The Most Important Takeaways From the Ex-TSA Screener’s Exposé

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Insider confirms shocking level of corruption that infests federal agency

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
January 31, 2014

In an article for Politico Magazine, former TSA screener Jason Harrington exposed the endemic corruption which infests the federal agency, including how TSA workers laughed at naked images of passengers, targeted attractive women and harassed travelers who didn’t display the proper attitude.

Although most of his revelations were already known (we were labeled “conspiracy theorists” for saying the same thing), for guy who saw it with his own eyes every day from the inside to go public with this kind of information is huge. Given that Harrington’s article is lengthy, we’ve summarized the key points with relevant quotes from the piece below.tsa

– TSA agents laugh at naked body scanner images;

“Most of my co-workers found humor in the I.O. room on a cruder level. Just as the long-suffering American public waiting on those security lines suspected, jokes about the passengers ran rampant among my TSA colleagues.”

– TSA body scanners don’t work and are a huge waste of taxpayer money;

“We knew the full-body scanners didn’t work before they were even installed….Officers discovered that the machines were good at detecting just about everything besides cleverly hidden explosives and guns.”

– Jonathan Corbett’s video, which exposed how the body scanners could easily be fooled by placing an object in a sewn on side pocket, prompted the TSA to lie to the public while secretly changing their policy.

“Officially, the agency downplayed the Corbett video….Behind closed doors, supervisors instructed us to begin patting down the sides of every fifth passenger as a clumsy workaround to the scanners’ embarrassing vulnerability.”

– TSA workers are concerned about radiation emitted by x-ray body scanners;

“Many of my co-workers felt uncomfortable even standing next to the radiation-emitting machines we were forcing members of the public to stand inside. Several told me they submitted formal requests for dosimeters, to measure their exposure to radiation. The agency’s stance was that dosimeters were not necessary—the radiation doses from the machines were perfectly acceptable, they told us.”

– TSA workers deliberately target attractive women for enhanced screening;

“Then there was the infamous “guyspeak” in my “Insider’s TSA Dictionary.” One of the first terms I learned from fellow male TSA officers at O’Hare was “Hotel Papa,” code language for an attractive female passenger—“Hotel” standing for “hot,” and “Papa” for, well, use your imagination.”

– TSA agents punish people who don’t display the proper attitude with enhanced screening;

“We would also sometimes pull a passenger’s bag or give a pat down because he or she was rude. We always deployed the same explanation: “It’s just a random search.”

– Most TSA workers hate the TSA;

“Most TSA officers I talked to told me they felt the agency’s day-to-day operations represented an abuse of public trust and funds.”

– The TSA does not stop terrorists;

“I hinted several times on the blog that a determined terrorist’s best bet for defeating airport security would be to apply for a job with the TSA and simply become part of the security system itself. That assertion stemmed from personal experience.”

– The TSA is a monumental waste of money and has been incredibly harmful.

“As I saw it, $40 million in taxpayer dollars had been wasted on ineffective anti-terrorism security measures at the expense of the public’s health, privacy and dignity.”

20 COMMENTS

  1. The evil of religionists is that they support institutions that claim to be middlemen empowered by the Creator of this world to administer and rule over men on his behalf. It is the middlemen that I have issue with. The religionists also help propagate the New Eloi-type Christian. A dingbat goody-goody-clover bubble-gum-Christian that’s utterly worthless.

    There’s a pretty good movie called “The Book of Eli” that portrays the Christianity as the most potent war philosophy system known to man. Set in the near future, all bibles have been destroyed because they cause wars and fighting.

    Denzel Washington raises suspicions when he is able to quote from the bible chapter and verse. Does he have access to a bible? (IRL, Denzel is said to be one of the most powerful Christians in Hollywood. A healthy power of character, not as part of an organization of religulous men.)
    http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2008/09/The-12-Most-Powerful-Christians-in-Hollywood.asp

    The plot of the movie is about a post-apocalyptic struggle of a powerful politician to find a copy of the bible, because he knows that if he has it, he’ll become the most powerful politician in the world.

