Tag Archives: TSA Security Test

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

Civil Liberties, Editor’s Pick, Featured, Foreign Policy, Government Accountability, Government Corruption, Police Accountability, Police State, Politics, US

TSA Fails DHS Security Test, Allows Weapons, Bombs to Breach Security 67 of 70 Times

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The Transportation Security Administration abysmally failed an internal investigation into its ability to stop undercover Department of Homeland Security agents’ attempts to breach security with potential weapons or bombs, according to an explosive new report revealed by ABC News. The report notes that the test exposed the fact that TSA officers at “dozens” of US airports failed to catch DHS “red team” members armed with potential weapons or bombs in 95% of 70 attempts.

One such agent made it through security with a fake bomb strapped to his back despite setting off a magnetometer and enduring a subsequent pat-down.

“We know that the adversary innovates and we have to push ourselves to capacity in order to remain one step ahead. [O]ur testers often make these covert tests as difficult as possible,” read a 2013 TSA blog cited by ABC News describing the methods used by covert DHS red team agents, who attempt to blend in with passengers and sneak weapons through security to test the TSA’s capabilities.

At a 2013 congressional hearing, former TSA administrator John Pistole described the red team testers as “super terrorists” and said, “[Testers] know exactly what our protocols are. They can create and devise and conceal items that … not even the best terrorists would be able to do.” That same year, the TSA came under fire after a red team tester strapped with fake explosives was able to sneak through security measures, including a pat down and a metal detector, at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty Airport.

A September 2014 TSA report also found security vulnerabilities in the bureau’s baggage screening system. That report noted the fact that, even with $540 million in spending on new screening equipment and $11 million spent for training, the TSA did not noticeably improve its performance following a prior 2009 review in which it also had performed poorly.

A DHS official told ABC News, “Upon learning the initial findings of the Office of Inspector General’s report, Secretary Johnson immediately directed TSA to implement a series of actions, several of which are now in place, to address the issues raised in the report.”