Harding to head TSA
March 8th, 2010 | Homeland Security | Posted by Stephen Losey
UPDATE: The White House has formally announced Harding’s selection. From President Obama’s statement:
I am confident that Bob’s talent and expertise will make him a tremendous asset in our ongoing efforts to bolster security and screening measures at our airports. I can think of no one more qualified than Bob to take on this important job, and I look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead.
ORIGINAL POST: CNN and other news organizations are reporting that the White House is going to tap retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding to head the Transportation Security Administration. Under the Clinton administration, Harding was director of operations at the Defense Intelligence Agency and director of intelligence for the Army’s Southern Command.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is expected to announce Harding’s selection later today.
Tags: Robert Harding, TSA
Banjos, Claymore mines and TSA love
February 25th, 2010 | Homeland Security | Posted by Stephen Losey
I was listening to Sirius XM’s alt-country station last night and heard what is surely the only banjo-driven love song ever written about a Transportation Security Administration screener: “TSA” by Texas musician Danny Barnes.
In the live clip below, Barnes says that his banjo brings him a lot of scrutiny from TSA because, apparently, its body is about the right size to hide a Claymore mine. And all the quality time he spent with airport screeners inspired lyrics like “her hair in a bun/her hand on her gun/we made love with the radio on.”
Being both a federal government reporter and a pretty amateurish banjo player, I got a kick out of this song. But the line about his TSA sweetheart’s “good paycheck [helping] to seal the deal” is a dead giveaway that Mr. Barnes has never heard federal unions talk about the PASS system.
Student sues government over TSA, FBI actions
February 11th, 2010 | Agencies Justice Transportation Security Administration | Posted by Rebecca Neal
A Pennsylvania college student sued the federal government Wednesday, saying that TSA and FBI officials detained him at an airport because he was carrying a set of English-Arabic flashcards, reports The Washington Post.
Nicholas George, 22, of Montgomery County, Pa., is a senior majoring in physics and Middle Eastern studies at California’s Pomona College. In his lawsuit, he argues that he was detained for five hours in August at the Philadelphia airport because three Transportation Security Administration officers, two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and two Philadelphia police officers were suspicious of his flashcards and semester studying abroad in the Middle East. George’s lawsuit states that the detainment was a violation of his constitutional rights to free speech and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.
The Post quotes an anonymous source who said the questioning of George was based on officers’ observations of George’s behavior:
A federal official familiar with the matter, discussing the case on the condition of anonymity, said that TSA officers observed “anomalous” behavior by George before he entered the checkpoint. The official said his “erratic” conduct escalated upon screening and, along with other unspecified factors, that led officers to call police to investigate further.
Under questioning, George said he was not a “terrorist, a communist, a Muslim or a member of any campus ‘pro-Islamic group,’” at which point FBI agents told him he was not a threat and let him go.
Contractors dream of TSA dollars
January 26th, 2010 | Agencies Transportation Security Administration | Posted by Rebecca Neal
The Christmas Day underpants bomber has spurred contractors to create security devices they hope may be deployed in airports across the country, reports the Los Angeles Times today.
Security companies are scrambling to develop devices to sniff for explosives, screen shoes and analyze liquids in bottles. They’re all hoping for a piece of the Transportation Security Administration’s $1 billion in stimulus funding: $700 million to improve baggage screening and $300 million for detection of explosives on passengers.
And it’s not just contractors striving to create new machines. The Homeland Security Department’s science and technology directorate’s New Jersey laboratory tests and develops new technologies that may find their way to your airport, the article reports. Scientists are working on a device that can smell explosives, much like bomb-sniffing dogs.
Said spokesman John Verrico:
There are a lot of things we are looking at that are not ready for prime time. A lot of it may not even work.”
Tags: TSA
TSA subpoenas bloggers over leak
December 31st, 2009 | Agencies Homeland Security | Posted by Rebecca Neal
The Transportation Security Administration has served subpoenas to two travel bloggers who posted a Christmas Day airport security directive after the attempted downing of a U.S.-bound plane.
TSA special agents served the subpoenas to Steve Frischling and Chris Elliott, demanding to know by today who leaked the security directive to them. The directive was not intended to be released to the public, TSA officials said.
The security directive, effective Dec. 25 to Dec. 30, outlined checkpoint and on board security measures, including pat downs of all passengers at boarding gates and no bathroom visits on board planes within an hour of landing.
Frischling, author of the blog Flying with Fish, said two TSA officials came to his house Dec. 29 and Dec. 30 and served him with the subpoena. They also took his laptop, according to a post on his blog. He declined to give any details as to why and how TSA officials took his laptop.
Frischling said the security directive had no national security secrets and came to him through credible sources.
I read the document, was able to reference a second independent source who had the document, which verified the validity to me. Having read the document, there is no national security secret in the document, the bulk of the information was already available. The document was also transmitted to every airport and airline globally that has any direct flights to the US, thus the document was already outside ’secure hands.’”