    Movie Spoilers for The Book of Eli
    http://www.themoviespoiler.com/Spoilers/bookofeli.html

  2. Patrick Henry’s father moved to America from Aberdeen, Scotland. He was an average man of the landed Colony of Virginia Gentry. His father sent him to school, and also tutored him at home, but Patrick was unsuccessful as a businessman.

    Patrick got married and his wife’s family gave him six slaves and a 300 acre farm so that he could start life successfully and be a good provider. He had six children with his wife, but they never did very well, and eventually his wife went insane and then she died.

    At age 41, he married his second wife, a 22 year old. He had 11 more children with her, and became a lawyer. His cousin gave him a 10,000 acre plantation to run. Again the soil was found to be to poor, and again the house burned to the ground. He also opened a mercantile store that failed.

    He was unable to farm the land at a profit, and the main house caught on fire and burned to the ground. Finally, he gave up productive pursuits, and completely devoted his energy to being a lawyer

    In one case he delivered an impassioned speech that denounced clerics who challenged Virginia’s laws as “enemies of the community” and any king who annulled good laws, as “tyrants” who “forfeit all right to his subject’s obedience”.

    In 1765 Henry was elected to the House of Burgesses, the legislative body of the Virginia colony, to fill a vacated seat in the assembly. Nine days after being sworn in, Henry introduced the Virginia Stamp Act Resolutions, “in language so extreme that some Virginians said it smacked of treason”

    “It can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!” he said.

    His words were possibly the most anti-British American political action to that point, and some say his Resolutions were one of the main catalysts of the Revolution.

    The proposals were based on principles that were well-established British rights, such as the right to be taxed by one’s own representatives. They asserted that the colonial assemblies had the exclusive right to impose taxes on the colonies and could not assign that right.

    He also said: “Caesar had his Brutus; Charles the First his Cromwell; and George the Third – may he soon also have the same. If saying this be called a treason, then I propose we make the most of it!”

    Henry’s wife Sarah also went insane and was institutionalized. Because it was believed she was possessed by the devil, she was denied a funeral service or a Christian burial.

    Responding to pleas from Massachusetts that the colonies create teams of letter writers to coordinate their insurrection against the British, Henry took the lead in Virginia.

    In March 1773, along with Thomas Jefferson and Richard Henry Lee, Henry led the Virginia House of Burgesses to adopt resolutions providing for a standing committee of correspondence. Each colony set up such committees, and this led to the formation of the First Continental Congress in 1774, to which Henry was elected.

    As you can see from this list, there were 14 men who were effectively American “presidents” from 1774-1788 before General George Washington was ever installed as dictator, in a debtor and enemy led military-style coup.

    President of the Continental Congress
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_Continental_Congress

    • 1774-1788, no one ever talks about that, especially not history teachers. More-so even, the years before that, not until they touch on The Pilgrims and such.

      Interesting, that. For me, it sticks out more and more as time goes on.

      Also, his wife’s family gave him […] a 300 acre farm […] His cousin gave him a 10,000 acre plantation. Then, two wives went insane. Wow, talk about lucky and unlucky.

      But yeah, I caught this, “It can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!”

      That sure does run contrary to a lot of what I read, and I lot of what I was taught in gooberment co-ed prison, er I mean public school.

  3. The last time I flew commercial was during the TSA 1.0 days, when they made you take your shoes off and put everything in a bus pan so the bunglers could x-ray it and not find the contraband I accidentally packed right on top in my suitcase. When they added the voyeurmatics I decided I was done with commercial air travel, and I’ve stuck to it. Charter flights cost more than commercial and have to be planned farther in advance, but I’ll pay the extra price (and just fly a lot less in general) to avoid the garbage.

    • I alternate between hope and utter despair for the future. When I contemplate that millions of Americans not only put up with but approve of TSA submission training, I fall into a depressive fugue.

      How can people be such willing cattle? How can they not see where this will inevitably lead?

      • Why have millions of people walked calmly to the edge of the pit, to stand patiently waiting until they were murdered in cold blood? Did it never occur to ANY of them that even just running away might be a far better idea?

        I don’ t know. I am simply determined never to be one of them.

          • Perhaps, though it is hard to understand how people could be that way – standing naked by the ditch watching others be shot and shoved into the mass of dead, stinking bodies below. That’s about as THEM as it gets.

