Sheeple in Transit

In the course of my regular life, my good citizenship offers me rewards. While no one has yet given me a framed certificate or pulled me over to thank me for my conscientious driving, my interactions with authority figures are positive or, at the very least, neutral. Careful driving keeps my insurance rates low. Paying my taxes keeps the IRS from calling to set up a lunch date. Recycling gives me the encouraging message that I'm supporting my favorite planet when I sort my plastic containers according to the number stamped on the bottom. When I had a "Save Tibet" bumper sticker on my car, I rested in the unrewarded knowledge that I was, indeed, saving Tibet.

So, even if I am an unsung good citizen, I have come to reasonably expect that if I follow the rules of a civilized society, I will enjoy good vibes from its officers of justice, administrative government and security. Or, at the very least, they will ignore me, which is just as good. It is only at the airport that my confidence in the rightness of this begins to wobble. When I pass through the hiss of those automatic double doors, I am treated as something other than an upstanding American.

My days of happy travel, when I stayed awake all night in eager anticipation of flying somewhere, anywhere, are lost to me now. Like so many Americans, I have bowed my head to the lines, the wait, the planes that either don't arrive or don't depart, the hopelessly insufficient seating for even an average-sized adult, and the extinction of in-flight sustenance, free mini-bottles or hyper-vigilant flight attendants. I am told that I have to sacrifice my comfort and happy-go-lightly travel expectations in exchange for the assurance of safety provided by the Transportation Security Authority and its minions. And I would go along with this, uncomplaining, as all right-thinking sheeple do, but for the very disquieting truth that the TSA doesn't exactly inspire my confidence.

So, here's how it went down...

SeaTac has always been the most pleasant of airports to me. The food is good, the shops are interesting, it's a visually attractive space, and traffic flow works better than it does in many airports. It's a good place from which to arrive and depart and, in happier times, I enjoyed crossing the little sky bridge between the terminal and the rest of the world. SeaTac was the welcoming portal to home, either way. That changed for me, perhaps irrevocably, last month when I flew, outbound to California.

See me, a mild-mannered middle-aged woman with two children in tow. Here I am in my sensible travel shoes, my comfy pants and my bag full of magazines. I have done everything in my power to determine whether my cosmetics fall into any suspicious category of gels, liquids, balms, mousses, unguents, scrubs, exfoliates, pastes, glosses, creams, hydrates, topicals, mists, emollients, sprays, salves, poultices or washes. I am not packing a drink of any kind. I stand in line and do not shove. I have my U.S. passport and my valid drivers' license and I will show it to anyone who asks to see it. I am easily within my carry-on limit and I understand English if, and wherever, it is spoken. Yet I, a woman as harmless as white toast, roused a TSA worker to change furious colors like an enraged octopus.

To set the scene for you, passengers were being funneled into the security area through a single glass door. Since we were forced to rely on the TSA to control the flow of traffic through the narrow passage, we passengers could hardly be blamed for the subsequent bottleneck. But, as TSA workers were prodding passengers forward, another TSA worker just past the glass door was yelling over the din that we had to clear the path because we were committing a security violation. There was no room to move out of the way; we could not go back and the only way out or forward was by passing through the scanners. Our pathetic efforts to create an open aisle were futile as the throng of oncoming travelers kept pushing in.

In this crush, I was trying to follow the many conflicting directions of several TSA employees. They were tag-teaming one another and I began to feel like we were dancing a form of Security Hokey-Pokey: "Put your bag in the tub". "No. Take your bag out of the tub and put it flat on the belt." "No. Put your bag flat in the tub and shake it all about." "Play this glockenspiel while spinning on your bare feet and singing any of the score from Wagner's "Die Pfledermaus."

I must have allowed a look of confused frustration to flit across my face - or maybe it was something even less respectful - I'm not sure. In any case, it was an expression of some kind other than the happy acceptance sheeple in transit are supposed to wear. Perhaps there was an uncensored eye-roll involved. Whatever...my look tweaked the ire of a screener with a low tolerance threshold for sheeple showing signs of independent thought.

An unusually large and muscular TSA employee (wearing a uniform shirt a size or two too small with the sleeves rolled up to better define his powerful physique) angrily demanded if I was "dissin'" him with my "attitude" and telling me that it wasn't his problem "if you don't know how to put your bags through the scanner right." He might as well have added "stupid be-atch" onto that, because it was implied if not actually expressed.

