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Note: The following text is a quote: Hamilton Man Sentenced to 30 Months' Imprisonment for Threatening to Bomb Cincinnati Airport and Other Cincinnati-Area Landmarks CINCINNATI—Frederick D. Purvis, 43, of Hamilton, was sentenced in United States District Court here today to 30 months' imprisonment for a series of messages he sent in November, 2008 in which he threatened to blow up seven Cincinnati-area landmarks including the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. He was also sentenced to serve six years of supervised release after his prison term. Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, James A. Zerhusen, United...

Today’s guest author is Deirdre Walker. She retired recently as the Assistant Chief of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Department of Police. She spent 24 years as a police officer. “Do I have the right to refuse this search?” This is a question I heard many times during my law enforcement career. Often my answer was no. But occasionally it would be “yes,” followed by an admonition to have a good day. For the last half of my career, I would have documented each interaction, whether or not it involved an arrest. I would have written down the nature and length...

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. 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...

CINCINNATI -- The Transportation Security Administration was checking barges on the Ohio River Tuesday in what it dubbed "Operation Viper." TSA agents were boarding barges and checking in with captains to see if they've seen anything suspicious and to remind them to be vigilant. They are also checking the licenses of the barges and conducting safety inspections. The operation is being run under the Interstate 275 bridge near the borders of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. The U.S. Coast Guard was also part of the operation.

TSA Secure Flight Information The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is introducing Secure Flight, a program to help enhance the security of domestic and international commercial air travel through the use of improved watch list matching. In accordance with this new policy, you will notice changes to our reservation process which have been made to obtain the necessary Secure Flight Passenger Data for reservations purchased beginning September 15, 2009. Please note that SFPD is not being collected from AA passengers whose tickets were issued prior to September 15, 2009, regardless of their travel date. How will this affect you? When you...

-snip- WSMV-TV in Nashville reported that a passenger had to be subdued by other passengers after he began quoting Bible passages. -snip-

Call it the showdown at the whole-body imaging machine. Depending on who you believe, the Transportation Security Administration at Salt Lake International Airport was either harassing Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, for fighting its use of "strip-search" machines or Chaffetz was being obnoxious. "I'm sure they're not my biggest fans," said Chaffetz, who voted against allowing the TSA to form a union. "They're just harassing me." Chaffetz gives his version of how the incident started. "They told me to go to the far left (metal detector) lane, which is fine. There is one whole-body imaging machine, which is lane No. 2,...

As any airline passenger can attest, security at the nation's airports has gotten infinitely more stringent in the eight years since the Sept. 11 attacks. While the technology to screen passengers has become more advanced and the check-in lines a little shorter, the question of whether flying is terrorism-proof remains. By now the routine has become mind-numbingly familiar: Travelers take off their shoes and put them in gray plastic containers along with their toiletries. They carry no more than three 3-ounce bottles in a 1-quart plastic bag, remove laptops from cases and so on. It's a scene played out millions...

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "That's the way Nick George, a senior at Pomona College, in California, sees what happened to him at the Philadelphia airport two Saturdays ago. George, of Wyncote, Montgomery County, was about to catch a Southwest flight back to school when stereo speakers in his backpack caught the eye of screeners at the metal detector. When they looked though his bag, George said, they found his Arabic/English flash cards, and escorted him to a side screening area. He figures it didn't help that his passport had stamps from Jordan, where he'd studied a semester, and Egypt and...

Note: The following text is a quote: TSA Implementing New Enhanced Threat Detection Capability at Checkpoints Nationwide Press Release WASHINGTON - The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced today it is further bolstering existing explosives detection capabilities by deploying additional tools to screen powdered substances at checkpoints. "Every day, TSA officers work at over 450 airports nationwide screening approximately 2 million passengers to keep the traveling public safe," said TSA Acting Administrator Gale Rossides. "These enhancements are part of TSA's efforts to stay ahead of emerging threats while continually strengthening our layered approach to security." Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) are experienced...

We've talked about Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's "No Fly" bill before. I've also made it the subject of my October Guns Magazine "Rights Watch" column: Having been thwarted in 2005, she recently reintroduced H.R. 2401, the “No Fly, No Buy Act of 2009,” with the stated objective “To increase public safety and reduce the threat to domestic security by including persons who may be prevented from boarding an aircraft in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and for other purposes.” There's a danger that could catch citizens unawares with terrible consequences: Author and attorney Dave Kopel noted, “Under the New...