            I don’t know of any actual rabbits (or any other animal) that will not run away when the shooting starts. Even the most stupid animals retain the instinct to run, to survive. Mice, when cornered and threatened will bite a much larger and more powerful foe if they have the chance.

            The real problem is a lifetime of indoctrination into helplessness, into being mindless robots, never even considering their self ownership, their true self worth. They have been taught for many generations – by their religions (whether sky daddy or government), that they are of no worth unless it is conferred on them by the “rulers,” and that they have, ultimately, no legitimate right or power to defend themselves from any cruelty or death. The whole altruism evil…

            Fortunately, that spark of self worth, the instinct to fight and survive, continues in our genetic substrate regardless. It is there, though often not expressed. We must cultivate it and guard it the best we can. If it is ever bred out of human beings, we will cease to exist as a species.

      • @Eric–you know how much I vacillate, too.

        How can people be such willing cattle?

        Because they feel helpless–and it’s up to us to show them they’re NOT helpless!

        Here’s the psychology:

        “I hate this. Why do these TSA guys have to talk to me like this? Why do I have to take my shoes off?
        Well, there’s nothing I can do about it.
        subconscious mind: but you HATE this it’s humiliating, DO something!
        But there’s nothing I can do about it!
        subconscious: this is unbearable. DO something!
        I know–it’s for my safety! That’s it!

        And right there, the rationalization clears up the cognitive dissonance and the slave settles back into his comfy chains.

        But they don’t have to fight their way out of a TSA line using Brazilian ju-jitsu like Jason Bourne. All they have to do is reject the rationalization, and acknowledge again how WRONG it is.

        Everything else follows–avoiding it, speaking out against it in the moment, talking to others…and eventually, outright rebellion.

        But the key is to break that FIRST acceptance of slavery, to reintroduce the dissonance and show some fucking courage!

        • I’m 100% with Meth. I honestly don’t think people even realise they don’t *have to* submit to it. Whenever I don’t follow some “order” from one would-be governor or other, everybody around me is just stunned — not stunned because I’m clearly such a bad guy, but stunned because the idea of non-compliance honestly never even occurred to them.

          • “because the idea of non-compliance honestly never even occurred to them.”

            Ain’t that the truth.

            But at the same time, it’s a bit of a shock because you know half of them are probably like the guys I used to run with, they sure as heck weren’t domicile back then.

            Maybe it’s because the first in line stop those in the back from doing anything,… sometimes? (But that certainly doesn’t seem to explain things).

            For instance, I was at a four way stop light today. There were twenty cars in the oncoming lane and twenty cars behind me all stopped for this light. I looked to my right, to my left, no cars for as far as you could see. I waited a bit, then a bit more, and then said, “To heck with this” and went on my way.

            They All sat. I watched them in my rear-view mirror until they disappeared in the horizon, still sitting, all of them. …Yes, the light took That long to change.

      • Eric,
        People are desperate for leaders, but don’t like what leaders actually show them. They HATE the concpets of self-ownership – RESPONSIBILITY.
        (Can’t say I blame them, life is pretty shitty when all you have is responsibility, or obligations.)

        But, nothing new under the sun – poets, philosophers, and madmen have all told us the truth; we just must learn it again, every generation…
        ——————————————————————————–
        Conan: You killed my mother! You killed my father, you killed my people! You took my father’s sword!
        Thulsa Doom: Ah. It must have been when I was younger. There was a time, boy, when I searched for steel, when steel meant more to me than gold or jewels.
        Conan: The riddle… of steel?
        Thulsa Doom: Yes! You know what it is, don’t you, boy? Shall I tell you? It’s the least I can do. Steel isn’t strong boy, flesh is stronger! Look around you. There, on the rocks; that beautiful girl. [Points to a teenaged girl on a nearby cliff] Come to me, my child… [Beckons to her]
        [The acolyte plunges from the rock to her death.]
        Thulsa Doom: THAT is strength, boy! THAT is power! The strength and power of flesh! What is steel, compared to the hand that wields it? Look at the strength in your body, the desire in your heart, I gave you this! Such a waste… Contemplate this on the Tree of Woe. Crucify him!

