Tag Archives: TSA Screening

Civil Liberties, Government Corruption, Liberty Report

Ron Paul: TSA Failures Raise Questions On $100 Billion Boondoggle

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New evidence shows the Transportation Security Administration is failing to protect Americans, supporting Ron Paul’s point that it is impossible for government to keep us safe.

In the latest episode of the Ron Paul Liberty Report, the three-time presidential candidate and former Texas representative cited data from a Homeland Security Red Team investigation that showed how despite having spent nearly $100 billion since 2011, the TSA is not doing a good job.

Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity and co-host of the Liberty Report, explained that this red team sent people under cover to attempt to smuggle mock explosive devices through TSA checkpoints. In 95 percent of those attempts, TSA agents failed to identify the mock bombs.

“They’re supposed to be making us safe,” Paul said. “This proves our point that it is an impossible task.”

McAdams pointed out that TSA Administrator Melvin Carraway testified before the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation back in March saying, “TSA is a high performing counterterrorism organization, applying a multi-layered, intelligence-driven, risk-based approach to protect the nation’s transportation systems.”

Now Carraway has been reassigned. Did Carraway know about these failures before he testified? Paul said the key question here is, “Is he a liar? Or is he a believer? Is he just a bureaucrat that makes himself believe this?”

Paul has advocated for the elimination of the TSA. But is there a better solution to the problem of transportation security?

“If you look to the rules of a free society, there is one,” Paul explained. “And that is, private individuals are responsible. . . . Those who are true authoritarians want us to be obedient to the state, that we respond in a very passive manner. They’ve done a pretty good job. We’re pretty intimidated and we all want to get on airplanes so they achieve all of that. And to promote the power of the state, they have to get us very fearful whether it’s economic fear or foreign policy problems that we have. It reestablishes this whole notion that it’s the government’s responsibility to make us safe and provide the safety net.”

McAdams replied, “It’s amazing how some people argue that somehow the airlines that transport you to your destination don’t care if you get blown up or don’t care if you get hijacked. Don’t they have the most incentive to?”

Watch the full episode above and catch past episodes of the Ron Paul Liberty Report right here at Truth In Media.

In case you missed Ben Swann’s Truth In Media episode on ISIS watch it below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6kdi1UXxhY

Politics, Technology, US

Report: TSA Not Prepared to Detect “Catastrophic” Aviation Threat

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A report from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) admitted that its agents are not prepared to detect or to respond to the threat posed by a bomb made of the substance thermite, which could have a catastrophic effect if ignited on an airplane.

The classified document, first released by The Intercept, revealed that if igniting on an aircraft, thermite, which is a “mixture of rust and aluminum powder,” could result in “catastrophic damage and the death of every person onboard.”

Written in Dec. 2014, by the TSA’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, the report stated that not only are thermite-based devices “easily assembled and concealable,” they are also likely to go undetected under current TSA screening procedures.

The report claimed that both a thermite-based substance and an ignition source can be placed in items that would “not arouse suspicion as they pass through TSA security screening,” such as children’s toys and water canteens.

Several anonymous TSA officials told The Intercept that while they had been briefed on the threat, they were given “no information or training on identifying thermite ignition.”

One federal air marshal described the situation by saying, “They say to identify something we don’t know how to identify and say there is nothing we can do. So basically, we hope it’s placed somewhere it does minimal damage, but basically we’re screwed.”

“When ignited, thermite burns violently and at extremely high temperatures, and may spray molten metal in all directions,” the report stated. “Thermite has the ability to burn through steel, and every other material of which an aircraft is comprised, it will continue to burn to completion.”

The report went on to state that not only would a thermite-based incendiary device burn through all of the parts of an aircraft, it would also produce toxic gasses, “which can act as nerve poison,” along with a thick black smoke, which would “significantly inhibit any potential for in-flight safety officers to address the burn.”

The anonymous officials told The Intercept that while TSA “floods its employees with intelligence products from other agencies on various types of threats,” it has not told them how to respond to this threat.

The FBI released a statement saying that the “coordination between public safety, aviation, and national security focused agencies occurs on a continuous and collaborative basis to identify and neutralize threats to aviation safety.”