TSA

The Touch, Squeeze, and Assault Transportation Security Administration is a shitty display of security theater, which does nothing to make us safer while simultaneously violating everyone who wants to ride a plane (this is why we need high speed rail, people; though that doesn't necessarily mean it's safer[1]). It's known for massively overreacting to everything, having never stopped a terrorist attack. In other words, it's a useless funnel of our money, and yet another example of our wasteful response to 9/11. Liberal[2][3] and conservative[4][5] sources agree that the TSA sucks. It has been noted for being not cost-effective, overspending, and a waste of taxpayer money.[6][7]

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Effectiveness

A 2001 paper[6] found that it's questionable that the TSA helps to prevent similar terrorist attacks to 9/11. The TSA director was reassigned in 2015 due to his administration failing to detect fake bombs and weapons in a test by the Department of Homeland Security 95% of the time.[8] The US GAO (Government Accountability Office) actually had to step in to make suggestions that the TSA actually provide accurate and sufficient data on performance.[9]

TSA's SPOT program has been found to be ineffective by GAO[10] and Nature.[11] The SPOT program has been criticized as racial profiling by the ACLU.[12]

Body scanners used by the TSA, the Rapiscan Secure 1000 full-body scanner, are not good at catching contraband or illegal weapons and can easily be bypassed.[13] The TSA has ended their contract with the maker of Rapiscan body scanners in 2013 due to the privacy risk posed by the machines.[14] Another body scanner, the millimeter-wave machine has regular false positives; it can mistake sweat as weaponry.[15] X-ray body scanners might increase cancer risk.[16] These scanners have been banned in European countries.[16] Finally the TSA removed the X-ray body scanners in 2013.[17]

Sexual assault and harassment
See the main article on this topic: Rape

Two TSA screeners were fired for a sexual assault scheme against men in 2015.[18] A former TSA employee stated that sexual assaults against passengers was common.[19] At LaGuardia Airport, 2015, a TSA agent was arrested for sexual assaulting a woman.[20] A female TSA employee's criminal charges over sexual assault at the Denver International Airport were dropped in 2014.[21]

Rapiscan body scanners gave TSA agents low-res naked photos of screened passengers to inspect for weapons.[14] It was normal for TSA officers to share low-res nudes of passengers without consent.[22]

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) had to write a guide for victims of sexual assault regarding the TSA.[23] Angela T. Rye, a journalist filmed her frightening pat down where the TSA agent was very close to grabbing her private parts.[24] Aida Rodriguez, a rape victim has said that the TSA pat down made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.[25] Sarah Beaulieu, a survivor of sexual assault, broke down in tears when faced with the prospect of a TSA screening.[26] Gina Miller has recounted her sexual assault by a TSA agent.[27]

In 2010, a new pat-down method included breast and buttocks groping, and examining genitals.[28] In 2017, the TSA introduced a new even-more invasive pat-down method, of which they warned police departments about increased complaints.[29]

Neglect of duty
+This section requires expansion.

All seven master keys used to unlock luggage were cracked in 2015 and the TSA doesn't seem to care.[30]

It took seven years for the TSA to finally respond to a journalist's Freedom of Information Act request.[31] The TSA disclosed data on passenger complaints, four years after the data was requested.[32]

gollark: Which would work but be excessive since you only need 1 bit per number.
gollark: Products of primes?
gollark: > and through the magic of mathematical properties of certain numbers, the state for thousands of bills can be stored in a single integer… bitfields?
gollark: I guess you could be more bitcoin™ and have a public transaction registry.
gollark: Hmm, so I actually can't verify a bill without having to contact the citronoserver since I don't know if it was spent?

Their social media:

References
  1. The High-Speed Rail Attack in France: What are the security challenges for protecting rail systems? (Aug 26, 2015, 12:11 ET) Mineta Transportation Institute.
  2. Airport Security: Astoundingly Expensive and 95 Percent Ineffective by Kriston Capps. CityLab
  3. Acting TSA director reassigned after screeners failed tests to detect explosives, weapons by Eric Bradner and Rene Marsh CNN
  4. The TSA Was and Is a Gigantic Mistake by Brittany Hunter. Foundation for Economic Education
  5. TSA Boondoggles: High Costs, Low Effectiveness, But It's Only Your Money by George Leef Forbes
  6. Assessing the Risks, Costs and Benefits of United States Aviation Security Measures by M.G. Stewart and J. Mueller
  7. The Naked Truth about TSA Spending by Chris Edwards CATO Institute
  8. TSA Director Reassigned in Wake of Security Failures by Justin Fishel and Mike Levine ABC
  9. Aviation Security PDF GAO
  10. Aviation Security: TSA Should Limit Future Funding for Behavior Detection Activities GAO
  11. Intent to deceive? PDF Nature
  12. TSA Refusing to Release Documents About Spot Program’s Effectiveness, Racial Profiling Impact ACLU
  13. Security Analysis of a Full-Body Scanner PDF
  14. TSA ends contract with Rapiscan, maker of full-body scanner by Hugo Martin LA Times
  15. Sweating Bullets: Body Scanners Can See Perspiration as a Potential Weapon by Michael Grabell and Christian Salewski. Propublica
  16. U.S. Government Glossed Over Cancer Concerns As It Rolled Out Airport X-Ray Scanners by Michael Grabell Propublica
  17. TSA Removes X-Ray Body Scanners from Airports by Mark Schoofs Propublica
  18. Two TSA Officers Fired for Scheme to Grope Attractive Men at Denver Airport by Andrew Blankstein and Phil Helsel. NBC News
  19. Former TSA Agent: Groping Scandal Is Business as Usual by Jason Edward Harrington. Time
  20. TSA agent accused of sexual assault at LaGuardia CBS News
  21. No Criminal Charges Against TSA Agent Over Pat-Down At DIA CBS Local
  22. 8 Things You Don't (Want To) Know About TSA Checkpoints by Robert Evans and Anonymous Cracked
  23. Airport Security for Survivors RAINN
  24. Dear TSA: The country is not safer because you grab vaginas by Angela T. Rye CNN
  25. TSA Body Search Leaves CNN’s Angela Rye In Tears 3:16 The Young Turks
  26. What TSA Screenings Mean For Sexual Assault Survivors by Sarah Beaulieu wbur
  27. My sexual assault by the TSA by Gina Miller Renew America
  28. Changes in Airport Passenger Screening Technologies and Procedures: Frequently Asked Question PDF by Bart Elias Congressional Research Service
  29. TSA Introducing New, More Invasive Pat-Down Method by Mary Beth Quirk Consumerist
  30. TSA Doesn't Care That its Luggage Locks Have Been Hacked by Jenna McLaughlin The Intercept
  31. The TSA Releases Data on Air Marshal Misconduct, 7 Years After We Asked by by Michael Grabell Propublica
  32. TSA Reveals Passenger Complaints … Four Years Later by by Michael Grabell Propublica
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