Woman took items while bags were being screened. A 30-year-old former Transportation Security Administration worker was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years' probation Thursday for stealing jewelry, gift cards and other things out of tourists' bags as the items were undergoing security screening at Kahului Airport. Devie Darla Dale Feig... The agency already has reimbursed the victims. "I'm not a bad person. But what I did was wrong. I wanted to say I'm sorry," Feig said ... Deputy Prosecutor Terence Herndon called the case egregious and asked that Feig receive the full 90-day jail term. "I believe...

Critics of the government's secret no-fly list scored a potentially important victory Monday when a federal appeals court ruled that would-be passengers can ask a judge and jury to decide whether their inclusion on the list violates their rights. In a 2-1 ruling, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reinstated a suit by a former Stanford University student who was detained and handcuffed in 2005 as she was about to board a plane to her native Malaysia. The ruling is apparently the first to allow a challenge to the no-fly list to proceed in a federal...

At least six individuals listed by the FBI as possible terrorists also were listed in the FAA database as pilot certificate holders as of this June, according to The New York Times. After the Times questioned the TSA about the situation, the FAA suspended all six certificates. The Times had received the list of names from a small software company that said it found the six by comparing public records, an effort the TSA apparently never made. "The T.S.A. appears not to have taken notice of the terrorists even when two of them turned up on the Federal Bureau of...

Starting this year, Americans will have to get government approval to travel by air. As Privacy Journal revealed last fall, henceforth "Permission Now Needed to Travel Within U.S." Getting a reservation and checking-in for air travel will soon require Transportation Security Administration authorization. That permission is by no means assured: For example, if your name matches a "no-fly" list, even mistakenly, you can be denied the right to a reserve a seat on a flight. If your name is on a "selectee" list, you and your possessions will be searched more thoroughly before you can board. What is going on...

(This is a self-serving press release put out by TSA today) TSA Updates Summer Travelers On New “Secure Flight” Procedures Taking Effect This Summer New TSA Program Makes Travel Safer & Easier for Passengers by Streamlining the Aviation Watch List Matching Process As the summer vacation travel season continues TSA is educating travelers about new security procedures being introduced and remind them of the reasons behind existing requirements at security checkpoints. The communications effort is an extension of TSA’s national public awareness and education campaign, launched in November 2008, and is designed to build awareness about security procedures so that...

NEW YORK (CNN) — Authorities have evacuated a concourse of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, a port authority official said Saturday.

(AP Photo/Don Ryan)Karen McNutt of Women & Guns has a warning for travelers. You could be traveling by airline with a declared and checked-in gun in your baggage, all perfectly legal, and think you've done everything required of you. Then say something compels you to claim your luggage at a layover airport: perhaps your flight was rerouted, or perhaps there was a delay and they're going to shuttle you to a hotel or an alternate terminal... Don't assume it's safe to claim your suitcase. That could put you in a world of hurt. I came across McNutt's article--one I missed...

Note: The following text is a quote: Secretary Napolitano Announces $7.7 Million in Recovery Act Funds for Airport Surveillance Release Date: July 28, 2009 For Immediate Release Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced approximately $7.7 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding for the installation of new closed circuit television systems at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Ronald Reagan Washington National, Spokane International, Gerald R. Ford International and Boise, Idaho airports. "State-of-the-art surveillance technology provides another critical layer of security at our airports," said Secretary Napolitano. "These projects will inject critical Recovery Act dollars into our...

TSA Reminds Summer Travelers to be Prepared for Security Press Release July 2, 2009 WASHINGTON – TSA Reminds Summer Travelers to be Prepared for Security As the 4th of July approaches and summer travel heats up, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reminds travelers to be prepared and plan ahead for airport security procedures. To prepare for summer travel, TSA is working with the aviation industry to ensure the highest levels of security for all travelers. TSA also has Family Lanes at every security checkpoint, designed to allow infrequent travelers or those with special needs more time to process through the...

