keep my mouth shut and do what I'm told --

but I KNOW that we aren't any "safer" -- and the flying public is being bamboozled.

There are so many holes in the security net -- and if I were to think seriously about the ways the bad guys can sneak something into the hold of an airline I would never fly. Plus all the container ships that arrive at major ports -- a very small percentage are being searched.

Meanwhile a handicapped 78 year old friend of mine had her boobs searched by a TSA ding-bat who had no idea what the hell she was doing.

[r0x0r Mc0wnage]

3. Yeah

It is a fascade to dupe the masses into a false sense of security. It makes a plot just difficult enough to discourage a sizable portion of would-be bombers, but with some research I'm pretty sure it could still be done.

One thing in particular struck me as odd the last time I flew. At the checkpoint for my gate I was asked to take off my shoes and put them on the belt to be x-rayd before steping through the metal detector and chemical sniffer. What could I have in my shoes that the metal/chem detector would not pick up, that I could not keep in my pocket or taped to my body?

Either there is actualy a valid answer to that question, or the shoe thing was an act.

[rexcat]

5. I recently went through the Tampa airport...

and they have one line that has a chemical sniffer. I got picked to go through the line with the chemical sniffer. What was strange is I had to take my shoes off, go through the chemical sniffer then go through the magnetometer. It made no sense since the x-ray machine does not detect chemicals, such as explosives. It just proved the stupidity of the TSA and their personnel to me.

[newyawker99]

7. Hi r0x0r Mc0wnage!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Judi Lynn]

4. The Miami International Airport has made a real name for itself!

From a Miami New Times article:

Shortly after the attacks, I wrote a series titled "Admitting Terror" that documented how Immigration and Naturalization Service officials at MIA consistently broke laws and failed to properly inspect foreign travelers, including other suspected terrorists. One finding was a 1999 directive issued by assistant INS port director Henry Aponte about people who overstay their visas, called "7A's" in bureaucratic parlance: "Please stay away from 7A cases!!!!" Aponte wrote. "Case closed!!" Aponte's exclamatory order contradicted immigration law, which held that overstays -- like Mohamed Atta and fellow September 11 conspirator Marwan al-Shehhi -- lose their visas.

The INS had fallen prey to political pressure that stemmed from huge lobbying campaigns by the airline and travel industries to facilitate speedy international air travel at the expense of proper enforcement. "Until 9/11 nobody took immigration security all that seriously," says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., a conservative group that pushes for reduced immigration levels. "It was seen more as an obstacle or irritant than a security tool, and I'm afraid that two years later a lot of political forces that opposed border enforcement are starting to creep back. Things have changed some, but not nearly enough."

One might think that September 11 would have led to an overhaul of the agency's leadership. Didn't happen. Take Aponte, for example. The official who ordered his underlings to ignore the law is still in power. How about Ramon Rosario, the supervisor on the night of Atta's January 2001 entry? He's still a supervisor. Robert Wilson, the inspector who stamped Atta's visa on January 10, is no longer an inspector, though. Rest easy -- he's been promoted to supervisor. John Bulger, the port director who oversaw the giant mess, is still in a position of power at MIA as well; he's the interim Miami district director for the new Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The only one drummed out of the agency, it seems, is whistleblower José Touron, a dedicated agent and union leader who did his best to expose the problems. Touron is appealing his termination, which came after he refused to escort an INS prisoner at the airport without security measures -- which included handcuffs for the suspect and back-up officers.
(snip/...)

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2003-09-11/news/metro2.html

[Mika]

6. TSA doesn't check IDs. They are subcontracted by the airlines

From the lead post,

The people who ask you for photo IDs and boarding passes at both of our major airports are not Transportation Security Administration employees. They are sub-contractors hired by the airlines.