TSA

TSA Screeners Allegedly Took Bribes To Let Drugs Pass Through Los Angeles Airport

Nick R. Martin | April 25, 2012, 5:03PM

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday announced criminal charges against four security screeners who worked at Los Angeles International Airport and were allegedly paid thousands of dollars in bribes to look the other way while drug shipments slipped through security checkpoints.

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Jesse Ventura

Don't Touch My Junk! Jesse Ventura Sues The TSA

Eric Lach | January 25, 2011, 1:34PM

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura (MN)

Former Minnesota Governor, ex-professional wrestler and current TRU TV host Jesse Ventura is suing the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA over the new airport security measures instituted last year. In a complaint filed in Minnesota district court on Monday, Ventura alleges that body scans and enhanced pat downs at airports violate his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The suit even claims that pat downs "meet the definition for an unlawful sexual assault."

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TSA

Amid Growing Backlash, TSA Tries To Keep It Light ... With Cranberry Sauce Warnings

Rachel Slajda | November 24, 2010, 9:55AM

TPM Photo Illustration

Well, here we are, the biggest travel day of the year and the Transportation Security Administration is up to its ears in outrage over its new security procedures. (Would you prefer us to take a nude photo or grope you, ma'am?) But it still has its most important duty:

Making you laugh.

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Muslims

Is TSA Exempting Women In Hijabs From Controversial Pat-Downs?

Rachel Slajda | November 22, 2010, 10:03AM

Contrary to reports burning up the right-wing media that Muslim women would get a free pass, the Transportation Security Administration isn't exempting anyone from those new intensive airport pat-downs.

Recent stories on Glenn Beck's blog The Blaze, Fox News and elsewhere suggested that the TSA would only pat down the head and neck of Muslim women who objected to backscatter X-ray machines.

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Terrorism

White House: Two Suspicious Packages From Yemen Caused Checks In Newark And Philly

Rachel Slajda | October 29, 2010, 2:10PM

President Obama was notified last night that two suspicious packages from Yemen -- one near London and one in Dubai, both on flights bound for the U.S. -- were examined, triggering heightened security measures that lead to UPS planes being isolated in Newark, N.J. and Philadelphia.

The statement from the White House is the clearest picture yet of what happened today, when at least two planes were isolated and checked for bombs after a suspicious package was found on a Chicago-bound flight in London. The package, an altered ink cartridge with protruding wires and covered in white powder, was not found to contain explosives.

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TSA

TSA Testing New, More Invasive Pat-Downs For Those Who Refuse Scans

Rachel Slajda | August 24, 2010, 6:22PM

A man looks at the body scan of a subject at the activation of the first body scanner for international flights at Fiumicino airport in Rome.

Those who refuse to walk through the new full-body scanners at the airport could be subject to a new style of pat-down, one that's much more invasive and, well, probing than before.

The Boston Herald reports that the Transportation Security Administration is testing the new pat-downs in Boston and Las Vegas, but plans to institute the searches nationwide.

From man on the street Rob Webster, who said he was a subject of the new search when flying out of McCarren-Las Vegas International last week:

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TSA

Scandals Of Orlando's Air Marshal's Office: Racist Games, Rampant Discrimination And Love For W.

Rachel Slajda | July 23, 2010, 6:10PM

The Federal Air Marshal office in Orlando has been plagued with scandal over the past few years, most famously for a Jeopardy-style game supervisors played with derogatory categories for African-Americans and people they thought were gay.

With the special agent in charge of the office, Bill Reese, announcing his retirement this week -- presumably due to allegations of discrimination and impropriety, although TSA officials say it's because of personal reasons -- we thought we'd recap some of what's allegedly been going in the office.

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TSA

TSA Withdraws Subpoenas Against Bloggers

Zachary Roth | January 4, 2010, 9:13AM

Security at the Denver airport.

The Transportation Security Administration seems to have had second thoughts about those subpoenas it issued to two bloggers in an attempt to find out who leaked the agency's new security directive, issued in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing attack.

On Friday evening, a TSA spokeswoman sent out the following statement:

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TSA

Blogger To Fight TSA Subpoena

Zachary Roth | December 31, 2009, 4:31PM

Security at the Denver airport.

One of the two bloggers who was subpoenaed by the federal government after posting a leaked safety directive from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has asked for a delay so that he can challenge the subpoena in court.

Chris Elliott will fight the subpoena in court next week, Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press told the AP. She is serving as a spokesperson for Elliott, a leading travel journalist who writes for the Washington Post, MSNBC, and other allies.

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TSA

Feds Subpoena Bloggers For Posting TSA Security Memo

Zachary Roth | December 30, 2009, 7:20PM

Security at the Denver airport.

Federal agents went to the homes of two bloggers Tuesday to issue subpoenas in an effort to find out who leaked them a memo on the Transportation Security Administration's enhanced security procedures in the wake of the failed Christmas Day terror attack. The agents looked through the computer, Blackberry, and iPhone of one of the bloggers, and told him they'd sit outside his house until he gave them the information they wanted, he says.

On Sunday, Chris Elliott, a well-regarded travel journalist who writes for National Geographic, MSNBC, and the Washington Post, published on his blog a TSA security directive, issued in the hours after the failed bombing incident. The directive, which went to airline, airport, and government personnel, outlined enhanced screening procedures, including performing a "thorough pat-down of all passengers at boarding gate prior to boarding, concentrating on upper legs and torso."

Around the same time, Steven Frischling, who writes a blog for KLM Dutch Royal airlines, posted the same directive.

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