Frischling told the Associated Press that he met with TSA agents on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and the laptop computer was taken on Wednesday. Frischling said the TSA agents threatened to interfere with his contract to blog for FLM Royal Dutch Airlines if he didn’t name who leaked him the security directive.
The subpoenas demand presentation of “all documents, emails, and/or faxsimile transmissions (sic) in your control possession or control concerning your receipt of TSA Security Directive 1544-09-06 dated December 25, 2009.” They are signed by Dan Kuntz, senior counsel for civil enforcement at TSA.
Tags: TSA
Turkeys can fly!
November 23rd, 2009 | Federal Travel Transportation Security Administration Uncategorized | Posted by Elise Castelli
Despite the experience of a certain Cincinnati radio station (see below), it turns out that turkeys can fly…just as long as they’re on an airplane.
That’s the word from TSA, which has posted a list of holiday travel tips on its blog. Turkeys are permitted carry on items. As are pies (mmm…pie). The complete list of food related dos and don’ts is as follows:
Foods: Pies are permitted, but they are subject to additional screening if our officers see any anomalies. (Additional screening of pies does not include our officers tasting the pie, no matter what they tell you…) Cakes, bread, donuts, turkeys, etc. are all permitted. If it’s a live turkey, you might want to have a word with the airline. Here is a list of items that should be placed in your checked bags or shipped: cranberry sauce, creamy dips and spreads (cheeses, peanut butter, etc.), gift baskets with food items (salsa, jams and salad dressings), gravy (mmm gravy), jams, jellies, maple syrup, oils and vinegars, sauces, soups, wine, liquor and beer.
For those of you who think turkeys can fly under their own power, please view the following regarding WKRP’s famed turkey drop (via YouTube).
We’re close to having TSA, OFPP leaders confirmed
November 19th, 2009 | Agencies Congress Homeland Security OMB | Posted by Rebecca Neal
Two critical federal leadership positions may soon be filled.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has unanimously approved Erroll Southers as administrator of the Transportation Security Administration and Daniel Gordon as administrator for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy. The committee approved both nominations by voice vote Nov. 19.
It’s unclear whether the Senate will vote on these, or any other nominations, before it recesses sometime next week for Thanksgiving. Both nominees are considered non controversial.
One step closer to OFPP, TSA administrators
November 3rd, 2009 | Congress Homeland Security OMB Procurement Transportation Security Administration | Posted by Elise Castelli
The Office of Management and Budget’s prospective procurement policy chief, Daniel Gordon, will face his first confirmation hurdle one week from today.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will quiz Gordon on his vision for the Office of Federal Procurement Policy at 10 a.m. on Nov. 10. Gordon is slated to have his confirmation quiz alongside the president’s choice to lead the Transportation Security Administration, Erroll Southers.
Check in with FedLine and FederalTimes.com that day for complete coverage.
Tags: Daniel Gordon, Erroll Southers, OFPP, TSA
TSA screeners could move back to General Schedule
July 7th, 2009 | Transportation Security Administration | Posted by Stephen Losey
The House Homeland Security Committee plans to mark up a bill on Thursday that would kill the Transportation Security Administration’s Performance Accountability and Standards System. In its place, HR 1881 would move roughly 45,000 screeners to the General Schedule system most federal employees are currently under.
Unions criticize the PASS pay-for-performance system as unfair, and say it is driving many screeners to leave TSA.
The bill would also grant collective bargaining rights to screeners, also known as transportation security officers. This would likely set off a battle between the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union to formally represent TSA. Unions are already jockeying for position to prepare for this vote.
Matt Dennis, a spokesman for Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said he’s optimistic that the bill will come for a vote before the full House. But Dennis was far from certain, and acknowledged that it’s hard to predict what will happen before Congress takes a recess later this summer. The bill now has no Senate companion.
Tags: General Schedule, PASS, screeners, TSA
House approves TSA bill, amendment
June 4th, 2009 | Congress Transportation Security Administration | Posted by Rebecca Neal
The House adopted an amendment to the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act to allow TSA employees to voluntarily wear protective equipment during a public health emergency.
The House passed the amendment by voice vote Thursday during floor debate on the bill, HR 2200. The House later passed the bill 397-25.
The amendment, offered by Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., would allow workers to wear surgical and N95 masks and gloves and use hand sanitizer during an emergency. The amendment was spurred by departmental reactions to the recent H1N1 flu outbreak.
Unions pushed the Homeland Security Department to allow TSA and Customs and Border Protection employees to wear masks and gloves and use hand sanitizers during this spring’s swine flu outbreak.
Anecdotal stories showed some employees were told to take off masks and gloves when the outbreak started in mid-April; DHS issued guidance allowing employees to wear masks at the end of April.
No vote has been scheduled yet in the Senate on HR 2200.