So much for Homeland Security...

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NEW YORK - Reporters investigating airport security were able to smuggle small knives and pepper spray through checkpoints at 11 U.S. airports during the U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The reporters carried utility knives, rubber-handled razor knives, a pocket knife, a corkscrew, razor blades and pepper spray through every airport security checkpoint they encountered, the Daily News newspaper said.

CBS News crews also tested security screeners last week, although they did not attempt to smuggle banned items through checkpoints. They carried bags lined with lead to block X-rays and sailed past about 70 percent of screeners at several airports nationwide.

"They're impossible to miss, and yet they just continually let it go," said Steve Elson, who used to check security for the Federal Aviation Administration and helped with the CBS investigation.

The Daily News said guards X-rayed and hand-searched its reporters' bags, asked them to remove their shoes and checked photo identifications, but did not find the banned items.

The airports included the four at which the terrorists boarded flights on Sept. 11 last year: Newark International, Boston's Logan International, Washington Dulles International and Portland International Jetport in Maine, the News said.

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Entire piece here

Check out this link on Homeland Paranoia....I mean Security...It's good for a laugh!

Sad that the new security measures haven't had any major effect... I thought if terrorists were going to stage another attack it would be prudent to try some other avenue, but they may as well just try the ol' plane thing again... unless of course, you get your bags checked more thoroughly if you're Arab :)

It figures.On FNC there was an elderly women who had metal grommets on tubes she had implanted in her breasts for chemotharapy to fight breast cancer,(She had all her medical papers with her and everything)and she got strip searched and the whole 9 yards,and many other cases of needless harassment.When a simulated real threat comes along,they just walk right through.If the government's going to spend all these tax dollars on screening machines and man power,maybe they could try machines that work and paying halfway competent people to do the job.This isn't a damn pizza delivery service they're running.There's lives at stake.Security has to be smarter than the people trying to get past it.Once one person finds a weakspot it's just a matter of a couple phone calls and every plane in that particular airport can have a terrorist on it.Many times the media can be a big pain in the ass,but they seem to be on the ball with the airport security.Hopefully the gov't will take notice of the problem before the turn of the next century.

The operators need to be educated on the equiptment and methods that they are using. In this case, the need for user education and user attentiveness is something that should not be overlooked here. Even the best equiptment out there can be operated poorly if someone isn't paying attention. Even though I'm sure that some of the security checkers are quite good, there is still the general rule of "pay peanuts --> get mokeys"

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Originally posted here by garrion
"pay peanuts --> get mokeys" [/B]

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...that's too funny! I've never heard that one before. :) It's true though. I watched a few interviews on the news about how ex-criminals were being hired, even people on probation. I guess they get what they pay for, especially if they don't invest the time and money for proper training. Airport security is nothing to play with, even more so nowadays.

This has sickened me every since "Homeland Security" was initiated. I mean, have you seen the people they have running these screenings? Its bad, it usually involves an individual with a platinum grill, a few gold chains, and Braids. Now, I think if we want our airports truly secure, we need profesional screeners. Not some blunt smoking stoner, who passed the drug test by using a "Toxin Remover". Not that I am bashing stoners, I am just saying National Security shouldnt be handled by "thugs", it should be handled by Federal Agents. People that understand and care about the situation at hand.

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Originally posted here by Dr Toker
This has sickened me every since "Homeland Security" was initiated. I mean, have you seen the people they have running these screenings? Its bad, it usually involves an individual with a platinum grill, a few gold chains, and Braids. Now, I think if we want our airports truly secure, we need profesional screeners. Not some blunt smoking stoner, who passed the drug test by using a "Toxin Remover". Not that I am bashing stoners, I am just saying National Security shouldnt be handled by "thugs", it should be handled by Federal Agents. People that understand and care about the situation at hand.

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Gosh... I'm not sure what's scarier, the prospect of a government big-brother agency which does it's job really well, or an agency that does it really badly... I guess they want to compromise and do both :)

I wonder... hypothetically speaking, if you were to operate an X-ray machine, would the private sector pay better?

Quick disclaimer, I am speaking in generalizations and in no way mean to address every security screener (I am sure there a several good and qualified screeners who take their jobs seriously, I just have met precious few of them...)

Hmmm, one thing I haven' t seen mentioned is the fact that a good majority of the current federal screeners are the same exact people who were there before their jobs were federalized. Same people that were making the same mistakes, so suprise suprise suprise, creating a huge new bureaucracy with the same incompetent people made no difference...

Until the feds decide to take it seriously and require a little bit of competency at the position instead of the revolving door of often undermotivated/undereducated/underfunded people that currently fill many positions, I wouldn't expect anything to change, no matter how much the gov takes over...How bout a real well-thoughtout plan instead of knee jerk, sound good, feel good response for a change ?

Neb