how can tsa tell the difference between a ps2 and a bomb?

and how come you have to take your shoes off? the metal detector cant see plastic explosives so whats stopping you from putting plastic explosives in your pocket? my p2 is all modded and I put led lights and stuff and its a square thing with wires all over and i wasnt stopped. im allowed to wear a hat through the metal detector and they dont care.... im just curious how safe are our airports even after 9-11?


sorry i dont know where to post this, and im concerned because i flew recently and all i could think about was how low the security seemed to be.

FYI, I was a TSA Screener

Originally posted by racerzeke
and how come you have to take your shoes off?

Speed. 99% of all shoes with heels have a metal shank in them for support. There were times when large groups of people were all sent to the hand held metal detector, it really slowed down the line. While I was working there they went back and forth between asking everyone to take the shoes off, to not asking, to just suggesting they take their shoes off.

the metal detector cant see plastic explosives so whats stopping you from putting plastic explosives in your pocket?

The explosive sniffer machines, That is what is happening when you see someone wiping things with a little white pad. I won't go into detail, but it works. (sometimes too good)

my p2 is all modded and I put led lights and stuff and its a square thing with wires all over and i wasnt stopped.

The X-ray machines make things pretty clear. and despite impressions to the contrary the TSA screeners are trained vigorously. The supervisors try and slip fake bombs/guns/etc.. past the screeners, and most of the X-ray machines also put fake threat images over a image of a real passangers bags. you hit the threat button and the machine will tell you that it was a test image. Not to mention you were tested all the time, if you failed the test you could not operate the X-Ray machine.. if you kept failing you lost your job.

sorry i dont know where to post this, and im concerned because i flew recently and all i could think about was how low the security seemed to be.

Then the screeners were doing their job well. Safety was the number one concern, but customer service was number 2. It's very hard to get both things done well.

[edit on 7/22/2007 by Cug]

but they never wipe your body? before the shoe bomber took shoes through the metal detector, so now you put that through the xray, but what is stopping you from puttin the same thing in your jeans or shirt or hat? wont it make it through the metal detector just like the shoe bomber did?

Originally posted by Cug
The X-ray machines make things pretty clear. and despite impressions to the contrary the TSA screeners are trained vigorously. The supervisors try and slip fake bombs/guns/etc.. past the screeners, and most of the X-ray machines also put fake threat images over a image of a real passangers bags. you hit the threat button and the machine will tell you that it was a test image. Not to mention you were tested all the time, if you failed the test you could not operate the X-Ray machine.. if you kept failing you lost your job.

Woah, woah, woah! Are you telling me that the machines have a built in way to get a real threat past them with only a very limited amount of inside help?

Say someone on the inside programmed the machine to announce real threats as "test" when the button was pushed during a specific time interval on a specific day. The machine could even be set to destroy the specific coding that performs this once-only function. A post terror-event examination of the machines would then show them functioning perfectly and the screener would be the fall-person.

The list of people with that kind of access to the machine would be huge too: the maintenance people, supervisors, factory employees, or even the developers at the corporation that creates them.

Jon

Originally posted by racerzeke
but they never wipe your body? before the shoe bomber took shoes through the metal detector, so now you put that through the xray, but what is stopping you from puttin the same thing in your jeans or shirt or hat? wont it make it through the metal detector just like the shoe bomber did?

Reid did that in 2001.. That was before the widespread use of explosive detection devices. If you handled explosives several days before your flight, everything you touch will have traces of explosives on it. as well as everything that touches something you touched. The machine would be alarming all the time and it would be easy to figure out something was up even if your stuff was never directly checked.

In a perfect world all carry on luggage would be checked like the checked bags are... but people just won't put up with the time it takes. There is new tech out now that can check every person (not just the luggage) but it's not that widespread now.

Originally posted by Voxel
Say someone on the inside programmed the machine to announce real threats as "test" when the button was pushed during a specific time interval on a specific day.

That won't work, after the test is cleared you still look at the bag without a test image overlayed on it.