I got within milliseconds of retorting, "Yo, Dog...what it look like?" and asking him if we were in rival gangs. In the end, I took the wiser course and stood down (the better to make my flight). I didn't have a really snappy comeback, anyway.

Yeah, I know what you're saying to yourself right now as you pull out your tiny violins and start to play a sad and sympathetic melody in solidarity with my plight. You're saying, "Ah...that poor, poor woman! She was OFFENDED at an airport! Where can we send a check to help cover the expenses of her therapy and rehabilitation?" Lest you think I am a whiney princess requiring gentle handling wherever I go, I already know that modern air travel is full of far more sinister and disastrous events than some security employee with limited customer service skills addressing me in an inappropriate manner. Stay with me, though...

My complaint is that in these, seemingly, dangerous times we rely on authorities like the TSA to boost our confidence. We have watched buildings come tumbling down from the force of crashing jet airliners; levees break and political chaos and corruption increase. Our governmental response to disasters has not been particularly encouraging and we've come to recognize that Oprah has better administrative skills than some of our agencies. I know that there are relatively few assurances in this world, but if you say your mission is to balance on a high stool in an airport and be "Vigilant. Effective. Efficient.", it might be conducive to inspire some confidence in your leadership through your words and actions.

In my first flush of annoyance, I was thinking very dark thoughts about the average TSA employee not appearing to be a whole lot more conscious than a complimentary in-flight beverage coaster. Checking the TSA employment board did not revise my negative opinion. The TSA want ads indicated that standards for screeners are marginal. The beginning salary for a screener is about $26K. A high school diploma/GED OR (not "and", but "or") 12 months of security experience is required. That experience is not specific, so the potential applicant could, presumably, have worked at a parking garage or mall.

(I once read an employment ad for a cheese slicer in a deli, and the requirements were more stringent.) Proficiency in English (not fluency) is required, as is U.S. Citizenship or status as a U.S. National. Screeners receive about 72 hours (less than two weeks) of class room instructions and around 120 hours of on-the-job-training.

To get a broader view, I explored the blogosphere for TSA issues. And, as you might guess, there's a lot of outrage to be found. People who bother to write and respond to these blogs seem pretty well divided between the Malcontents and the Compliant Apologists (these comments include those from, presumably, former and current TSA employees who variously defend the quality of TSA personnel or state that most of their associates are incapable of reading a comic book, let alone security regulations).

Many Malcontents are convinced that the TSA is just another redoubt on the slippery slope toward eroding our civil rights and criminalizing innocent people. Within the Malcontents are a subgroup of Rogues - passengers who swear that they make it their mission to tweak the TSA just to see if they are capable of catching violations. One man said that he always packed three pocket knives and in years of flying has only had one confiscated. Rogues loathe airport security a bit more than the rest of us and believe that many security guidelines are arbitrary or that enforcement is simply at the pleasure of TSA employees who get some sort of perverse power rush by hassling the beleaguered public.

Malcontents are convinced that the unpublished regulations (Sensitive Security Information, or SSI) of the TSA are NOT in place to protect our safety, but to protect the airlines and the screening companies from both legal liability and to hide incompetence and negligence. Apparently, if I understand this correctly, the TSA has the power to promulgate and enforce rules to which you, the air passenger, do not have access.

So, when you pass through the scanner and your...I don't know what...let's say bubble wrap... is confiscated, the TSA worker doesn't have to explain why. All he or she needs to say is that regulations forbid bubble wrap on airplanes. Malcontents will say that in the name of security, you, your possessions and your privacy can be manipulated any which way (see Backscatter X-ray technology) and there is little public oversight because it's all so very secret. This from Richard taken from an article in God Knows Where:

"...former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Special Agent Brian Sullivan charged today, "...[the] TSA is acting to protect the old FAA, the airlines and the screening companies from legal liability, a possibility that was brought into sharp relief when TSA attorney Carla Martin's alleged collusion with aviation industry attorneys was exposed during the Zacarias Moussaoui trial.

Sullivan was special agent and risk management specialist for the FAA in New England, where he analyzed the security vulnerabilities of airports and aviation facilities in the region.

Furthermore, security examiners find that the organization of TSA has a built-in conflict of self-interest. Security expert, Bob Poole testified on airport screening last year before a subcommittee of the House Homeland Security Committee that the TSA is acting both as the regulator AND the provider of major airport security service - that is, the fox is both guarding the henhouse and eating off the menu at the henhouse. The TSA makes the rules, they enforce the rules and they evaluate their own performance. That's like having your bank audit itself, or your kids write their own notes for excused absences from school. We understand that self-interest will very likely produce contaminated results when we police ourselves.

