After a gunman opened fire at one of Los Angeles International Airport’s security checkpoints last November, the Transportation Security Administration has been weighing its security measures to find where the system can be improved. A new report from the agency recommends beefing up police presence with armed officers at airport checkpoints, as well as increased training across the board. [More]
john pistole
TSA Decides To Keep Ban Of Small Knives On Planes In Place For Now
By 4.23.13
After a few weeks of backlash against the idea from the airline industry, flight attendants and air marshals, the Transportation Security Administration has decided to delay lifting the ban against small knives aboard airline flights. A few weeks ago the TSA said passengers would be allowed to carry knives that met certain descriptions, as well as some sporting equipment. [More]
TSA Chief Admits He Could’ve Rolled Out The Knives On Planes Policy In A Better Way
By 3.15.13
When the head of the Transportation Security Administration announced recently that passengers could start bringing certain small knives and golf clubs on airplanes, quite a few in the airline industry were a bit perturbed, including many flight attendants. Pistole admitted yesterday that he could’ve rolled that policy out in a smoother manner. [More]
TSA Modifies Screening Of Young Children
By 6.22.11
After incidents like this pat-down of an infant at a Kansas City airport landed the Transportation Security Administration in a public relations mess, the head of the agency said this morning that TSA has changed its policies regarding the screening of small children. [More]
TSA Considers Making Airport Screenings Less Annoying For "Trusted Travelers"
By 5.6.11
You might have heard that some airline passengers haven’t exactly been overjoyed with the TSA’s recent rollouts of revealing full-body scanners and like-groping-teenagers-in-heat pat-down procedures. But now the agency is reportedly considering the idea of giving “trusted travelers” an express pass through airport security screenings. [More]
Getting To Know You: All About The New Friends We Made In 2010
By 12.31.10
Behind every buzzworthy headline of the past year has been someone in charge, someone to blame, or just someone to laugh at and talk about. From the debacle of Toyota’s millions of recalled automobiles, to a fed-up flight attendant with a flair for drama, we’ve become familiar with a few new faces in 2010, for better or for worse. [More]
TSA Head Apologizes To Traveler Whose Bladder Bag Burst During Pat-Down
By 11.23.10
Yesterday, the TSA got yet another public-relations black eye when a man in Michigan said airport screeners in Detroit refused to listen to him about his medical condition and accidentally ruptured a bag full of urine under his clothes. [More]
Pilots Might Soon Get A Pass On Stricter Security Measures
By 11.19.10
As we wrote last week, two of the nation’s largest airline pilots unions had recently told their members to refuse full-body scanners at airport security, arguing that pilots have already undergone rigorous background checks before getting their jobs. Now the head of the TSA says their could soon be a rule change that would treat pilots differently than passengers. [More]
TSA Chief Admits The New Pat-Downs Are 'More Invasive'
By 11.17.10
For the second day in a row, TSA head Jon Pistole was testifying before Senate about the recent negative attention that the agency’s full-body scanners and ‘enhanced’ pat-downs have received. And Pistole admitted that the newer, hands-on procedure is more touchy-feely than it had been previously. [More]
