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Return to Article: TSA says more money needed for airline security program

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  I was at a barbecue on the Fourth of July, and joined a discussion of airline security. A retired police officer who joined TSA to serve his country reported that he left after a couple of months, because of the many problems he saw at TSA. He said many of his co-workers were cop "wannabes", who abused passengers for fun. In particular, he told of one screener who told him to watch while he made some passengers miss their flight, while he took his time screening them. When asked why, he replied "because I can". This power-trip attitude is far from rare, and makes me wonder whether all the money we threw at TSA after 9/11 was well-spent. Not that the private screeners were any better. The problem seems to lie with poor management and supervision, as well as inadequate screening of prospective new employees. Hire well qualified people, train them well, give them decent salaries and benefits, as well as managers who know what they are doing, and TSA can still become a first class agency, that will do an even better job of defending the traveling public from terrorists.

  GovExec.com reader Posted July 5, 2005 7:20 PM
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  Can't? TSA needs to have a federal librarian run them. Can't isn't a word we can use. It's make do with what you got and if you can't do it, then quit. TSA makes the DoD look cheap!

  a federal employee Posted June 30, 2005 3:08 AM