The United States may have narrowly missed a repeat of the 9/11 attacks in June — and, apparently, even the FBI doesn’t realize it. On June 4, a 24-year-old Muslim man named Raed Abdhul-Rahman Alsaif was arrested for trying to bring a seven-inch knife on board a U.S. Airways flight at Tampa International Airport, destined for Phoenix. The blade was seen by a screener and Alsaif was caught before he could get onto the airliner. Of course, he says he is innocent, as some forgetful friend gave him the luggage bag and failed to mention that a knife was embedded...

This is good news:A federal judge in June threw out seizure of three fake passports from a traveler, saying that TSA screeners violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure. Congress authorizes TSA to search travelers for weapons and explosives; beyond that, the agency is overstepping its bounds, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon L. Marbley said. "The extent of the search went beyond the permissible purpose of detecting weapons and explosives and was instead motivated by a desire to uncover contraband evidencing ordinary criminal wrongdoing," Judge Marbley wrote. In the second case, Steven Bierfeldt, treasurer for the Campaign...

The KEY sentence, of this Story is... "The new equipment requires fewer people to operate, making it more cost-effective in the long run, TSA officials say."

<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Ohio airport summoned a bomb squad to detonate a suspicious item that turned out to be pickled mangoes.</p> <p>X-ray equipment used by federal security screeners in Columbus could not detect what was inside a sealed canister in luggage being inspected around 7 p.m. Tuesday. The container was labeled "baby food," but authorities say security personnel became suspicious when the woman who owned the suitcase claimed the canister held pickles.</p>

"Steve Bierfeldt says the Transportation Security Administration pulled him aside for extra questioning in March. He was carrying a pocket edition of the U.S. Constitution and an iPhone capable of making audio recordings." "TSA screeners at Lambert-St. Louis (Illinois) International Airport saw a metal cash box in his carry-on bag. Inside was more than $4,700 dollars in cash -- proceeds from the sale of political merchandise like T-shirts and books. There are no restrictions on carrying large sums of cash on flights within the United States, but the TSA allegedly took Bierfeldt to a windowless room and, along with other...

In April, Transportation Security Administration agents detained Steve Bierfeldt at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport for no other reason than that he was carrying $4,700 in cash. The move immediately proved to be something of a public relations disaster, since the cash belonged to Rep. Ron Paul's libertarian-oriented Campaign for Liberty, of which Bierfeldt is the director of development, and the political activist used his cell phone to record the incident (mp3), including abusive language directed his way. Now the confrontation has sparked a lawsuit against the TSA, with the American Civil Liberties Union arguing Bierfeldt's case. In the wake of...

Note: The following text is a quote: TSA Testimony on Progress in Improving Transportation Security Speeches & Testimony UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION ORAL STATEMENT OF GALE D. ROSSIDES ACTING ADMINISTRATOR BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION SECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 10, 2009 Click here to read the written testimony on TSA's progress on improving transportation security. Good afternoon Chairwoman Jackson-Lee, Ranking Member Dent, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the President's FY 2010 budget request for the Transportation...

This happened to the parents of another Patriot on the Alarm and Muster forum. I asked permission to post his thread in its entirety and was granted permission. Below is the entire post, email address removed to protect the privacy of the individuals invlolved:---------------------------So, ask yourself, how sincere was the DHS when they tried to smooth over the report that labels Christians as terrorists? Most of you have read the DHS report on Right Wing Extremism, and witnessed their soft peddling after they found out it ticked folks off. Well here is an very scary example of their sincerity that...

The next time you book a flight, make sure your name on the ticket is exactly the same as your ID. Otherwise it could take some time to get on the plane. The federal Transportation Security Administration is introducing a requirement that passenger names on tickets be exactly the same as the name on a government issued ID... The move is designed to reduce the amount of travelers incorrectly identified with names similar to those on terrorist watch lists. "We're doing some testing now, but we won't roll out the first phase until August," . About 58,000 travelers have filed...

SNIPPET: "U.S. Airways flight 4423 was supposed to leave Lynchburg for Charlotte around 2:30 p.m., Airport Director Mark Courtney said. Instead, it was delayed for nearly three hours while Transportation Security Administration workers and local law enforcement made sure it was safe to fly. Campbell County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Kevin Schmitt said a 23-year-old man was overheard on his mobile phone making the comments while he was standing in the airport lobby. “He was overheard by a TSA official making the comment that the plane wouldn’t make it to Charlotte — that it would fall out of the sky,” Schmitt...

