By Editorial Board Cleveland.com At airports around the country, including Cleveland Hopkins International, passengers entering the security wringer run by the Transportation Security Administration have been entertained by a display of some of the instruments of mayhem that agents have taken from people over the TSA’s 14-year history. Earlier this year, the TSA proudly released a year-end…
By New York Times Editorial Board The performance of airport security screeners on a recent investigation by undercover agents was appalling. The screeners failed to detect weapons, mock explosives and other prohibited items 95 percent of the time at airports across the country, which may be a shock to travelers who assumed the hassle of…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com In an effort to improve security at U.S. airports, Homeland Security Director Jeh Johnson has reassigned the acting TSA head. Al Jazeera English reports that the move comes after the embarrassing discovery that checkpoint scanners miserably failed to detect mock explosives and weapons in 95% of the cases. Johnson said Melvin…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI is investigating anonymous telephone threats against commercial airliners Monday that involved at least six international flights and prompted at least one U.S. military escort, the Associated Press reports. Investigators believe the calls were connected but not credible. Still, authorities took precautions. For example, threats of a chemical weapon aboard…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A former Nashville TSA agent said he became so obsessed with a woman that he took hidden videos of her in an airport bathroom and broke into her house five times. Daniel Boykin, 33, was sentenced to six months in jail on Thursday, and Judge Randall Wyatt advised the former agent…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A Saudi Arabian man will be deported after pleading guilty this week to punching a TSA officer in the face at the Orlando International Airport in January. Mohammed Abdullah Alomaim, 43, was sentenced to time served and a two-year supervised release, The Orlando Sentinel reports. “As a result of his conviction,…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com Two security screeners at San Francisco International Airport have been charged with accepting bribes in exchange for allowing smugglers to carry methamphetamine through an airport checkpoint, SFGate reports. According to the federal complaint, Claudio Rene Sunux, 30, of San Francisco, and Amanda Lopez, 27 of South San Francisco, were security screeners…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI is investigating what appears to be a hacking attempt from a “foreign party” targeting Jacksonville International Airport, First Coast News reports. Investigators said the hacking attempt was unsuccessful. “There was an incident that occurred around Thanksgiving and the FBI is investigating,” JAA spokesperson Michael Stewart said in a statement….
