Nude Bodies, Free Booze, Endless Radiation: An Ex-TSA Agent Tells All

It's rare that we actually get to hear from one. But Jason Edward Harrington, a five-year TSA veteran, has changed all that, after launching an anonymous blog that offered a behind-the-scenes look at the airport security process and the sometimes twisted logic that dictated it. Long story short: the last line of defense we have to prevent another 9/11 is a total #show. And, yes, the TSA officers were laughing their asses off at those revealing body scans.

Nude Bodies, Free Booze, Endless Radiation: An Ex-TSA Agent Tells All

This ex-TSA agent has come forward to discuss the matters of which occurred during his years of employment. I have posted the Gizmodo article, as it provides further information (through the forms of links to other articles) than what you would have received if i had skipped straight to their source article, the actual statements written by Mr Harrington for Politico.

Here is just some of the things of which happens at the TSA, as described by Mr Harrington:

It was a job that had me patting down the crotches of children, the elderly and even infants as part of the post-9/11 airport security show. I confiscated jars of homemade apple butter on the pretense that they could pose threats to national security. I was even required to confiscate nail clippers from airline pilots—the implied logic being that pilots could use the nail clippers to hijack the very planes they were flying.

Once, in 2008, I had to confiscate a bottle of alcohol from a group of Marines coming home from Afghanistan. It was celebration champagne intended for one of the men in the group—a young, decorated soldier. He was in a wheelchair, both legs lost to an I.E.D., and it fell to me to tell this kid who would never walk again that his homecoming champagne had to be taken away in the name of national security.

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: Many of the images we gawked at were of overweight people, their every fold and dimple on full awful display. Piercings of every kind were visible. Women who’d had mastectomies were easy to discern—their chests showed up on our screens as dull, pixelated regions. Hernias appeared as bulging, blistery growths in the crotch area. Passengers were often caught off-guard by the X-Ray scan and so materialized on-screen in ridiculous, blurred poses—mouths agape, à la Edvard Munch. One of us in the I.O. room would occasionally identify a passenger as female, only to have the officers out on the checkpoint floor radio back that it was actually a man. All the old, crass stereotypes about race and genitalia size thrived on our secure government radio channels.

But the only people who hated the body-scanners more than the public were TSA employees themselves. 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. We would just have to take their word for it. When concerned passengers—usually pregnant women—asked how much radiation the machines emitted and whether they were safe, we were instructed by our superiors to assure them everything was fine.

A fellow officer once returned to O'Hare from a trip to TSA headquarters and confessed that he had run into some complications: Someone realized that his background check had never been processed in the four years he had been an employee. He could have been anyone, for all TSA knew—a murderer, terrorist, rapist.

Frankly, i am not surprised at all of this information presented by Mr Harrington. While i have had the fortune of not dealing with the TSA, it is unfortunate that everything we hear of them has basically turned out to be true. Sounds like they need a lot of quality control...

I will leave the rest for you all to read in the following links:

Actual statements written by Mr Harrington for Politico:

www.politico.com...

Gizmodo Article:

gizmodo.com... gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

So the people assuring the public including pregnant women they were in no danger, didn't know the extent of the danger themselves?

It's just getting worse all the time. At what point is this going to be treated as the treason against the people like it is?

And when are the people who profited off this obscenity going to be charged with a couple million counts of pornography, inflicting intentional harm, assault and battery?

Where's an actual DA willing to go up against the Dick Cheney's of the world?

reply to post by daaskapital


Question on job form for TSA.

What skills can you bring to the job?

Answer - A burning hatred of the West, a hook for a hand and a pilots license (Frankie Boyle).

signalfire
So the people assuring the public including pregnant women they were in no danger, didn't know the extent of the danger themselves?

It's just getting worse all the time. At what point is this going to be treated as the treason against the people like it is?

And when are the people who profited off this obscenity going to be charged with a couple million counts of pornography, inflicting intentional harm, assault and battery?

Where's an actual DA willing to go up against the Dick Cheney's of the world?

This stupidly irritating paragraph is why the government can and will continue to do as they please to the American people! You all moan and give your two cents of highly boring over indulgent monotony but the underlying factor with AMERICANS is you are all the same. To scared and too cowardly to actually make a change!!

NO ONE not a god damn one of you does anything about it. You preach about treason, charges and the lark but nothing is ever done - it baffles me. In Ukraine they are protesting/rioting, in many countries they protest en masse till something happens. Politicians stand down, change the rule etc. And even if they did not, the public there know they tried as hard as possible.

However, americans with their gun (for this F****** very purpose) do NOTHING.

Its cowardly, immoral and self defeating. (this doesn't apply to every person)

Don't act shocked - you brought all this on yourselves (ourselves) and now the piper will be PAID. With lives and genocide on a scale never seen.


P.S What is the point in the SERVICEMEN and WOMEN fighting abroad for freedom and sacrificing their lives for the people at home when the people at home just suck!! And are celebrity fed, consumer orientated worthless job shy nobodies who WILL NOT even defend their rights in their own soil!!!?? Answer that.

Thanks to all serving members of the US military, even though the people you fight for are not worth it!!

The full article is a good read…

While people defend certain security agencies and the like, the pressure put on the employee when he sent his first article to the NYTs shows exactly how they weed out people that do not have moral objections to certain things.

This kind of thing spreads through various industries, political circles, organizations.

"If these people won't do it, find someone who will."

reply to post by daaskapital


This is quite disrespectful, humiliating and frankly a disgrace to public dignity.