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Privacy advocates plan to call on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to suspend use of "whole-body imaging," the airport security technology that critics say performs "a virtual strip search" and produces "naked" pictures of passengers, CNN has learned. The national campaign, which will gather signatures from organizations and relevant professionals, is set to launch this week with the hope that it will go "viral," said Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which plans to lead the charge.

The $787-billion economic-stimulus plan signed by Pres. Barack Obama contained an often-overlooked section — $150 million for food banks and other organizations that provide food to people in need. Responding to reports that food banks were running out of provisions because of rising unemployment and higher food costs, Congress intervened to help stock the shelves. But taxpayers — the people paying for Congress’s charitable endeavors — should know that not all of these organizations are suffering. Some are even able to throw food away. Last month, Michelle Obama visited Miriam’s Kitchen, which serves the homeless in Washington, D.C. She ladled...

Get ready for some changes the next time you fly out of the Midland Airport. On Friday, some new rules could determine whether you make your next flight. Airport security is getting a little more personal, and it means giving your full name the next time you book a flight. According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), when you line up to go through airport security, you will need to make sure the name on the boarding pass matches your ID exactly. That means if your driver's license has your middle name, then your boarding pass must have your middle...

A BLIND INTERNATIONAL interpreter who says he was dragged off a Belgium-bound flight, arrested and held in custody in Philadelphia for hours without food or water faces an arraignment Thursday. His crime: He questioned why his U.S. Airways flight was delayed nearly two hours. Nicola Cantisani, 61, of Brussels, Belgium, a professional translator who has been blind since birth, was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, police said. "This is taking airplane security to a new and ridiculous level," said his attorney, A. Charles Peruto Jr. "It's pretty crazy." Cantisani and his wife, Paola, were returning to Brussels April...

A baggage handler has been accused of stealing a secured handgun from the suitcase of an NYPD sergeant boarding a flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Friday that charges against 21-year-old Tamarcus Hines include gun possession and grand larceny. A criminal complaint says on April 22 the Queens resident allegedly took the unloaded 9-milimeter gun from a locked box packed in the suitcase, along with ammunition and a gun holster.

A US Marine was arrested today at Logan International Airport after federal airport screeners discovered a gun, bomb-making materials, and ammunition in his checked baggage. Corporal Justin Reed, 22, of Jacksonville, N.C., was booked on US Airways Flight 877 to Charlotte, N.C. Reed had arrived on a flight from Las Vegas Sunday morning. TSA screeners called State Police at 7:10 a.m. after a screen discovered the following items in Reed’s checked baggage: a locked handgun box containing a semi-automatic handgun, a fully loaded gun magazine, several boxes of 9 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition, three model rocket engines containing an...

A US Marine was arrested today at Logan International Airport after federal airport screeners discovered a gun, bomb-making materials, and ammunition in his checked baggage, State Police and Transportation Security Administration officials said.

US Marine arrested at Logan April 19, 2009 05:42 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – + John C. Drake, Globe Staff A US Marine was arrested today at Logan International Airport after federal airport screeners discovered a gun, bomb-making materials, and ammunition in his checked baggage, State Police and Transportation Security Administration officials said. .

The Transportation Security Administration is investigating the detention and harassment of a Ron Paul organization official by airport screeners, an incident that was caught on tape at a St. Louis airport. Steve Bierfeldt, director of development for Campaign for Liberty, was selected for additional screening after officials spotted a metal box in his luggage that contained a large amount of cash and checks made out to the campaign. Mr. Bierfeldt was attending his organization's regional conference in St. Louis and said he was keenly aware, as the situation unfolded March 29, of a controversial report issued to Missouri law enforcement...

April 6, 2009 Dear Friend of Liberty, Campaign for Liberty’s very own Steve Bierfeldt has become an unexpected Internet sensation -- and the latest target of over-reaching federal government agents. You see, Steve was detained by Airport Police and TSA officials shortly after the Campaign for Liberty regional conference in St. Louis. The officials rudely berated and harassed Steve for 30 minutes in a secluded room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Fortunately, Steve was able to record nearly all of the interrogation with his cell phone. Steve’s alleged “crime”? Carrying $4,700 in checks and cash from Campaign for Liberty, along...

