Man Arrested Trying To Board Plane With Loaded Gun

The WHEC I-Team 10 reports that they have learned a man recently tried to board a plane at the Rochester international airport with a loaded gun in his carry-on bag. The man didn’t get far according to the report. .

When you go through the security checkpoint at the airport, it’s hard to miss the warning signs. The number one on the list of things you can’t bring on an airplane – a gun. But last Friday, a 40-year-old man fro Horseheads, New York attempted to do just that.

The man and his wife were headed to Orlando, Florida. The trip was a 40th birthday surprise from his wife. But the real surprise came when security screeners got a look at the x-ray image of his carry-on bag.

Rochester TSA Director John McCaffrey said, “The x-ray operator observed what appeared to be an automatic weapon with seven rounds in the clip.”
The man was arrested right then and there. The criminal complaint accuses him of attempting to board an aircraft while possessing a concealed, dangerous weapon – a felony. He told investigators the handgun, similar to this one, was not his.

via Read Full Article.

Behavior Detection Officers Keeping A Watchful Eye On Airports

Although you probably couldn’t spot one of the if you tried, chances are they spotted you if you were exhibiting suspicious behavior in one of over 160 U.S airports.

To identify dangerous people, the Transportation Security Administration has stationed specially trained Behavior Detection Officers at 161 U.S. airports, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The officers, who can be anywhere from the parking garage to the gate, try to spot passengers with an unusual level of nervousness or stress.

They don’t focus on a person’s nationality, race, ethnicity or gender, said Sari Koshetz, spokeswoman for the TSA.

“We’re not looking for a type of person but at behaviors,” she said.

The program started in Boston in 2003; expanded to Miami in 2006 and then to Fort Lauderdale in 2007. The TSA won’t disclose whether detection officers roam Palm Beach International Airport.

Under the program, a suspicious passenger might be given a secondary screening or referred to police; detection officers don’t have arrest powers.

Last year, officers nationwide required 98,805 passengers to undergo additional screening. Police questioned 9,854 of them; 813 were arrested.

While the TSA doesn’t break down the numbers for individual airports, the officers require dozens of travelers in Miami and Fort Lauderdale to undergo a secondary screening each week.

via Airport officers covertly keep an eye out for suspicious behavior — South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com.

Deadline Looming – How Will Airline Cargo Get Screened

Here’s the dilemma. By next August, every piece of freight that is shipped aboard a commercial airline will be required to be screened for bombs just as luggage already is. The catch? There are not enough screeners to scan the thousands of tons of cargo that will need to be scanned.

Airlines, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and shippers that use the cargo holds of passenger planes face an Aug. 3 deadline to create a system of private cargo screeners to make sure cargo doesn’t carry bombs or other explosives.

It’s no small challenge. On virtually every flight, airlines stuff the holds of passenger planes with everything from North Atlantic lobsters to delicate computer chips. As much as 10 million pounds of cargo up to 500,000 boxes are shipped on passenger planes every day, and Orlando International Airport is one of the nation’s busiest air freight hubs.

Until recently, almost none of it went through security.

Shippers and federal authorities are meeting in Orlando this week to review what must be done to get enough companies certified in time to beat the August deadline.

And the industry has a lot of work to do, said Marc Rossi, a branch chief for the TSA’s Certified Cargo Screening Program.

“There will not be enough (certified screeners) to meet the demands of the supply chain, not at the current rate of certification. …,” he said. “That’s millions of pounds (of cargo) that don’t have a solution, projected out.”

The problem is that most freight flown on passenger planes comes pre-packaged on pallets or in large cargo bins. But federal law calls for every little box to be individually screened by either humans, X-ray machines, explosive-detection equipment or trained dogs.

via Read Full Article.

TSA Viper Training Exercise Held at CBBT

On Tuesday morning, dozens of law enforcement agents greeted drivers at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The traffic stop included a driver’s license check as well as explosive and drug sniffing dogs.

It is part of the Transportation Security Administration’s Viper Program and the agents aren’t your TSA airport screeners, according to Federal Security Director Jeffrey Horowitz.