        ——————————————————————————–

  4. Confirms what we already knew; can be summed up like the MasterCard ad
    Taxpayer dollars wasted: billions
    Passengers harrassed: millions
    Terrorists caught: ZERO!
    But there’s no better zombie than a govt. agency, the TSAholes are constantly trying to expand their reach so they can infest train stations and roadways too. All part of the PTB’s ultimate goal to monitor and control all of us serfs.

  5. Unprofessional behavior and worse from TSA officers? Say it isn’t so! But I can tell you why it happens.

    After 10 years as a state correctional officer, I had to leave in 2006 to become caregiver to my ailing mother and stepfather. After they both passed away, returning to corrections in 2009 was impossible because of a state hiring freeze; also my certifications had expired due to the passage of time, requiring me to start all over as a new officer. My record had been excellent, with numerous awards and honors, including becoming field training officer, but after the time passed that was all irrelevant. Time to move on.

    Much hubbub said that TSA was always hiring for officers’ slots, and an online check found this was true for the local large airport. The catch was that to get a full-time officer’s position required a full year of federal government civil service experience. Without that, it was necessary to start as an entry-level part-time officer, working for 30 hours a week with no benefits, making $12 per hour. (My pay in corrections had been about $15 per hour.) But when you’re unemployed in a bad economy, well, any port in a storm. I completed the application process in April 2010. After a year of working part-time, it would then be possible to seek full-time with benefits.

    By July 2010 I had passed the simulated screener test involving looking for stated items in baggage X-rays, and passed the background and other checks. From here the application was on hold. I really thought my prior corrections experience would get me hired sooner rather than later, but in the meantime I had to find something.

    In September 2010 I started as a temp working at an auto manufacturer’s local reman facility. Some were going to be hired by that company directly for a future expansion. Before he passed away late that year, my dad said he thought (as did I) it would be better to stay there if I received a full-time job offer than to work for TSA. The job offer followed in the spring of 2011 and I accepted it. Still there, happy, and busy. But no word from TSA anyway.

    Finally, long story short, in May 2012—two years after application—TSA offered me a job. Except that now the offer was for only 20 hours per week. Do the math: at $12 per hour that’s about $12,000 per year. Of course I turned it down.

    But stop and think about this: what kind of person are they going to get for $12,000 per year? That’s not a professional wage. That’s not even close to a living wage, ironic given that TSA is a government agency and the feds bleat about private employers not paying low-end workers a living wage.

    For that little bit of money (and no benefits, mind you) you get the dregs—and now they are required by law to buy health insurance on their own in the bargain since the part-time TSA officers get no bennies. Wouldn’t this go a long way toward explaining the bad publicity TSA gets? You get what you pay for.

    Similar situations occur in the private prisons used in various states. At the one some miles down the road from where I used to live, the highest pay for nonsupervisory officers was $10 per hour, or about $20,000 per year—peanuts considering the risk. We state officers heard numerous stories about security breaches, contraband smuggling, and the like about the private prison, all because the only people the operators could find for the low wages were bottom of the barrel (many rejected by state corrections after background check problems or misbehavior on the job). But the TSA employment schedule and pay are even worse, since the perp is a federal government agency.

    So color me not surprised at this exposé. It’s nothing that anyone with sense couldn’t have surmised would happen.

    • That’s fantastic.

      After they’re finished destroying the real economy with regulations–to stop the eeeevil CO2 warming the planet, and little girls from selling dangerous home-made cupcakes–they’ll salt the ground with fiat dollars to ruin the currency…

      …and all that will be left is scraps from the master’s table in the form of subsistence-level government “jobs”.

      Just like the old Soviets–“They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work!”

    • @ekrampitzjr – But think like a moocher instead of a productive. At 12K / year you qualify for free or near free Obamacare coverage, housing and food subsidies. Once that is in the bag you move on to state and local freebies and you won’t miss the next Judge Judy show.

    • All of this insanity is predicated on the presumed (and completely bogus) “authority” of government to do pretty much anything it wants to do. And one would have to believe in that “authority” in order to function as a part of the process. So, none of that would change if the government simply paid more.

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