TSA Experiences

[Andrea]

Wedgie, noogie, pushup: Life inside TSA’s intelligence office

https://www.revealnews.org/blog/wedgie-noogie-pushup-life-inside-tsas-intelligence-office/

An accusation of a wedgie. Forced motivational push-ups. Speculation about what a cohort looked like naked. Exile for reporting misconduct. Even a noogie for a job well done.

This is not 1950s fraternity-house hazing or high school locker-room Tom Foolery. These are accounts of life inside the intelligence office of the Transportation Security Administration.

Since the March 22 airport and subway bombings in Brussels that killed 32, the top U.S. transportation security official has scrambled to quell fears about the risk of similar attacks on domestic soil by highlighting the agency’s intelligence-driven approach to security.

Already facing multiple congressional inquiries into senior-level misconduct, internal complaints of retaliation and the ire of the aviation industry over hour-long security checkpoint delays, TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger earlier this month told reporters that the “vast national intelligence network” helped bolster transportation security. His comments came days after he testified to a Senate commerce committee that under his leadership TSA has enhanced how it shares threat information.

But the agency’s own Office of Intelligence and Analysis, plagued by near-constant turnover at its top levels and often in turmoil, has struggled to reach its potential, insiders say. The office’s track record includes leadership battles that have fostered a toxic culture, produced intelligence that frequently is of little value and mishandled classified information that jeopardized the agency’s direct access to useful intelligence, interviews with current and former intelligence officials, court records and other documents show.

One internal photograph, obtained by Reveal, even shows an employee held in a headlock, getting a noogie from a senior government executive at an awards ceremony.

The office has repeatedly mishandled sensitive information, including a leak related to the Boston Marathon bombing investigation. That has rankled intelligence agencies, which in turn temporarily restricted TSA’s access to classified records.

These issues and others are likely to arise during a House oversight committee hearing Wednesday as lawmakers continue to investigate management practices and misconduct at TSA amid concerns about security gaps in the nation’s transportation systems.

Mark Livingston is one of three current TSA managers the oversight committee has called to testify. He was the intelligence office’s deputy assistant administrator from July 2013 until October 2014, when he was reassigned after raising concerns about discrimination against women and inappropriate behavior. In an interview, Livingston described a culture of harassment and retaliation for reporting misconduct. TSA has major management challenges that result in the agency’s failure to perform effectively, which poses a risk to national security and economic stability, he said.

“The culture of any organization is shaped by the worst behavior of its senior leaders. I keep seeing these examples – there seems to be no bottom to this failed leadership abyss,” he said. “The environment at TSA among senior leaders is like ‘Lord of the Flies’ – either attack or be attacked. Even with changes in leadership I haven’t seen a change.”

Livingston said he refused to brush aside another top official’s inappropriate comment directed at his female assistant. He also reported a manager who hazed employees, including women wearing skirts, by making them do pushups in the office. He made those claims and others in a discrimination lawsuit filed recently in U.S. District Court.

“We ask the public if they see something to say something, but we can’t ask our employees,” Livingston said, referring to the Homeland Security Department’s campaign motto to report suspicious activity. “No one is safe at TSA who reports issues. I am concerned that employees fear their supervisors more than they fear a potential terrorist threat.”

Lax security protocols for handling classified or sensitive information shook the broader intelligence community’s confidence in the agency. Livingston said he reported some of these security blunders. While he did not face retaliation for calling attention to those incidents, others did not fare as well, he said.

“Intel is happening in spite of leadership, not because of it,” he said. “TSA needs intel professionals running the intelligence office, not program managers or specialists.”

TSA declined an interview request. In a written statement emailed to Reveal, an agency spokesman said the agency recently was given expanded access to a sensitive terrorist identity database and regularly meets with officials from intelligence agencies and the aviation industry.

“TSA currently has complete and immediate access to the intelligence it needs to effectively conduct its counterterrorism mission,” the spokesman wrote.

Debra D’Agostino, a Washington-based attorney who represents multiple TSA employees, said the TSA intelligence office’s type of mismanagement is “juvenile, frat-boy nonsense.”

“This is not what one would expect to hear of an office that has such an important role in our nation’s security,” D’Agostino said. “It’s been very disappointing to hear about what is going on in that office.”

