The Security Mentor

The TSA is confiscating pumpkin pies. So we must really be safe, right?

Earlier this year a man on a flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Los Angeles brought a four-foot-long sword onto the airplane. Fellow passengers noticed when he had to get help from a flight attendant getting it into the overhead compartment.

Now, if one of the good guys is armed, the plane is actually safer ("You call that a knife? That's a box cutter. (Drawing sword) THIS is a knife!"). Still, that's not something you want flying around in turbulence, and any screener who could miss it...

The TSA has started action in response to the reports that Newark screeners missed 20 of 22 dangerous objects in field tests. What kind of action? I might have tried retraining, studying the break schedule to see if it is enough to let people stay alert, investigating new equipment and so on. But then, I'm a security professional. The TSA is taking action to track down the person who leaked the test results to the press. An entire investigation team went to Newark to identify the leaker. Employees were warned that jail time is a possibility.

In case you've forgotten, Newark was the originating airport for Flight 93.