Friday
30 Mar 2007
Undercover Agents Get Fake Bombs Past Denver TSA
By Annie Jacobsen in category Airport Security & Screening
This is nothing new, but needs to change fast. NBC's 9News files this excellent report from Denver:
Checkpoint security screeners at Denver International Airport last month failed to find liquid explosives packed in carry-on luggage and also improvised explosive devices, or IED's, worn by undercover agents sources told 9NEWS.
In one test, sources told 9NEWS an agent taped an IED to her leg and told the screener it was a bandage from surgery. Even though alarms sounded on the walk-through metal detector, the agent was able to bluff her way past the screener.
The tests were conducted by the TSA's Red Team, the government's undercover aviation counter-terrorist unit which was formed after terrorists blew up Pan Am 101 in 1988. The Aviation Nation's Bogdan Dzakovic, former Red Team member and current TSA employee, is quoted extensively in the article. Because Bogdan has whistleblower status, he is one of the few TSA employees who can speak to the press.
In a predictable move, the TSA appears to be focusing less on fixing the problems at Denver Airport and more on silencing the whistleblowers. The TSA has already called the news station demanding to know sources. TSA Security Director Earl Morris told 9News:
"Anyone who violates the rule we have in place for divulging information that is sensitive and secret, that jeopardizes the security of this country is wrong," said Morris. "They're out of line, it's not acceptable and it's not appropriate."
Read the article and decide for yourself what's acceptable and what's not.