D’Agostino has fought the agency over false allegations, hostile work environment and retaliation. One of her female clients who works in the intelligence office was accused of giving a male employee a wedgie, among other allegations of inappropriate conduct. The accused woman denied she had ever pulled or even attempted to pull his underwear up his buttocks. She did not even know what a wedgie was, and had to look up the definition of the word, D’Agostino said.

The agency’s Office of Professional Responsibility nonetheless investigated and proposed removing the woman from her job, which she challenged, D’Agostino said. The woman admitted that she had called an employee a vulgar word, albeit in jest, and later apologized. Instead of removing her, the agency gave her a letter of counseling.

Livingston, D’Agostino and others say the agency shuffles senior leaders who come under fire, rather than addressing the underlying problems. That creates even more issues, especially when top managers don’t have the relevant experience to lead. Intelligence officials say that continues to be the case in the office.

The harassment extends to gender discrimination and sexually offensive language, according to several current and former employees. Raechell Bailey, a former executive advisor to Livingston and others, said that several women tried to speak to TSA’s top leaders about specific issues, but were largely ignored.

In one instance, a male manager wondered aloud to a female employee what another co-worker looked like undressed. In another example, Bailey, who served in her role from 2013 to 2015, said a supervisor spread a false rumor while she was on maternity leave that her newborn daughter looked like her boss. She said she left TSA when she saw little support from top officials in addressing the harassment issues.

“There may be intel issues but more importantly to me there are people issues and they are not concerned about remedying it,” she said. “We’re saying women are being sexually harassed at all levels – directors to analysts – every day. Every other branch of government has a zero tolerance policy for sexual harassment. TSA does not enforce that policy.

“Behind the SCIF doors is a boys’ club, and they know it,” she added, referring to intelligence jargon for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, a secure area where classified information is stored and handled. “It’s a stretch to call TSA ‘intelligence-driven’ based on how they manage people.”

For some career intelligence officials, several of whom came from the National Security Agency, the office became a government career graveyard if they fell out of favor with top leaders, current and former officials said.

When it came to mishandling sensitive information, instead of identifying the breakdown that caused the errors, senior leaders instead went looking for a scapegoat, several officials said.

Cindy Farkus, who ran the office after decades at the National Security Agency, refused to fire one official, Andrew Colsky, who was blamed — wrongly, she and others said — for one such mishap. Farkus was then reassigned to another unit of the Homeland Security Department, and eventually left government.

“I’ve seen weird things in the intelligence community over the years … but I’d never seen anything like that,” she said.

Although the TSA intelligence office had made progress, the intelligence community reportedly balked at TSA after that incident. Instead, the nation’s spymasters saw the TSA office as clowns with whom they didn’t want to share any information, said Michelle Farr, who quit as Farkus’ deputy after her reassignment. After leaving TSA Farr consulted for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. She now works in private industry.

But with the Brussels attacks, Neffenger, the TSA administrator, has a new opportunity to put the office back on the right track. Otherwise, the traveling public – and the director of national intelligence – should be concerned, she said.

“People die when we’re not all (working) together,” Farr said. “To be intel-driven, you have to have a good intel shop.”

[Andrea]

Minnesota T.S.A. Manager Says He Was Told to Target Somali-Americans

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/us/politics/minnesota-tsa-manager-says-he-was-told-to-target-somali-americans.html

A Transportation Security Administration manager here said he was instructed by his supervisor to provide the names of Somali-American leaders visiting the agency’s local office so they could be screened against national security databases for terrorist ties, a disclosure that quickly drew accusations of racial profiling.

In a midyear performance evaluation, David McMahon, the supervisor of Andrew Rhoades, an assistant federal security director, wrote that he had advised Mr. Rhoades to check potential visitors to the agency’s offices with the field intelligence officer to determine “if we want them in our office space or meet elsewhere.”

Mr. McMahon, a deputy federal security director, wrote that he “reminded employee that with our current world affairs that we need to be mindful of those we interact with.”

