TSA screenings miss loaded handguns, bombs, says report

Sunday, December 19, 2010 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: TSA, handguns, health news

(NaturalNews) Getting through the airport security line with dangerous weapons is far easier than most people might think, according to a recent ABC News report. Undercover government agents testing the effectiveness of common U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) airport security protocols found that the majority of the time, TSA agents completely missed obvious weaponry like bombs and loaded handguns stowed in luggage.

In the case of Farid Seif, an Iranian-American businessman who travels frequently out of Houston Airport, agents failed to identify a loaded Glock pistol in Seif's bag that he allegedly forgot had been left inside. After he arrived at his destination, Seif was shocked to find that he has made it through the screening process and onto the airplane with a loaded handgun, and immediately let airport security officials know about the security failure.

And according to the same ABC News report, Seif's case is hardly isolated. Undercover agents who conducted a test at Newark Liberty International Airport in 2006 found that they were able to get concealed bombs through the screening system more than 90 percent of the time. And similar outcomes have occurred at various other airports as well, including Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has refused to release any more specific data about the checkpoint breaches, but insists they highlight the need for increased security measures. However, some say that the release of this new information is nothing more than propaganda to defend the invasive new enhanced pat-downs and back-scatter X-ray protocols that have received much flack in recent weeks for violating personal and civil liberties.

Sources for this story include:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/loaded-gun-sli...