Mongo not unnerstan 'puters
Our good buddies who do such a good job of protecting us at the TSA apparently don't keep up with technology. Who woulda thunk it?
Sorry that the article reads more like an advertisement than what it should be: a scathing indictment of the TSA's bungling. I just happened to see it on yahoo's home page as I was sailing through to other things....
Sorry that the article reads more like an advertisement than what it should be: a scathing indictment of the TSA's bungling. I just happened to see it on yahoo's home page as I was sailing through to other things....
posted by Larry at
3/17/2008 11:33:00 PM
2 Comments:
Sometimes all they need to be able to do is fog a mirror to get hired. I hate to disparage all TSA workers but this seems to be the norm.
Now, on the other hand, as a seasoned traveler I also know to keep my laptop on and in hibernate mode in case I do get stopped...which happens about 10% of the time. I can always power down after 'Mongo' do his thing.
I travel with my contractor LOA (Letter of Authorization) which we get instead of military orders. Because military traveling on orders don't have to be searched. If they ask me if I'm traveling on gov orders (because my travel gear has a distinctly tactical flavour and I have the haircut, even if I usually have a goatee going) I don't say that I am traveling on orders, but I hand them my LOA with the Defense Dept letterhead.
About half the time that works. Any time it doesn't, I somehow ALWAYS get picked for the little "SSSS" on my boarding pass indicating that I should be subjected to further search. I have no idea exactly what about my distinctly Northern European name and appearance and clean criminal record trigger that, but the fact that they can't tell the difference between any random piece of paper handed to them and military traveling on orders doesn't bode particularly well either. I could have just easily printed my LOA or a certificate saying I am the lost heir to the Scottish throne.
When it doesn't work, I guess it serves me right for laughing at my friend Tim a few years back on a TDY where we traveled together, and he forgot to keep out a copy of his orders, and got searched at EVERY checkpoint in EVERY airport we traversed. To the point I'm saying "Habib, what have you done, my friend?!?!?" They almost busted out the rubber gloves at that point.
Bottom line, even the few non-mouth-breathers at the checkpoints of the TSA aren't doing any real good, they're just costing us billions in a giant distributed street theater co-op. Because the few that might be alert enough to catch a terrorist are outnumbered and hobbled by those who couldn't recognize an problematic device even if Boris and Natasha were standing right there in trenchcoats saying "Now moose and sqvirrell go boom!"
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