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Someone needs to remind me: why do we have body scanners again?

While I was with TSA, I made it through DFW 7 times out of 10 tries with a .380ACP handgun concealed in my carry on bag. ALL of the screeners who let me get through were disciplined immediately, including one that was fired on the spot. In one case the person that was supervising the checkpoint was also disciplined.

I have kept in contact with many of my former TSA co-workers and those who still work there have told me that testing continues on the same basis almost continuously. Since this is common knowledge among the screeners it baffles me that they do not always stay on the alert for such a test, much less a terrorist. OTOH, the job is stultifying and screeners suffer the misplaced slings and arrows of blame from the unknowing, leading to a sense of uselessness which, feeding on itself, leads to a mind numbing state of sensory deprivation similar to that of being trapped in a small box with no air and no obvious means of egress. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy that screeners are, as I have heard said, "the dregs", "mere rent a cops", "cop wanna-bes" and so on. If that is the perception the public overlays on the screeners before they ever meet them, that is then the lens they will be viewed through, the benchmark by which they are judged, and there is nothing that can be done to change the prejudice, kind of like those who see CHL holders as potential criminals, cop wanna-bes, and vigilantes. I have yet to hear one person denigrate TSA screeners who has ever actually stood in their shoes.

"Wansley said covert testing by the TSA is commonplace -- although failing should be rare."

That's comforting.

jimlongley wrote:While I was with TSA, I made it through DFW 7 times out of 10 tries with a .380ACP handgun concealed in my carry on bag. ALL of the screeners who let me get through were disciplined immediately, including one that was fired on the spot. In one case the person that was supervising the checkpoint was also disciplined.

I have kept in contact with many of my former TSA co-workers and those who still work there have told me that testing continues on the same basis almost continuously. Since this is common knowledge among the screeners it baffles me that they do not always stay on the alert for such a test, much less a terrorist. OTOH, the job is stultifying and screeners suffer the misplaced slings and arrows of blame from the unknowing, leading to a sense of uselessness which, feeding on itself, leads to a mind numbing state of sensory deprivation similar to that of being trapped in a small box with no air and no obvious means of egress. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy that screeners are, as I have heard said, "the dregs", "mere rent a cops", "cop wanna-bes" and so on. If that is the perception the public overlays on the screeners before they ever meet them, that is then the lens they will be viewed through, the benchmark by which they are judged, and there is nothing that can be done to change the prejudice, kind of like those who see CHL holders as potential criminals, cop wanna-bes, and vigilantes. I have yet to hear one person denigrate TSA screeners who has ever actually stood in their shoes.

I don't judge the TSA screener in any of the ways that you described. A fellow who used to sail with me was one of the TSA supervisors at DFW when I went through screening there. I don't find any satisfaction in demeaning anyone who has difficult job, especially to their face.

No, my comment was about the scanners themselves. Based on everything that I've read, they appear to be a technological step backwards and, rather than improving security, they actually make finding things like guns more difficult. I hate the personal intrusion that results from them. Comrade Napolitano can sing their praises until the cows come home but she won't go through one. Stories like the one I posted are real life confirmation of what I've read. I'm sure that it is possible to breach security using the previous x-ray and metal detectors, too, but for the money spent on the back scatter devices they seem to come up short on many levels.

chasfm11 wrote:I don't judge the TSA screener in any of the ways that you described. A fellow who used to sail with me was one of the TSA supervisors at DFW when I went through screening there. I don't find any satisfaction in demeaning anyone who has difficult job, especially to their face.

Acknowledged, but many posters here do, and on several social networks, and even in the news media, but it's strictly uneducated tripe.

And then there was the ham radio round table that was bashing me (by virtue of my then current employment at TSA) while ignoring my attempts to reply. Haven't turned on my ham radios in years and one of these days would sell them to obtain another gun or six.