Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

TSA's Head of Security 'Removed' from Office

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 167 posts

Re: TSA's Head of Security 'Removed' from Office

#81

Post by CWuestefeld »

KKKKkkkk1 wrote: post #38

I've been to the DMV yesterday. You wait in line for 40 minutes in the sun just to get a number and then wait some more. Once you get a number, you're counted in the official wait time statistics published on their website, so the extra 40 minutes are shaved off for free. Who ever though it was going to be different when the TSA was created?

I've noticed that at McDonald's in the past (though not recently). A time would start as soon as the employee starts on your order, and stops once you're given your change. The five minutes I waited getting up to the counter is ignored, as is the 1-2 minutes waiting for my order to be assembled. So I've spent 7-8 minutes waiting, and the POS machine is insulting me with the display "service time 40 seconds".

Re: TSA's Head of Security 'Removed' from Office

#82

Post by strictnein »

ianhawes wrote: post #34

One of the most irritating aspects of the TSA inefficiencies is that they know the demand at each airport in advance. Because all airlines submit passenger information to the TSA as its booked (often months or weeks in advance), the TSA can shift resources. While I'm all for blaming the TSA, the head of the TSA's union was on NPR this morning and pointed out that Congress diverted funds collected from the "9/11 Tax"…

The bit about money is nonsense. The TSA was given more money than it requested for 2016:

> "The agency charged with overseeing security at the nation's airports was given a $7.4 billion budget, which was $211 million more than it had in 2015 and $93 million more than was requested."

http://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/2016/3/relief-at-msp-...

Re: TSA's Head of Security 'Removed' from Office

#83

Post by zentiggr »

dimino wrote: post #67
ttraub wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eliminate the TSA and give the $8B to Nasa. A much better investment.

The TSA provides value, security theater has its place.

Keep the sheeple thinking that something is being done while providing low wage jobs for what is being promoted as critical safety personnel? Orwell would just look at this, shrug and say "I was trying to say..."

Re: TSA's Head of Security 'Removed' from Office

#84

Post by strictnein »

kirykl wrote: post #56
anonymousDan wrote: post #17

The airport security in most of the American airports I've seen in the last few years is just a complete shambles in terms of efficiency. It takes forever in comparison to most of the busy European airports I've been through. And I doubt the security is any better. For example, London Gatwick has a really fast system where they have a set of packing bays before you get to the scanners/pat downs. This massively reduce…

Some airports used to have an Expert/Casual/Family lane distinction but I haven't seen that in years

LAX and has a family lane. I think SFO does, although I last flew through there 4-5 years ago, so it might have changed.

Re: TSA's Head of Security 'Removed' from Office

#86

Post by schoen »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #79
ivraatiems wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with you 100% on security theater, but you have to be careful with "intelligent profiling." Remember that if it involves singling somebody out by race, gender, religion, etc., it's almost certainly unconstitutional in the US.

by intelligent profiling, I mean more the way the Israelis do it: psychological profiling, looking for telltale signs of nervousness/guilt etc., ranking people by profession/origin/appearance, and randomly singling people out for more extensive scrutiny (but not so random as to nab the 80-year-old grandmother in a wheelchair).

Israeli airport profiling also uses religious and ethnic or national origin. When I've heard people endorse it as a good model for the U.S. in the past, I thought they were often saying they wished U.S. airport screening would use those things.

Re: TSA's Head of Security 'Removed' from Office

#87

Post by dajohnson89 »

frostburg wrote: post #15
jimcsharp wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe this is the movies I've watched, but isn't firing a gun structurally dangerous to the airplane?

Not structurally, but you might hit something important.

What about the issue of depressurizing the cabin?

Re: TSA's Head of Security 'Removed' from Office

#88

Post by smoothgrips »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #52
blisterpeanuts wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They boast of all the knives and guns they've confiscated. I wonder though, whether we'd not be more secure if everyone carried guns on board. A hijacker wouldn't stand a chance. Of course, there might also be some bloody air rage incidents as well. But at the same time, maybe people would act more civil if everyone around them is packing, or at least the flight attendants....

I think we can work this out. Everyone in the USA has the right to bear arms, and a lot of them do. Result: huge murder rate. Everyone in the rest of the world does not have the right to carry guns around the place. Result: much smaller murder rate. I think we can infer that if everyone could take guns on planes then we'd have more people shooting guns on planes and hence more death on planes. Going from that to stop…

Your reasoning is not accurate. When you allow honest citizens to defend themselves, crime rates drop.

"Statistics show that in these states the crime rate fell (or did not rise) after the right-to-carry law became active (as of July, 2006)."

http://www.gunfacts.info/gun-control-myths/concealed-carry/

Re: TSA's Head of Security 'Removed' from Office

#89

Post by marcus_holmes »

zeveb wrote: post #58
marcus_holmes wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we can work this out. Everyone in the USA has the right to bear arms, and a lot of them do. Result: huge murder rate. Everyone in the rest of the world does not have the right to carry guns around the place. Result: much smaller murder rate. I think we can infer that if everyone could take guns on planes then we'd have more people shooting guns on planes and hence more death on planes. Going from that to stop…

> Everyone in the USA has the right to bear arms, and a lot of them do. Result: huge murder rate. The rate of murders committed by folks legally carrying guns is low; the rate of murders committed by Americans using weapons other than firearms is high. It's almost as though Americans in general are more violent than people in many other parts of the world.

I had to re-read that twice before I got the meaning... I was thinking "hang on, so everyone carries guns but knife murders are up? what?" but what I think you're saying is that law-abiding people don't shoot people. Well, duh...

There's this really straightforward clear correlation between number of guns and amount of gun violence. Everyone else in the world gets this. Americans don't for some reason. I'm always curious why Americans don't get this. Y'all seem perfectly intelligent and reasonable otherwise.

Re: TSA's Head of Security 'Removed' from Office

#90

Post by TDL »

jtuente wrote: post #85
TDL wrote: post #63

Tea Party conservatives are not necessarily neo-cons.

Wasn't the Tea Party movement started because of their disgust with neo-cons?

The movement coalesced around the bank bailouts. There was growing dissatisfaction with the Bush neo-cons, more around economic policies then foreign invasions (I would characterize the Tea Party as confident in American power, but ambivalent to slightly negative on foreign invasions.) I imagine that those who identified with the Tea Party are now disgusted with the neo-cons, but I don't believe there was a clear (or at least well articulated) aversion to them at the beginning.
Post reply on HN