the president of Bolivia???

So if there are any other Osama bin Laden’s around, you’re a terrorist too!

-On a trip to the US, where I am a citizen – I was
fingerprinted, photographed, had my baby strip searched in the middle of the airport, and left unattended, suitcase broken open because they were too lazy to open the clasp, had things inside my suitcase broken open and pierced to “check contents” and then tossed back in to leak on everything else, and then almost detained because my baby was naked (from the strip search!?!?) and posing a health hazard – which made us so late that we missed the flight…

This was apparently all because I looked suspicious when telling my mother in law to meet me by such-and-such on the other side of immigration, and because it seems there is someone on the no-fly list who shares the same first three letters of their name with that of my son. We (my son and I) were pulled aside first and I was told that he was on the no-fly list… I pointed out that he was 1, and it was doubtful that the list was referring to him.

They took my son away from me, strip searched him (held up by his hands) and left him on the floor (naked) on the other side of glass when they finished.
Then they moved on to searching and interrogating me. I was asked what I was doing traveling with someone on the list, why I had talked to a non-US citizen on the way to immigration, and was told point blank that my son had no rights at this point, and that he would most likely have to be detained.

I cried. I begged them to just let us go home! He`s a baby. He can`t possibly be on the list.

Apparently they consider this resisting. I was told to shut up, did I want to be “detained” too? After about 15 minutes, they decided that my son didn`t pose a threat, and they plopped him (still naked) *outside* their little TSA booth – on the floor, in a busy airport. I could see him from inside, but wasn`t allowed to go get him. I`m guessing that they weren`t allowed to take him out of my sight. They never told me anything. I was terrified someone would just pick him up and run.

I was scared to death that they`d never let me go home. After about an hour – possibly more as it was long enough that we completely missed our flight – they just let us go. A woman came and finally rehashed our search after getting my son from outside the booth (once you`ve been out there they have to check again, apparently.) She was nice, apologized for the inconvenience, etc. She was the only person there who didn`t have their name tag conveniently turned around backward or tucked into a pocket, covered by a sticker, etc.

When we were finally released from the booth, I was stopped immediately by another presumably non-TSA security guard and told my son posed a health hazard by being naked, and that I needed to get clothes on him NOW or come with him to the office. I don`t think I`ve ever dressed my son so quickly.

We missed our flight though and ended up staying overnight. I can`t tell you how scared I was going through the checkpoint the next day – but while they did pull us aside, they only did the typical wand check, and we passed through without a hitch. Different TSA people, totally different experience.

I have been asked multiple times why I just didn`t complain a bunch and inform them of our rights, blah blah blah.
When they`ve got your baby on the other side of glass, and are telling you that they might not let him leave the country with you…. You don`t want to risk anything. Nothing is worth losing my family.

I only seriously thought about complaining once we were home and safe, but I only had the name of the one single nice person. And as time passed, I figured that as long as it had been since the event itself, it was a waste of time.

What “colour” are you? I ask from the perspective of one who sees no concept of “race”.

Here’s a question for you: what about that situation, or the post-9/11 world, mandated the creation of an overprivileged, unaccountable government department that’s ignoring everything we know about effective security?

What would we use for security if we didn’t have DHS and the TSA? I hope we’d set up an organization that knows what it’s doing and takes its duties seriously.

I know people who’ve done real security work. They would have spotted the “print your own forged boarding pass” loophole. They’d know that no airport is safe if Sky Harbor in Phoenix is wide open for four hours every night, because once someone is inside the security airlock at one airport, they’re also inside the airlock at any other airport they fly to. And they sure as hell wouldn’t be wasting vast amounts of effort, and bringing airport security into disrepute, by maintaining a nearly useless list that generates false positives 97.5% of the time.

You tell me: what legitimate security interests are served by detaining and mistreating toddlers and their families because the kid’s name matches one on the list?

What security interests are served by putting out a list that contains the isolated surname “McPhee,” thus bringing endless trouble to everyone who bears that name? What is there about our situation that makes it necessary to circulate that name without the accompanying information that it was once used as an alias by someone in Afghanistan who was suspected of having terrorist ties?

The choice, as I suspect you know, is not between the TSA as currently constituted and having no security at all. What we want is real, sane, reasonable airport security. What we all know is that a system that detains a toddler because he’s named Sam Adams doesn’t qualify.

Andy3000 (52), I’m not going to say “you’re kidding,” because I’m sure you’re not; but I wish you were. These guys are known terrorists. They’re on other publicly accessible lists of known terrorists. They know we know, we know they know. And they’re not on the no-fly list.

I look forward to a change of administrations for many reasons, but not least among them is the hope that we can start working our way back to having a minimally competent government.

Porori (62), that’s a dreadful story, and I’m truly sorry it happened to you. Can you say any more about it, like which airport it was? (If not, I can’t blame you.)

Gilbert Wham (54), well said.

Umm… The TSA says no EIGHT year-old is on the no-fly list. This kid is FIVE.

I think someone owes the TSA an apology.

That said, there are obviously a variety of potential replacements for the TSA as it currently exists. One is to reform the TSA as it currently exists. Then it would no longer be the TSA as it currently exists. As many posters have said, “the TSA needs to be eliminated and replaced with something better”.

When you claim that any agency replacing the TSA would be just like the TSA, you appear to be having difficulty with the concept of a federal agency that isn’t staffed by morons following policies that have no rational justifications. Given the history of federal agencies in the U.S. I can see where you’re coming from, but trust me: it is possible for government agencies to do their job competently. For example, despite legitimate concerns over illegal wiretapping and whatnot, the FBI has done a generally good job of counter-terrorism, which is after all a police problem, not a military problem.

Another alternative to the TSA is indeed to hand responsibility for security back to airlines or airports. I see no problem with this. It worked extremely well prior to 9/11, and there is no reason to believe that the current system would have prevented the nineteen nitwits from getting on those planes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/05/AR2005060501213.html

My cousin is 8.

The TSA obviously has some sort of Philip K. Dick-style Precogs that know what’s going to happen in the future, a la Minority Report.

They apparently know that little Sam is going to actually become a terrorist 12 years in the future.

What they don’t fully understand yet is that the reason this is so is because they are actually the ones that are going to drive him to it by hassling him at the airport his whole life.

We need to consult Tom Cruise on this one.

Crying, and screaming their heads of about “bad touch!” and molestation, for example.

The kids ARE NOT ON THE NO FLY LIST!

HOWEVER, someone with their name IS. The kids can’t be taken off the no fly list, because they are not on it in the first place. If they were on it, they would not eventually be allowed on the flight. They can not take off the person who is on the list (and shares their name), because there is supposedly a good reason for that person to be on the No Fly List.

So, lets review.

~On the no fly list. (left blank)

~Have the ability to stop being screwed over. (left blank)

~Screwed over anyway. (check)

That being said, I doubt 99.9% of the people who are actually on the list deserve to be there in the first place.

“Where it was determined that a correction to records was warranted, these records were modified to address any delay or denial of boarding that you may have experienced as a result of the watch list screening process.”

I.e., we’re not telling you if you are still on the list. So I wrote them back — “Hey, yes or no, am I on the list?”

There one sentence reply:

“This all the language we have available at this time.”

Can we shine the bat signal up in the sky to the ACLU?

…and racist profiling is dumb too, /especially/ in this era of accessible Star Trek make-up. Ever seen White Chicks (2004)