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Poll Aside, TSA is Not OK

Tuesday August 28th, 2012   •   Posted by K. Lloyd Billingsley at 12:28pm PDT   •   10 Comments

A majority of Americans approves of the Transportation Safety Authority, according to a recent Gallup poll. A full 54 percent of Americans say the TSA is doing an excellent or good job and 30 percent rating the TSA as only “fair.” Only 12 percent of Americans, according to the poll, said the TSA was doing a poor job. Those over 65 are 49 percent negative toward the TSA, while those 18-29 approve by a rate of 67 percent. These numbers are being spun as a strong vote of confidence in the TSA but the poll is hardly the whole story.

TSA abuse has prompted congressional hearings and Rep. Marsha Blackburn has compiled list of the TSA’s 50 most dangerous officers, who “would never have passed a simple background check” and “are not only abusing their public positions but they are using their jobs to commit federal crimes against the very public they are sworn to protect.” A TSA security screening supervisor at the Newark airport, for example, “has admitted accepting bribes and kickbacks from a co-worker who stole money from passengers during security screening.” Offenses for which the TSA officers were arrested include theft, assault, rape and child pornography.

Aside from criminal concerns the TSA represents an expansion of a federal government already too big and intrusive. The 50,000 security officers, inspectors, directors, air marshals and managers get the federal pension and benefits package. They are members of a government employee union and the president supports their collective bargaining rights. The TSA injury and illness rate is nearly six times that of other federal workers.

Major airports are dumping the TSA for private screeners who work particularly well according to the director of aviation for Kansas City. To change schedules or add workers, he no longer has to wait for approval from the TSA’s Washington office. Private security has also been a success in other major airports. One flyer told reporters, “It’s been awesome in San Francisco. They get travelers through faster, they do a better job finding test devices, and the morale is better than the TSA.”

Sacramento will soon become the third-largest airport to drop the TSA for private screeners. Such decisions might be a better report card for the TSA than the recent Gallup poll.



10 Responses to “Poll Aside, TSA is Not OK”

  1. Poll Aside, TSA is Not OK « lessbull.com says:
    August 28, 2012 at 12:32 pm

    [...] full post on MyGovCost | Government Cost Calculator August 28th, 2012 | Tags: Aside, Poll | Category: Of [...]

  2. Bob Jones says:
    August 28, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    There is something that we can learn from many European countries. Engage private and professionally trained security screeners under the oversight of the local airport police, or border protection. No big government, and a much higher level of competence and personal accountability among the screeners, who can easily be replaced if found lacking in both capability and professionalism.

    The TSA (and the entire DHS for that matter) are great examples of how panic and fear can drive extremely poor policy decisions. More intelligent and responsible leadership on the political side, could have avoided this disastrous policy implemented by the Bush administration.

  3. Dau Tieng 59 says:
    August 28, 2012 at 4:05 pm

    They must be people, who don’t fly.

  4. Paul says:
    August 28, 2012 at 4:21 pm

    Remove the TSA and DHS.

  5. Terry Derwitsch says:
    August 28, 2012 at 5:02 pm

    The TSA was implemented by the Bush administration. That is true. Bush held off on the heftier train station and highway TSA and many other intrusive stipulations against American citizens in the Patriot Act. He reserved those til this year; to be implemented if we were under more terrorist threat than we were then. We are not. Obama passed it anyway diluting our Constitutional freedom further out of pure choice, NOT necessity. Let’s give all credit where credit is due shall we? And let’s open our eyes to what is really at stake, before it’s too late. Abolishing the TSA is my number one triage pick for restoring America to greatness.

  6. Fisher1949 says:
    August 29, 2012 at 4:26 am

    The Gallup poll results show that most Americans think TSA is useless in protecting them. The poll says that 58% found TSA less than effective. Since security effectiveness is their only responsibility how can this be construed as favorable for TSA? Six out of ten Americans know that TSA is a sick joke.

    In the past two months 35 TSA workers fired or arrested and 66 more disciplined for misconduct. Two more were arrested in the past week for theft from passengers and assault with a handgun. A known pedophile, Thomas Harkins, was exposed two months ago but remains employed as a TSA Supervisor in Philadelphia (CBS 3 Philadelphia 5/24/12).

    There were a total of 98 TSA workers arrested in the past 20 months including 12 arrested for child sex crimes, over 26 for theft, 12 for smuggling drugs and guns through security and one for murder. This month two more screeners were indicted for smuggling drugs and guns through security making this the fourth incident in a year and a half.

    The failure of elected officials to reform this agency and media irresponsibility permits these abuses to occur and ultimately puts the lives of passengers and crew at risk.

  7. Al Chafin says:
    August 29, 2012 at 6:47 am

    I think the TSA should be replaced with private security screeners working for the airports. The TSA (under one union) could hold the entire country hostage, should they decide to strike. It would shut down all are travel!!! There should NOT be ANY public sector unions!!!!

  8. Fisher1949 says:
    August 31, 2012 at 1:38 pm

    The Gallup poll results show that most Americans think TSA is useless in protecting them. The poll says that 58% found TSA less than effective. Since security effectiveness is their only responsibility how can this be viewed as favorable for TSA?

    Gallup said that 54% of Americans “think” TSA does a decent job while 44% don’t think they do a good job, hardly a ringing endorsement.

    TSA allows a known pedophile, Thomas Harkins to remain employed as a TSA Supervisor in Philadelphia giving him access to search children. What kind of agency turns a known sex offender loose on children?

    In the past three months 35 TSA workers were fired or arrested and 66 more disciplined for misconduct. There were 98 TSA workers arrested in the last 20 months including 12 arrested for child sex crimes, over 26 for theft, 12 for smuggling contraband through security and one for murder.

  9. 11 Years Later, We May Have Lost Our Freedoms, But At Least TSA is Keeping Us Safe...Oops—FAIL! | The Beacon says:
    September 11, 2012 at 12:01 am

    [...] Eleven years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Americans are subjected daily to humiliation, not to mention extreme inconvenience, by the “security” measures instituted by the grand new agency created to ensure such horrors would occur “never again”: the Department of Homeland Security and its favorite youngest child, the Transportation Security Agency (TSA). We have been assured that these measures are keeping us safe, and apparently a majority of the American public buys it. [...]

  10. Anon says:
    October 10, 2012 at 4:28 pm

    “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.”

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