Americans do you not think Obama should be impeached? Does this not have strong tones of Nazi Germany being operated lawful by order of your president?

reply to post by daaskapital


" The agency’s stance was that dosimeters were not necessary—the radiation doses from the machines were perfectly acceptable, they told us. We would just have to take their word for it. When concerned passengers—usually pregnant women—asked how much radiation the machines emitted and whether they were safe, we were instructed by our superiors to assure them everything was fine. "














Full body scanners at airports could increase your risk of skin cancer, experts warn.
The X-ray machines have been brought in at Manchester, Gatwick and Heathrow.
But scientists say radiation from the scanners has been underestimated and could be particularly risky for children.
They say that the low level beam does deliver a small dose of radiation to the body but because the beam concentrates on the skin - one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the human body - that dose may be up to 20 times higher than first


www.dailymail.co.uk...


The TSA thinks it's OK for a Pregnat Woman to be iradiated by their Scanners and not Suffer ANY Adverse Effects on the Woman of Child ? WTF !

reply to post by projectbane


You hit the nail on the head.

We have become a nation of cowards.

America is a nation MOSTLY of PUNKS for even flying once the TSA showed up.

I flew once since TSA back in 2005. NEVER AGAIN!

if ALL THE PUNKS who fly would refuse to fly for 1 week, leave the planes all grounded. This whole mess would have ended.

HanzHenry
America is a nation MOSTLY of PUNKS for even flying once the TSA showed up.

I flew once since TSA back in 2005. NEVER AGAIN!

if ALL THE PUNKS who fly would refuse to fly for 1 week, leave the planes all grounded. This whole mess would have ended.

but how many perverts enjoy being groped by a stranger and most of the tsa are just that 4 years and no check for some staff but go try get a driving licence

Ive flown into and out of many airports in the states and Chicago's o'heare is easily the worst for international passengers to land at.

Its like a prison.

Im not shocked at any of the reports at all, sadly.

reply to post by projectbane

NO ONE not a god damn one of you does anything about it. You preach about treason, charges and the lark but nothing is ever done - it baffles me.

It baffles me how someone can lump all members of a single society into one category and say they all suck.

In Ukraine they are protesting/rioting, in many countries they protest en masse till something happens.

Comparing a country like the Ukraine that has had decades of strife to a country like the US is totally inaccurate.

However, americans with their gun (for this F****** very purpose) do NOTHING.

So armed revolution is the only thing that is going to save America from itself? Lets suppose that the American government somehow gets toppled by ordinary citizens with guns, what is going to replace it? Is the devil you don't know better than the one you do?

What is the point in the SERVICEMEN and WOMEN fighting abroad for freedom and sacrificing their lives for the people at home when the people at home just suck!! And are celebrity fed, consumer orientated worthless job shy nobodies who WILL NOT even defend their rights in their own soil!!!?? Answer that.

You totally contradict yourself by saying this:

You all moan and give your two cents of highly boring over indulgent monotony but the underlying factor with AMERICANS is you are all the same. To scared and too cowardly to actually make a change!!

Then you say this:

Thanks to all serving members of the US military, even though the people you fight for are not worth it!!

Where do you think people that sign up for the military come from? They don't just pass over from another dimension. They come from American homes, schools, businesses, churches. You're saying one is good and the other bad even though they are the same.

reply to post by daaskapital


I bristle at the notion of other people, who i know nothing about, being put in charge of judging me or reviewing me. I have seen TSA folks before. I am unimpressed with them on the whole (rude is a mild descrptive).

Since the Rope and Grope, i have refused to fly.

That article should be send to every home in the US that still care about what the government is doing in the name of national security, is nothing but a scam and another way to rob Americans of their rights.

The sad part is that we are no doing a darn thing to fight back. And government just keep getting bigger and more corrupted than ever.

meh. one ex-employee's stories do not a scandal make. if dozens of screeners fromdifferent airports were saying this I'd be worried.
since I currently work4dhs I can tell you that stuff is NOT the norm. Certainly no airport I worked with would tolerate.

This never was about results. Just pageantry and fantasy.

Put a bunch of uniforms on chimps and call them "highly trained security primates" and the people will feel safer despite the complete lack of safety.

So much of our modern world is placebo. Especially where nonsense like security, safety and law are concerned.

Stupid and frightened people with their superstitions look to a class of authoritarian psychopaths to define the parameters in which they will live their one and only life.

In this regard civilization has never left the dark ages.

reply to post by daaskapital


I dont fly anymore because I hate flying anyway....I took a train recently and loved it.....was so impressed with it. I enjoy ships as well...and in fact some cruises can be pretty cheap or commercial ships. I only fly in very very rare instances.

reply to post by projectbane


You're seriously delusional if you think that the armed forces are fighting 'for our freedoms'.

They're fighting for empire and for spreading 'democracy and freedom' to those countries deemed in need of Pentagon intervention due to their oil or mineral resources. Notice how the US military never seems to invade some obscure country with an obscure (non-US installed) dictator in the poorest regions of Africa that's lacking in known oil or other wealth.

As far as 'when are you going to uprise', I'm waiting on that one also. It will take a critical mass of people understanding the situation and willing to go up against the most deadly militarily-backed obscenely corrupt government the world has ever known.

What do you suggest? You first, or you're just all talk too.

Nude Bodies, Free Booze, Endless Radiation

Sounds like a typical government job to me.

Not surprised in the least.

The headline kinda made me think of college...

Anyway, we havent flown since this started. Its been a change. We didnt go on the vacation we had planned due to it. BUT.. there are some who must fly for work. They can get some special concessions depending on who they work for, but they have to fly.
I dont understand those who dont HAVE to fly, still flying. I dont like being told what to do or judged by some moron who doesnt know me... and I generally avoid those situations.