“We do rail, we do busing, we do pipelines. We’re out there for all commercial modes of transportation,” he said.

Horowitz says the government saw a need to better protect its mass transit systems after the 2004 Madrid terrorist attack. Nearly two hundred people died in the coordinated bombing of several of Madrid’s commuter trains.

Since Viper’s inception in 2007, 3,500 operations have been conducted, half of those this year. Agents have nabbed drugs and illegal weapons. The larger goal is to deter terrorist activity.

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TSA Hopes To Keep Terrorists Off-Guard With Security Checks

Hoping to keep terrorists and others off-guard the TSA conducted a random security check of nearly 700 Bus passengers in Orlando Florida yesterday, using the agency’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, or VIPR.

Bryce Williams wasn’t expecting to walk through a metal detector or have his bags screened for explosives at the Greyhound bus terminal near downtown Orlando.

But Williams and 689 other passengers went through tougher-than-normal security procedures Thursday as part of a random check coordinated by the U.S.Transportation Security Administration.

The idea is to keep off guard terrorists and others who mean harm, thereby improving safety for passengers and workers. There was no specific threat to the bus station on John Young Parkway south of Colonial Drive.

Although the TSA is best known for its agents at airports, the agency’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, or VIPR, teams stage periodic operations at bus and train stations, ports and other transportation centers. They began work in December 2006.

Thursday’s daylong event was the first at a Greyhound station in Florida, said John Daly, TSA security director for the Orlando region.

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TSA Sets Interim Rule on Air Cargo Security

The Transportation Security Administration announced an interim final rule implementing air cargo security regulations.The agency has operated its Certified Cargo Screening Program as a pilot program since February, which helps airlines to comply with the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 that requires screening 50% of all cargo transported in passenger aircraft.

CCSP allows approved airlines to screen cargo at site away from an airport and transport it to the airport securely, with no need to rescreen it.

“This program is a critical step toward meeting the mandate of the 9/11 Act in an efficient and effective manner that facilitates the flow of commerce,” he said in a statement.

via TSA Sets Interim Rule on Air Cargo Security | Transport Topics Online | Trucking, Freight Transportation and Logistics News.

TSA Defends Holding Student With Arabic Flash Cards

The Transportation Security Administration is defending its treatment of a California college student who was detained at the Philadelphia airport after Arabic flash cards were found in his backpack. Nick George, a senior at Pomona College, told a Philadelphia Daily News columnist that the stereo speakers he was carrying in his bag on Aug. 29 led TSA workers to pull him out of the metal detector line and search him.

When they found 200 Arabic/English flash cards in his carry-on, they escorted him to another screening area and questioned him for about 45 minutes, he said.

Suspicions may have been raised because his passport had stamps from Jordan, where he’d studied abroad, and from his trips to Egypt and the Sudan, the News reported. It didn’t help that “terrorist” and “explosion” were among the words on his flash cards — which George says he was using to help him understand Al Jazeera TV.

But George believes things got out of hand when, he says, a Philadelphia police officer put handcuffs on him and took him to the airport holding cell for several hours. He was released after another round of questioning from the FBI, he told the Daily News.

He missed his flight and was issued a new ticket for a departure the next day.

The TSA denies George’s version of events, explaining that he was flagged for questioning even before he was in the security line because officials thought he was acting suspiciously.

TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis told the Daily News that George caught the attention of the agency’s behavioral specialists, who are on the lookout for “involuntary physical and physiological reactions that people exhibit in response to a fear of being discovered.”

via TSA Defends Holding Student With Arabic Flash Cards at Philadelphia Airport – Local News | News Articles | National News | US News – FOXNews.com.

Laptops, Cell Phones Fair Game in Customs Search

International travelers returning to the United States wouldn’t be surprised if customs agents wanted to check their suitcase. What they may not realize is their cell phone, PDA and laptop are also searchable without suspicion.

The policy by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was made public in the waning days of the Bush administration and last month was endorsed and clarified by the Obama administration.