Say a bag comes in with a gun.. in the example you used with a fake test, you would clear the test.. but the gun will still show in the X-Ray..

One might think the machine is screwed up but that would just cause the bag to be searched by hand. (well the machine would be shut off and everything would be searched by hand)

Sorry, but I find the "highly trained" part very hard to believe. At many of the airports in the US, the people operating the scanners are often too busy chatting with other employees, bitching about other employees, or doing other things like checking their cell phone. No offense, but I doubt many of these people have above a high school diploma, or a GED. I don't care how many hours of training these people are put through, that doesn't mean they comprehend it, and are able to discern a well hidden threat such as a bomb wired into a ps2 from a modified ps2.

It's all about giving the illusion of safety, and stopping a few things here and there. Mostly about determent.

I know personally between myself and relatives and friends that there are many times items on the "banned" list have made it through baggage check, simply because we forgot they were in there. Heck, my wife wen't through with a bottle of mace.

[edit on 23-7-2007 by TheStarMan]

sorry i dont know where to post this, and im concerned because i flew recently and all i could think about was how low the security seemed to be.

I wouldnt be worried about it.. As you can feel when you fly, its working!
What is working you ask? The plan to make you as scared as possible so you give up more rights!!
I bet your ready to throw everything down just to feel safe right?

Bad idea, once you let them scare you, its over!

And just so you know your not going to be part of a terrorist strike, you have a better chance of winning the lotto.
If anything there will be a bomb to go off in a highly populated area, in a city.

Thus I know many of you will say Im crazy, but I really highly doubt that "terroists" are going to get ya..
Its a boggy man made up by our government to give them more power over you!! And if Im wrong then so be it, I think I have a good idea who the real bad guys are..

yea i have to agree with the above poster on the highly trained part, and maybe they are highly trained but they just dont show it.... (no disrespect to tsa workers here on ats) but when i flew out there were about 10 just sitting there and talking and it was pretty alarming to me

Originally posted by TheStarMan
No offense, but I doubt many of these people have above a high school diploma, or a GED. I don't care how many hours of training these people are put through, that doesn't mean they comprehend it, and are able to discern a well hidden threat such as a bomb wired into a ps2 from a modified ps2.

Dude, you are you calling me a uneducated buffoon? Training does not prove they comprehend things... Testing does, and they are tested quite a bit. A playstation with explosives in it would be easy to spot, box cutters on the other hand are really hard.

OK you have about 5 sec how many threats are in this bag?

Heck, my wife wen't through with a bottle of mace.

Cool your wife is a felon.

[edit on 7/23/2007 by Cug]

dogs dont always work either i got a certain plant friend of mine on the plane when i went to oklahoma and they had doks all next to my luggage i litterally almost pissed myself but i didnt go down for trafficing

Originally posted by Cug

Originally posted by TheStarMan
No offense, but I doubt many of these people have above a high school diploma, or a GED. I don't care how many hours of training these people are put through, that doesn't mean they comprehend it, and are able to discern a well hidden threat such as a bomb wired into a ps2 from a modified ps2.

Dude, you are you calling me a uneducated buffoon? Training does not prove they comprehend things... Testing does, and they are tested quite a bit. A playstation with explosives in it would be easy to spot, box cutters on the other hand are really hard.

OK you have about 5 sec how many threats are in this bag?

Heck, my wife wen't through with a bottle of mace.

Cool your wife is a felon.

[edit on 7/23/2007 by Cug]

You don't have to get pissy with me because I point out the truth. And don't try and get cute and call my wife a felon, she carries mace with her all the time, and travels a lot, sometimes she forgets to put it in checked baggage from her purse. One time she forgot, and they saw it and had her throw it out...you act as if she shoudl be arrested.

Sorry, but most TSA at most airports would be minimum wage drones if not for the cushy government job.

And since you ask, I didn't say all, but since you responded in a childish manner, I will certainly not shy away from calling you a Buffoon.

[edit on 23-7-2007 by TheStarMan]