Additionally, the Malcontents point to the overall quality of education, training, experience, immigrant/ethnic status and English fluency among TSA personnel, and find it a dismal pool of workers.

Conversely, the Compliants are outraged that the Malcontents don't appreciate how diligently the TSA is working to protect our safety. Some (but not all) persons associated with airport security take great umbrage at criticisms, and state that they are saving the lives of air travelers from Doers of Evil every single day. They characterize the Malcontents as, selfishly, demanding personal comfort and convenience instead of recognizing the inherent danger of commercial flight in the Age of Terror.

The Malcontents call the Compliants "sheeple" - people willing to tolerate any insult, indignity and assault on their constitutional rights to maintain a deluded sense of security. For example, after I added to the "False Authority Syndrome" discussion on the blog www.davidgagne.net (if you go there, be prepared to be disgruntled), I received the following from a reader named Lauren, who claimed to work in some sort of airport explosives security related position which allowed her both insider knowledge into security issues and access to the opinions of federal air marshals:

"If TSA is doing such a lousy job, why aren't our airliners being hijacked, taken over, and blown up? Why do Federal Air marshals say they are safer flying from U.S. airports than any other countries? The way some of your comments read make it seem like you all could give a [expletive] about whether or not the plane you fly on is commandeered and/or blown up. I'll gladly stand in line for an hour, comply with confusing security rules, and even try to play a 'banjo naked while hopping around counterclockwise on one foot' if that will get me to my final destination safely."

While my intention would never be to deliberately jack with TSA personnel, Lauren seems to think that airline security and decent treatment are mutually exclusive, like politics and honesty, and we shouldn't expect the two to coexist in the Universe. But, ok. I admit that my complaint is petty. More Compliant comment from Monica:

"I guess you would rather TSA be replaced with non-uniformed employees, all smiley, happy with an "anything goes" attitude, restricting nothing or no one.

You do not understand the details of the screening process, and therefore the necessity of actions taken by the TSA. You blame TSA for all things negative. much akin to "throwing out the baby with the dirty bath water". It was TSA who removed the ban on small scissors, tools, etc. last year, all for the cause of customer service and focusing more on IED's, a move which was vehemently opposed by the air crew unions.

If the extent of your resolution to all the negative experiences you have described is a blog comment to this website, I would surmise you are a glutton for punishment, ignorant, or both. Climb out of your little box, step back, and look at the big picture. There's much more to the safety and security of the airline industry here than the rantings a few disgruntled air travelers who are likely more rude and inconsiderate than anyone they encounter."

True enough. I do not understand the screening process for at least three reasons: they change every time I fly, so I can't learn from experience; the TSA does not share its regulations for "security purposes", so we can't learn the screening procedures beforehand and, of course, TSA employees themselves are often unable to agree on what's allowed and what's verboten. I've had friends wearing underwire bras patted down because of the wires.

I've, mistakenly, packed two tweezers and had one mysteriously, confiscated while the other one was returned to my care. I've had my daughter (six years old at the time), separated from me and then shouted at for trying to run back to me. I have a friend whose 7-year-old son had his crayons inspected and had the little plastic crayon sharpener that's imbedded in the crayon box removed.

Monica is right - I am ignorant as to why these things are done for my benefit. (Although she misses the point - I wasn't carrying anything suspicious through SeaTac nor was I arguing that I SHOULD be allowed to bring along my pointy weapons and dangerous chemicals.)

Compliants, unlike Malcontents, however, seem to be more in favor of building bridges of understanding. Several Compliant Apologists took the trouble to remind me to take action if I have concerns - if I'm going to walk my talk I should ask to speak to a managing supervisor, take down the employees' badge numbers and write a complaint to the TSA.

While I don't have any problem complaining, I cannot imagine digging my heels in on a busy morning at SeaTac, pulling out my notebook and pen in the screening line and saying to the Big Hostile TSA Guy, "I demand your name and employee number, Sir. I am going to write well-crafted and strongly worded letter to your supervisor, young man, and send additional copies to the TSA. I have no doubt that this will go into your permanent file! Then, you will feel the sting of my displeasure!"