Under the policy, customs agents may impound a laptop and even copy its hard drive.

Civil libertarians say the policy violates the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search.

“I don’t carry my laptop overseas anymore,” said Sacramento attorney Mark Reichel. “The fat lady has sung for the fourth amendment.”

Reichel said one client who carries sensitive business information on his laptop on international trips sends the hard drive home separately by express mail.

The DHS justified the search of electronic devices in what is called Privacy Impact Statement published Aug. 25.

“The use of electronic devices capable of storing information relating to criminal activities has been established as the latest method for smuggling (contraband),” an overview declares.

Source

TSA To Boost Screening For Powder Explosives

The Transportation Security Administration said it will soon start additional screening for powder explosives at airport checkpoints but expects only a small percentage of powders will require the special screening.

TSA said it will begin using powder explosives detection kits at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and other airports around the country this week, following a pilot test of the kits in late 2008 at airports in Los Angeles, New York, Detroit and Washington, D.C. At about $145 each, the 1,250 kits distributed nationwide cost close to $185,000.Typical security checkpoint procedures will not change, the agency said.

Security screeners will use X-rays to determine which substances need additional screening.When substances are selected for additional screening, security officers will use a powder test kit to collect a sample and apply a solution to test for potential explosives.

Powders that are “determined to be a potential threat” will not be permitted past checkpoints or in checked baggage, according to TSA.

Source

DHS – New Directives On Screening Electronic Media At Border

US Department of Homeland Security takes critical step to bolster the US efforts to combat international crime and terrorism while still respecting the civil liberties and privacy of individuals. “Keeping Americans safe in an increasingly digital world depends on our ability to lawfully screen materials entering the United States,” said Secretary Napolitano as she announced new directives to enhance and clarify oversight for searches of computers and other electronic media at U.S. ports of entry.

The new directives announced today strike the balance between respecting the civil liberties and privacy of all travelers while ensuring DHS can take the lawful actions necessary to secure our borders.”

The new directives address the circumstances under which U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can conduct border searches of electronic media—consistent with the Department’s Constitutional authority to search other sensitive non-electronic materials, such as briefcases, backpacks and notebooks, at U.S. borders.

The directives, available at DHS.gov, will enhance transparency, accountability and oversight of electronic media searches at U.S. ports of entry and includes new administrative procedures designed to reflect broad considerations of civil liberties and privacy protections—measures designed to ensure that officers and agents understand their responsibilities to protect individual private information and that individuals understand their rights.

Searches of electronic media, permitted by law and carried out at borders and ports of entry, are vital to detecting information that poses serious harm to the United States, including terrorist plans, or constitutes criminal activity—such as possession of child pornography and trademark or copyright infringement.

The DHS Privacy Office also released today a Privacy Impact Assessment, available at www.dhs.gov/privacy, in connection with the new directives to enhance public understanding of the authorities, policies, procedures and controls employed by DHS during border searches of electronic data to protect individuals’ privacy. The DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) will also conduct a Civil Liberties Impact Assessment within 120 days.

In conjunction with the Privacy Office and CRCL, CBP will ensure training materials and procedures promote fair and consistent enforcement of the law relating to electronic media searches. CBP will also provide travelers subject to electronic device searches with clear and concise material informing them of the reasons for the search, how their data may be used and detailed information about their constitutional and statutory rights.

DHS conducts border searches of computers and other electronic media on a small percentage of international travelers seeking to enter the United States—searches often as basic as asking a traveler to turn on a device to ensure it is what it appears to be.

Between Oct. 1, 2008, and Aug. 11, 2009, CBP encountered more than 221 million travelers at U.S. ports of entry. Approximately 1,000 laptop searches were performed in these instances—of those, just 46 were in-depth.

The new directives will also allow DHS to develop automated, comprehensive data collection and analytic tools to facilitate accurate, thorough reporting on electronic media searched at the border, the outcomes of those searches and the nature of the data searched—further enhancing transparency and accountability.