Mr. Rhoades, who works with Somalis in the Twin Cities area, said he considered the remarks racial profiling and reported the incident to the T.S.A.’s Office of the Chief Counsel and the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. He has also contacted members of the Minnesota congressional delegation and the Office of Special Counsel, an independent agency that protects federal employees from reprisal.

“I have never been asked to give the names of anyone else who visited the office to the intelligence officer,” Mr. Rhoades said.

The Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties said Tuesday that it had opened an investigation into the allegations.

In a statement, the T.S.A., an agency in the Department of Homeland Security, said it did not tolerate racial profiling.

“We are reviewing this complaint and will take appropriate action if there is evidence that any T.S.A. officer acted inappropriately,” the agency said. “However, it would be unfair and irresponsible to infer or conclude that profiling is a common T.S.A. practice based upon a single interaction between one employee and his supervisor.”

The disclosure by Mr. Rhoades has prompted accusations of racial profiling from some members of the Somali community, who say they have a long history of mistreatment by T.S.A. at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. It also threatens to undermine efforts by the Obama administration to fight against the recruitment of Somali youth in the United States by the Islamic State and other extremists groups.

Dozens of young men have left Minnesota to join terrorist groups, according to law enforcement officials. Several men who were accused of trying to leave the country to join the Islamic State were indicted by a federal grand jury here in October.

Somali leaders acknowledge that the arrest of young men trying to join terrorist groups like the Islamic State is a cause for alarm, but they say that law enforcement agencies should not use that as an excuse to subject the entire community to additional scrutiny.

Minneapolis is one of several pilot cities for the Obama administration’s programs to counter violent extremism by providing money and training to help communities whose youth are targeted by terrorist groups.

Jeh Johnson, the secretary of Homeland Security, visited the city in 2014 and met with Somalis to discuss, among other things, the issue of racial profiling. Many shared stories of their experience while traveling through the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

T.S.A. officials here say they try to strike a balance between properly screening for security threats while at the same time avoiding the perception of racial profiling.

Officials said they have hosted Somali elders at the airport to explain how the agency carries out its mission and attended community meetings to resolve grievances. T.S.A. officials say they have also recruited Somalis as screeners and for other jobs. And the agency has assigned people like Mr. Rhoades to help address problems like people having trouble getting on a flight, or those who feel they have been singled out for extra screening.

Somali leaders give the agency credit for its outreach, but they say the instructions by a T.S.A. manager to pass on the names of those seeking redress at the agency’s offices to an intelligence officer is a setback.

“Why would you want to check the terror watch list for people who are coming to your office to seek help?” said Sheikh Sa’ad Musse Roble, president of the World Peace Organization in Minneapolis, who has spoken at the White House and serves on several local law enforcement task forces to counter violent extremism, including one led by the United States attorney for Minnesota, Andrew M. Luger. “You are assuming that they have done something wrong.”

Other leaders say the disclosure will only fuel the anger many Somalis feel toward law enforcement agencies. And, they say, it will create even more skepticism about the federal government’s multimillion-dollar community outreach programs to fight terrorist recruitment.

“It’s damaging,” said Jaylani Hussein, a Somali-American who is executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “They want Somali leaders to be a part of task forces and have conversations about countering extremism, but they treat everyone like a suspect.”

Minnesota’s growing Somali-American population has received increased attention from law enforcement and intelligence agencies in their counterpropaganda battles with the Islamic State, which has aggressively recruited young Somalis.

Representative Keith Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, said he found troubling the local T.S.A.’s suggestion to potentially screen people who visit its office seeking help. He has written a letter to Mr. Johnson calling for an investigation.

“The Somali-American community, and all Minnesotans, deserve to know if T.S.A. officials are engaging in racial, ethnic or religious profiling,” Mr. Ellison said.

The Minneapolis episode is not the first time the T.S.A. has been accused of racial profiling by employees. In 2012, more than 30 federal officers at Logan International Airport in Boston told officials that a behavioral detection program intended to spot potential terrorists by observing their mannerisms had relied on racial profiling, targeting not only people from the Middle East but also blacks, Hispanics and other members of minority groups.

The latest accusations come as the T.S.A. is under fire from Congress for retaliating against whistle-blowers at the agency who have spoken out about security lapses at a number of airports. Dozens of employees have been reassigned, demoted, investigated or fired for reporting lapses or misconduct by senior managers, charges that were later upheld by whistle-blower protection agencies, records show.