I have a feeling that working for the TSA is not a lifetime career choice for most employees, and they move in and out of their jobs fairly quickly (in the past three or so years, there is an average 15% turnover of TSA screeners; down from 126 percent in the late 90s). Nevertheless, here is later Compliant comment from Monica who eases up on me in the name of peace and understanding:

"The fact still stands: since 9/11, air carriers departing from U.S. domestic airports have remained free of the events TSA is delegated to prevent. I USED to work at the checkpoint and I have witnessed passengers berating and verbally abusing coworkers, (including myself), occasionally bringing some to the point of tears and no action was taken. I have also witnessed petty customer complaints leading to officers receiving counseling statements that go into their personnel files. If you took the time to ask for a supervisor when you felt you and/or your daughter were being treated inappropriately, you would have been doing what is right. I DO know that positive attitudes, empathy, understanding, fairness, and understanding can either prevent or help resolve most unpleasant encounters. You could do your part to help TSA identify "problem employees" by lodging a complaint when you witness inappropriate actions of TSA employees. Like Any workforce, there ARE those who "fly under the radar" and tarnish the image of the many hard-working and well-intentioned men and women there. Should you have any future experiences with TSA like what you have described, I hope you will heed my words. The world is shrinking and we must all do what we can to help one another!"

I was grateful that Monica extended her plea for a kinder, gentler tomorrow by NOT calling me an ignorant glutton for punishment as she had in a prior posting. (Another Compliant commented that those of us who run afoul of the TSA are probably drunk at the time.)

But cooperation at the airport is not really the issue, is it? It's not about courteous behavior, really. It's about looking to these people for reassurance that we are safe when we take to the skies, and it's hard to inspire that when so many TSA employees themselves seem so very confused and hostile. Is the TSA more competent than FEMA? Will we learn, on some disastrous day that no one really had a clue and we're so very sorry and a tireless investigation and shakedown among the leadership will be forthcoming? Is the SeaTac guy dedicated to my well-being or is this just the best paying lousy job he could get given his range of education, skills and experience? "Vigilant. Effective. Efficient." God, I hope so. Give me reason to believe.

Serious Note-to-Self: I am aware that the above is a superficial comment on a very sobering topic. Prior this flight, I had a sheeple mentality about airport security and the subculture of screeners (see http://www.tsa-screeners.com/start/, sort of a MySpace for screeners).

Even cursory research indicated to me that the TSA is struggling to identify and respond to the constantly changing terror landscape. TSA guidelines change continuously, and trainees have received new and conflicting instructions even as they were being trained under previous regulations. Several airports report having, essentially, given up weekly training and are simply just reading revised regulations to employees since they change before the ink is even dry on the updated manual. Screeners, themselves, report feeling abused and undermined by both the public and their employer. Clearly, the low educational requirements, administration, pay scale, pressures and training are creating an escalation of hostility and an unprecedented lack of confidence on both sides. Passengers report shocking mistreatment and insensitivity; TSA personnel report equally disturbing abuse.

I cannot help but interject my own crackpot theory as to some of the underlying hostilities between the screeners and passengers. In many ways, there is a status and class battle that takes place through security lines all over the country. Workers paid an average of $12.00/hour are not checking their carry-on to Oahu, jetting off for a Norwegian cruise or going to a business meeting in Chicago. There is visible wealth passing through those scanners - wealth in the form of laptops, jewelry cases, fine shoes, wallets, expensive luggage, iPhones, digital cameras, sporting equipment, leisure time, and careers. Perhaps the animosity that seems to be part and parcel of clearing security these days is also a class skirmish just under the surface. We, the travelers, often have the privileged sort of lives that takes us places. TSA screeners watch us zoom off every day. It's always harder to be left behind than to go.

Previous column

Next column

Ingrid is currently living and respectably employed in Austin, Texas with a firm specializing in environmental law. She hopes to get back home to the San Juan Islands next spring to stay.
While Ingrid is spiritually promiscuous, she credits her guru, Jimmy Buffet, for her mantra..."If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane." Besides a passion for Tiki Studies, Ingrid is borderline biblio-obsessive. She is an old-school Libran - i.e., she won't be leading the Revolution, but she'll work to make it an attractive affair and hire the musicians and caterers."

Her column appears every other Thursday in San Juan Islander. To contact Ingrid, send emails to ingrid@sanjuanislander.com

news@sanjuanislander.com

ABOUT US | ADVERTISING INFO | CONTACT INFORMATION |