TSA Begins Pilot Test of Explosives Detection Technology

The Transportation Security Administration, in conjunction with the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, today begins a three-week pilot test of explosives screening of vehicles at the Port Jefferson Ferry Terminal. The pilot employs backscatter imaging technology to screen vehicles for explosives before they are driven onto the Port Jefferson-Bridgeport Ferry at Port Jefferson.

“Vehicle screening technology is yet another tool that TSA can deploy to respond to threats that arise from new intelligence or as part of major events,” said John Sammon, TSA Assistant Administrator, Office of Transportation Sector Network Management. “This test will allow us to develop a plan for future deployment during times of heightened security threat levels.”

Prior to boarding, drivers will proceed slowly past a backscatter screening van which will capture high-quality, photo-like images of a vehicle’s cargo and contents. After being screened, drivers will be instructed by TSA transportation security officers to stop for approximately 10-15 seconds while the images are evaluated. If it is determined that there are no explosives in the vehicle, the driver will then be directed to the vehicle staging area. If there is a need for additional screening, drivers will be directed to a secondary screening location where TSA-certified explosive detection canine teams will be available to inspect vehicles.

“More than one million passengers pass through this terminal annually and ride the Port Jefferson ferry,” said Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry Vice President Frederick A. Hall. “By working with TSA, Homeland Security and local law enforcement, we are helping to ensure that we are doing everything possible to keep our customers, employees, terminals and vessels safe.”

Testing will occur Monday through Friday. The backscatter van has passed government standards for health and safety which enables drivers to move past the van without having to exit their vehicles.

Source

TSA Launches Secure Flight Program

Don’t be surprised if you’re asked to provide your date of birth and gender when booking plane tickets this summer.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has launched a program to improve security and reduce misidentification of passengers who have names similar to individuals on government watch lists.

As part of Secure Flight, airlines will ask passengers buying tickets to provide their names exactly as they appear on the government-issued identification they plan to use when traveling. Later, airlines will begin asking passengers to provide birth dates and gender.

via TSA launches ‘Secure Flight’ program – Los Angeles Times.

Ethiopian Stowaway Found Among Dulles Airport Baggage

Federal authorities say they’ve discovered a stowaway who arrived at a Washington-area airport in the cargo hold of a flight from Ethiopia.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Steve Sapp says ground personnel at Dulles International Airport were pulling baggage from Ethiopian Airlines Flight 500 when they noticed an arm sticking out.

Sapp says the stowaway was an Ethiopian man who was exhausted and dehydrated. He was taken to Reston Hospital Center and is now being held at a federal detention center.

Sapp says the man has been charged with being a stowaway and will be deported, but is not a security threat.

He says the flight departed from Addis Ababa and stopped in Rome before landing at Dulles shortly after 9 a.m. Saturday.

Source

Homeland Security To Scan Fingerprints of Foriegn Travellers Exiting US

The US Department of Homeland Security is set to kickstart a controversial new pilot to scan the fingerprints of travellers departing the United States.

From June, US Customs and Border Patrol will take a fingerprint scan of international travellers exiting the United States from Detroit, while the US Transport Security Administration will take fingerprint scans of international travellers exiting the United States from Atlanta.

Biometric technology such as fingerprint scans has been used by US Customs and Border Patrol for several years to gain a biometric record of non-US citizens entering the United States.

But under the Bush Administration, a plan was formulated to also scan outgoing passengers.

Michael Hardin, a senior policy analyst with the US-Visit Program at the United States Department of Homeland Security told a Biometrics Institute conference today that the DHS will use the data from the trial to “inform us as to where to take [exit screening] next.”

“We are trying to ensure we know more about who came and who left,” he said. “We have a large population of illegal immigrants in the United States – we want to make sure the person getting on the plane really is the person the records show to be leaving.”

The original exit scanning legislation planned by the Bush administration stipulated that airlines would be responsible for conducting the exit fingerprints.

But after much protest, Hardin said the new Obama administration re-considered this legislation two weeks ago and is “not as sold that private sector should be agency for exit fingerprints.”

“The new administration feels that perhaps it is more appropriate that Government should take that role.”

Source

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