On Wednesday, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing to examine misconduct at the agency. The committee has spoken with several former and current T.S.A. staff members and has requested hundreds of documents. Mr. Rhoades was one of three T.S.A. officials who testified.

While most of the hearing covered security lapses, long airport lines, and alleged retaliations against whistle-blowers, several members of the committee, including Representative William Lacy Clay, Democrat of Missouri, raised the issue of racial profiling by T.S.A. personnel.

In Minnesota, Mr. Rhoades is being praised by some Somalis for making the exchange with his supervisor public.

“It is what many of us have long suspected,” said Omar Jamal, a community activist. “Now we have confirmation.”

[Andrea]

TSA at MSP Airport failed 9 of 12 tests by undercover Red Team

http://www.fox9.com/news/134259040-story

On Monday, a Homeland Security undercover unit called Red Team tested passenger screening at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. It did not go well.

Source tells Fox 9, TSA agents failed 9 out of 12 tests, passed two tests and one test was inconclusive. Sources say the inconclusive test involved the full body scanner, the one where passengers lift their arms, known as Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT). Those sources say the machine wasn’t calibrated properly and failed detect simulated explosive material that was strapped to an undercover agent’s leg.

A separate Red Team tested MSP cargo, and MSP passed both tests.

What the Red Team found at MSP wasn’t unusual. In June 2015, a classified Inspector General’s report revealed that undercover testers at some of the nation’s busiest airports were able to get weapons past TSA agents in 67 out of 70 tests – a 95 percent failure rate.

The Red Team test at MSP is believed to be the first since passenger screening was reconfigured with consolidated screening at the north and south end of the ticketing concourse. The redesign led to 90-minute wait times during the spring break travel season and calls by Minnesota Congressional leaders to improve wait times.

[Andrea]

U.S. air traveler patience with TSA at 'breaking point'

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/11/aviation/airport-frustration-tsa-passenger-screening-lines/index.html

Get ready, America, for a summer full of long security lines at major airports, missed flight connections and millions of grumpy passengers.
That's the warning from authorities at the nation's most congested and busiest airports and the Transportation Security Administration.

Airports are starting to take matters into their own hands.

In an unusual, strongly worded letter to the TSA, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- which oversees the New York City area's three major airports -- has essentially threatened to fire the TSA by privatizing their passenger screening process.

The letter mentioned the "inadequacy of TSA passenger screening," fears of widespread "customer dissatisfaction" and described wait times as "abysmal."

From mid-March to mid-April, there were hundreds of times that passenger waits lasted more than 20 minutes -- and sometimes more than 55 minutes, the letter said.

"The patience of the flying public has reached a breaking point," said the letter from Port Authority Aviation Department Director Thomas Bosco and Chief Security Officer Thomas Belfiore.

The airspace surrounding New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport and New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport ranks among the most congested in the nation. About 126 million passengers passed through those airports last year.

Airports in other cities, including Seattle, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta have expressed similar frustration with the TSA.

Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport -- which handled more than 100 million travelers last year -- sent a similar letter to the TSA threatening to privatize passenger security lines.

It's partnering with Delta Air Lines and the TSA to figure out a better passenger screening procedure.

They're calling these experimental lines Innovation Lines -- or I-Lines.
Two I-Lines are expected to debut at Atlanta's south domestic terminal checkpoint on May 24, the TSA said. Here's how they'll be different:

Baggage bins automatically move to a separate conveyor belt if a TSA agent IDs them as suspicious.
Baggage bins automatically recirculate after they move through the security machine.
The I-Line includes special "divestiture" areas where passengers can take off shoes, belts, etc. at their own pace.

The TSA has been talking about these ideas for years, said Chad Wolf, a former TSA assistant administrator.

"All of these things will save time," he said. "We just don't know how much time."

The biggest time saver, Wolf said, likely will be re-routing suspicious bags.
"Re-routing bags to a different conveyor is a big deal," he said. "Once that belt stops, the whole line stops."

The X-ray machine that screens passenger bags is a "big time suck," Wolf said.

