Flying With Fish The Blog for Those Who Fly & Those Who Want to Fly Smarter

Recently Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced House Resolution 3608, the Stop TSA’s Reach In Policy Act … also known as the STRIP Act, which would “strip” Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Transportation Security Officers (TSO) of their “police like” badges and “law enforcement” uniforms.   Before we can go forward in discussing Rep. Blackburn’s STRIP Act, [...]

In the spring of 2004, following the commuter rail bombings in Madrid, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began devising a plan to “protect the Nation’s transportation systems and ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce,” for the railroads and mass transit systems in the United States.  The result of the TSA’s efforts to increase [...]

The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Transportation Security Officers (TSO) have the difficult job of searching for contraband items passengers may pass through security with. Along with TSA TSOs searching for prohibited items, the agency’s Behavior Detection Officers (BDO) watch and interact with passengers to determine passengers that they determine to be a threat to aviation [...]

Since the inception of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) Behavior Detection Officers (BDO) program in 2003, it has been less than effective by design and deployment.   Currently, TSA BDOs seek out potential security threats through Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT). SPOT focuses on involuntary physical and physiological reactions, such as micro facial expressions, [...]

I don’t tend to post one-liner jokes on Flying With Fish, but sometimes something’s are to good to pass up …   The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) policy and procedures covers a vast range of topics to address passenger security, including outlining the procedure for screening service animals. Among the animals directly addressed in the [...]

POST EDITED ON 10-MARCH-2011 : CORRECT AN ERROR IN THE FINANCIAL NUMBERS CAUSED BY A SPELL CHECKER The Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) budget is enormous, but is the agency prioritizing and allocating its funds in the most effective manner? At present the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lists the TSA’s budget at US$8,164,780,000 with US$7,910,780,000 [...]

This blog post was supposed to be about the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the upcoming vote to unionize the agency’s Transportation Security Officers (TSO).  In the process of researching what should have been a very minor point of reference, which probably would have barely been mentioned here … the minor detail became a story [...]

“Opt Out” is a popular term from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).  For passengers ‘opting out’ means that they can avoid the advanced imaging technology (AIT) scanners in favour of a thorough pat down, for airports ‘opting out’ means that they have chosen to utilize a private security firm to handle their front line passenger [...]

In the past few weeks since the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) implemented its new “enhanced” pat down procedures there has been considerable backlash from the traveling public. This backlash has been loud and angry … but what is not heard or seen in the media is the quiet resentment of this new policy within the [...]

5/2/2010 –TSA Hires Felon & Forces Airport To Issue Security Badge It appears the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has placed Richmond (VA) International Airport (RIC) in a troubling situation regarding the issuing of a security access badge to a convicted felon … and that the TSA’s own policy for criminal background checks of Transportation Security [...]