Airports to Opt Out of the TSA

by George Donnelly on November 18, 2010

The Augusta Chronicle reports that some airports are opting out of the TSA. This is a smart move on their part as they stand to lose business if they don’t. Contact your local airport today and demand they opt out too!

ATLANTA – Airports in Florida and Georgia are debating whether to replace Transportation Security Administration employees who run security checkpoints with private contractors.

Republican Rep. John Mica of Florida sent a letter to the nation’s 100 busiest airports this month urging them to consider using contractors. He’s a longtime critic of the TSA.

Sanford Airport Authority CEO Larry Dale said his board has authorized him to opt out of using TSA employees at the Orlando Sanford International Airport. Dale said he expects to send the government final notice in January.

Macon City Councilor Erick Erickson said he wants to stop using TSA screeners at the small Middle Georgia Regional Airport. Erickson said a private contractor has more ability to fire security workers who are rude to passengers.

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{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }

jillco November 18, 2010 at 10:10 am

Be careful what you wish for! I would trust private companies even less than I would trust the TSA to keep our images private.

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George Donnelly November 18, 2010 at 11:17 am

The thing is, a private company is more susceptible to consumer pressure and most likely would not be using naked body scanners.

That said, any state-chartered corporation, even if nominally private, has government privileges that limit its accountability. The root solution is pull back from the wars and the empire, end corporate welfare and even end the state.

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Aeronot November 18, 2010 at 11:44 am

George that troublesome reality thing comes into play. Private security would be more likely to examine your privates. Whatever name the boys from Blackwater are going by this week, I’m sure they would institute full body cavity searches in record time.

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Anonymous November 18, 2010 at 2:44 pm

Wow so what you people want is a Private Security firm with no accountability to take over a Federalized, controlled, accountable and impregnable screening force. Good luck, I see an attack in our near future. Americans are so spoiled. You want protection with no loss of freedoms. Think back to 9-11. would you have been saying the same things if this took place right after that day? Grow up and get a life instead of bashing a working system. Everyone hates the IRS but no one complains when a Police officer comes to assist you when your being assaulted. Sounds funny because the tax laws the IRS enforces pays all civil service salaries. Once again society announces its ignorance.

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Becky November 18, 2010 at 7:16 pm

“Think back to 9/11″. Idiotic thing to say. Don’t you remember that those terrorists didn’t bring bombs on board? That they used the planes as missles? Go ahead – give up the rest of your civil liberties. Better yet – get out of my country.

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September Clues November 18, 2010 at 8:02 pm

Yeah think back to 9/11 — when the media facilitated a military psyop and gullible individuals such as yourself fell for it hook, line and sinker.

And for your information, all taxes collected/taken/extorted by the IRS goes toward paying only a fraction of the interest on the outstanding Federal Debt owed to the private banksters who wield control over our economy.

https://www.uhuh.com/taxstuff/gracecom.htm

Ignorance? …pfffttt

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Becky November 19, 2010 at 3:34 pm

What the heck does the IRS have to do with this conversation?

BTW – the banks aren’t the only ones screwing this country financially.

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September Clues November 19, 2010 at 3:51 pm

@Becky What the heck does the IRS have to do with this conversation?

Zip — I was responding to a zombie robot’s comment who was unable to stay on topic. However, the military psyop — a.k.a. 9/11 — is very relevant to the so-called enhanced airport security intrusions. Sadly, if the story given to the public is sufficiently scary, people can be conditioned to accept all manner of atrocities.

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jillco November 18, 2010 at 3:26 pm

Don’t trust Rep. Mica, either. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has some kind of connection to private airport security firms, equipment, etc.

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Connie November 18, 2010 at 3:46 pm

Yesterday the TSA said “I’m not going to change those policies,” the nation’s transportation security chief declared Wednesday.

If an airport used a private contractor for passenger screening my money would be spent with them over one that uses the TSA. The untouchable, omnipresent, oppressive arm (hand???) and attitude of the TSA makes it unacceptable.

My concern is that the TSA will divide and conquer- create a separate and less invasive screening for the flight crew and leave us helpless sheep under the current, criminal guidelines. Folks have to sit down with their children and spouses and say “we are driving” or “we are not going” because of this. I’d much rather have my child/teenager cry over missing a trip than cry because some TSA person did a pat down on them.

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Anonymous November 18, 2010 at 4:08 pm

80 years ago US citizens thought the BOI (Now the FBI) was worthless. 8 years ago US citizens though US Customs and Border Patrol and INS (Now CBP and ICE) were useless. Looks like the people simply complain because they can and obviously dont know what they need. Idiots

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Laura Holan November 19, 2010 at 2:42 pm

I don’t recall anyone ever saying those agencies were useless. Don’t say “everyone” because that is not true. Your argument is juvenile and you are making it just to keep your TSA job.