The decision that goes into stopping the belt and flagging a bag for extra scrutiny takes time and holds up the line.

The new equipment is similar to systems employed at London's Heathrow and Amsterdam's Schiphol, the TSA said.

The I-Lines will operate side-by-side with two regular lanes. Officials will gather data to compare and analyze the two systems.

The results will help the TSA create a pilot program that could be replicated at other airports..

The TSA has already warned that staffing issues might create long waits at the nation's big airports during the upcoming summer travel season.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh C. Johnson said he has called on Congress to approve more money to pay overtime for TSA officers working at airports across the nation this summer.

So far, that hasn't happened.

Factors like relatively lower fuel prices and fares are likely to drive passenger traffic higher this summer.

As for the carriers, American Airlines has blamed missed flights by thousands of its passengers on the TSA checkpoints.

The airline lobbying group Airlines for America has kicked off an aggressive social media campaign asking people to share photos of long security lines and post them with the hashtag: #iHatetheWait.

But what happens after passengers pass through the metal detectors and put their shoes back on and get on the planes and settle into their seats?
Apparently, a lot of us are able to put that unpleasantness behind us, according to a recent survey.

That's what we can surmise from the 2016 J.D. Power and Associates North America Airline Satisfaction Study, released Wednesday.

Satisfaction with North American airlines rose for a fourth straight year, measuring at a record high 726 points on a scale of 1,000.

On the other hand, airline customer complaints are at their worst level in 15 years, according to the 26th annual national Airline Quality Rating report, which was released in April. From 2014 to 2015, complaints rose by 38%.

[girlin2une]

Having flown many times in my life, I'm accustomed to the occasional "frisking". However, I've been frisked every time the last 3 times and today was frisked by a male. If I'm not mistaken, that's illegal...

[Andrea]

Former Arkansas TSA inspector pleads guilty to child porn charge

http://swtimes.com/news/former-arkansas-tsa-inspector-pleads-guilty-child-porn-charge

A former Transportation Security Agency inspector pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Little Rock to distribution of child pornography.

Raymond Kinney, 54, of Jacksonville was arrested in January 2015 and indicted in February 2015. He will be sentenced at a later date, according to a news release from Chris Thyer, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

As part of a plea deal, federal prosecutors have agreed to recommend a 20-year sentence, the maximum allowed by law, and not charge Kinney with enticement of a minor and other offenses, Thyer said.

Prosecutors say Kinney went to a motel in January 2015 to meet a person he thought was a 10-year-old girl for sex. Kinney had arranged the meeting through a social networking site and had sent several pictures and videos of child pornography over the Internet.

When Kinney went to meet the person he had been chatting with — in reality an undercover officer — he took sex toys and children's clothing with him, according to prosecutors.

The statutory penalty for distribution of child pornography is five to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

[Andrea]

Alleged war criminal worked for TSA

http://www.abc10.com/news/nation-now/alleged-war-criminal-worked-for-tsa/230069213?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitte r

An alleged Somali war criminal is on leave from his job at Dulles International Airport in Virginia after a CNN investigation discovered him working for the Transportation Security Administration there.

Yusuf Abdi Ali was dubbed Colonel Tukeh in the Somalian army, known for his violent acts during that country’s civil war.

Ali has been the subject of an investigation by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporationsince 1992, when journalists discovered him working in Toronto as a security guard.

During the Somali Civil War, which began in 1991, Ali was commander of a region of Somalia where unspeakable violence unfolded. Tens of thousands of men, women and children were killed there by government forces.

According to CNN, Ali is accused of terrorizing the Isaaq people. The actions included mass executions and burning villages, CNN reported.

Canada deported Ali, who eventually made it to the United States. After a series of security jobs, he ended up working for TSA as an unarmed security guard at Dulles International Airport.

Government contractor Master Security hired Ali and confirmed this week he’s now on administrative leave. His access to the airport has been withdrawn.

Master Security confirmed Ali passed a criminal background check by the FBI and a security threat assessment by the TSA.

According to ABC News, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which runs Dulles airport, said in a statement: "We have verified that all of these processes were followed and approved in this instance."

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Ali was trained in the United States in 1986, as part of a Pentagon program for foreign military officers.