TSA agents claim having a large sum of money( which could be any amount over $50.00) is cause to be detained

Still, I’m not the only person who thinks the TSA and other law enforcement agencies routinely overstep their bounds simply because they can and they are taught to be intimidating. More recently this disturbing trend in law enforcement took a fascist turn in Missouri where Law Enforcement was told that militia members and domestic terrorists could be profiled by bumper stickers on their vehicles. People who ignore or are ignorant of their Constitutional rights to things like the 1st Amendment’s Freedom of Speech and the 4th Amendment’s right “to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable...

I am not now nor never have been a Ron Paul supporter, just to qualify my sentiments here about this story (VIDEO), however, be that as it may, this filmed experience had by an extremely well behaved, clean-cut Ron Paul supporter at the St. Louis airport should give every American citizen pause. Please watch the whole video, start to finish. Man detained and harassed at air... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDv_fWMfnN0&feature=channel_page All of us can usually if not routinely understand the trials and tribulations encountered by armed guards at airports but this incident tests the fringes of human understanding as to reasonable, acceptable and...

Must see video... Know your rights!

Got hit between the eyes with this this morning. A Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent visited my flight school today to check on "security." To the dismay of all, he said that no students may receive any flight instruction unless they first give the flight school either a copy of their passport or a copy of their birth certificate with both "certified, raised seal and a government issued and certified photograph." Since no one has a duplicate passport or a birth certificate with a "government issued and certified photo," there can be no further flight instruction. We already knew Obama...

Just when you thought you had the Transportation Security Administration rules all figured out, here comes a new procedure. Starting sometime in the next few months, you'll have to provide your birth date and gender whenever you buy an airplane ticket. The TSA is giving the airlines some time to change their websites and retrain their phone-reservations agents to be able to implement the agency's new Secure Flight program. Expect the changes on domestic flights by this summer. The change is supposed to help reduce the number of Americans who are misidentified as individuals on the agency's no-fly and "selectee-for-further-inspection"...

One Pilot's On-Scene Report Signals New and Draconian TSA Efforts To Severely Limit GA Freedoms ANN E-I-C Note: The following email is real and has been verified as being the work-product/personal report of a pilot (who has asked for anonymity) that attended a recent TSA meeting in Montrose, CO, in which new and mostly unreported TSA controls were discussed that spell incredible trouble for the aviation world... no matter who they may be. Outside of some minor grammar/presentation issues, the email has NOT been edited and has been republished below so that the thoughts and observations of one alarmed citizen...

JUNEAU — Frustration at the prospect of new federal aviation rules that make little sense in Alaska prompted two Interior lawmakers to push for resolutions that passed this week. Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, and Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Fairbanks and a former commercial airline pilot, sponsored resolutions cementing Alaska’s opposition to proposed rules by the federal Transportation Security Administration. “This just doesn’t fit with the state of Alaska,” Therriault said. He collected signatures from nearly every state legislator on a letter detailing Alaska’s opposition. The resolutions easily passed both legislative bodies and are before Gov. Sarah Palin. The TSA proposal...

New Rules Target Private AviationFebruary 24, 2009 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT There are new rules that are proposed by the transportation safety administration, part of homeland security, that would treat private business aviation identically to commercial aviation. One of the results of this could be that if the rules are adopted treating private aviation the same as commercial aviation, Tiger Woods, nor any other professional golfer, nor any or golfer could carry their golf clubs on their airplane because the baggage compartment in the private jet is accessible from the passenger cabin and the clubs could theoretically be used as weapons even...

The federal government wants to slap new security rules on private jets, prompting an outcry from Kansas lawmakers and the general-aviation industry. The rules, proposed by the Transportation Security Administration, would apply post-9/11 security measures to larger private planes used by the nation’s corporate elite. Affected would be dozens of planes used by some of Kansas City’s biggest employers. Among other things, the rules would ban certain carry-on items and require aircraft operators to match passengers to terrorist watch lists. Critics say the hassle could very well take the comfort and expediency out of flying in a corporate jet and...