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Rik November 18, 2010 at 7:07 pm

We have only had a handful of attacks that have been thwarted since Sept 11. Why try to change the system right now when we are at a heightened threat level. All the back and forth and uproar is only making us look disorganized and leaving us open to attacks risking negative sentiment from TSA who will be less focused on their jobs, the jobs that have kept us safe for the last 9 years.

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Ruth Dinsmore November 18, 2010 at 9:00 pm

As Patrick Henry said:
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

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Laura Holan November 19, 2010 at 2:40 pm

So we should just sit back and let the TSA do whatever they want to us and say it is for our own good? Never waste a good crisis to get more power to control people. They lied to us! They said they were not storing the pictures. Now not only are we finding out they lied, the pictures show up in the media. No thanks to that protection. If I can’t drive to my destination, I am not going.

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Becky November 19, 2010 at 3:38 pm

I’m with you, Laura. Course, that leaves out Hawaii…hhmmmm, may have to check out a ship.

So why aren’t ships & trains going thru this crap? We focus on planes because of 9/11? When there were no bombs?

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Becky November 19, 2010 at 3:36 pm

Ignorance is believing TSA has “kept us safe for 9 years”.

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alan joue November 18, 2010 at 8:44 pm

opting out of TSA just makes the invasion of privacy worse since the scanner photos will be sold to porno websites. don’t people realize that the private sector’s GREED is the root of all of america’s ills including loss of privacy, identity fraud, loss of civil rights, and the recession? we need to repeal the national security act and abolish the national security administration(gestapo) and use sensible logic to insure airline security such as boarding pass checks

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anonymous November 18, 2010 at 10:34 pm

TSA workers look like a bunch of retards on a power trip , drolling is next and this security measure will be guarded by monkeys .In Phoenix Sky Harbor airport i had the unpleasant surprise to be manhandled by one of those idiots and when i made a joke about it (asking him if at least could by me dinner first) he got all upset and started to treated me with all sorts of fines and other bullshit but he stooped when i start recording him . I wonder one of the requirements to be a TSA worker is to have an IQ equal with chicken ?
Napoletano does n`t know who is to be put in this position because she is to good for that .
This country was known for freedom but not anymore we are prisoners of our government and when i think we put them there !

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Anonymous November 19, 2010 at 12:09 am

I don’t think we should be so gung-ho to have the TSA pull out of airports, because apparently the TSA still sets the rules about how passengers are supposed to be screened. It’s the rules that are wrong, not who pays the screeners.

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Anthony Martin November 19, 2010 at 12:22 am

I think this is a non-story. We know that before TSA, the FAA regulated airport security. TSA says, regardless of who actually does the job, they now regulate airport security policies. So opting out of TSA agents and equipment isn’t any different from the pre-9/11 situation where the private security’s hands were tied.

There is one major difference. As an airport, if you opt out of the government agents and equipment, you have to pass along the cost (ultimately to the customer). So basically TSA is welfare for the airports/airlines/customer.

Anyway, TSA still calls the shots and creates the policies, even if a contractor is doing the actual work. It’s just as much of a problem as before 9/11.

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Laura Holan November 19, 2010 at 2:34 pm

so you work for TSA? You think it is okay for innocent people to be x-rayed every trip or to have their bodies rubbed by a stranger every trip? You may enjoy the pat down, but not every one does.

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Tycho Brahe November 19, 2010 at 10:21 am

Exposure to ionizing radiation is hazardous no matter how low the dose. The pilots are right to be concerned and so is the public. We are expected to take the word of the United States government that this is a safe procedure at a time when just about every thing the government says is either a lie or a distortion. What is needed is a study to demonstrate we are not being seriously irridiated and therfor increasing our risk of developing leukemia. I propose that every TSA employee who uses these scanners must pass through them before starting a shift and that such scanners be installed at the Bureau of Homeland Security and every administrator be scanned before entering his/her work site.

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September Clues November 19, 2010 at 4:00 pm

We’ll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false.

– William Casey, CIA Director 1981

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Local Flyer November 19, 2010 at 11:24 am

There is no way a private security firm can be held as accountable, or respond to pressure from the public, as a gov’t organization. They have no where near the training and will take anybody. Stop the procedure. That’s the thing.

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Laura Holan November 19, 2010 at 2:36 pm

I understand that dogs can smell explosive materials. Having them check a person might be better than the pat down or being x-rayed. One of our problems is that the public has this need to know everything. So we publish in the media the steps we are taking to catch the terrorists. They immediately start plotting how they will get around our defense.

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