TSA’s $77 Million Canine Units Can’t Detect Explosives, Put Aviation System at Risk

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has spent $77 million on Passenger Screening Canine (PSC) teams at airports but the dogs used by federal agents to detect explosives in luggage and travelers are not effective. “As a result, our Nation’s aviation system and the traveling public could be at risk of a catastrophic event caused by an undetected explosive device,” according to a federal audit. You can’t blame it on the dogs, though. Their human handlers at the famously inept Transportation Security Administration (TSA) fail to train them properly or use them in an appropriate fashion, investigators from the DHS Inspector General’s office found. Some TSA managers are also more focused on moving checkpoint lines quicker than using security dogs correctly, the probe reveals.

Chunks of the findings included in a 30-page report are redacted because the passages contain “sensitive security information,” but the available portions are enough to get the big picture. Among the TSA’s many failures involving this costly program is that the agency has not updated its training aids for canines “in many years” to ensure they include emerging explosive threats. “Federal law requires TSA to periodically review threats to aviation, with particular focus on explosive materials presenting the most significant threats to passenger aircraft,” the report states. “To achieve its mission, TSA must train canines to detect the most significant threats to aviation security. However, we confirmed through our analysis that TSA’s PSC teams may not detect (the rest of the sentence is redacted under the security exemption). The watchdog continues: ‘Specifically, TSA was training its canine teams to detect 13 explosives and 2 components of explosive devices, but not (the rest of the sentence is redacted).”

How could this crucial agency, created after 9/11 to protect the nation’s transportation system, expect its four-legged agents to do their job if they are not trained correctly? DHS watchdog investigators reveal that TSA officials openly admitted that some of the training aids are based on outdated information, such as known and perceived threats and intelligence data, which is no longer relevant. “This occurred because TSA did not have a formal process to evaluate and update its explosive training aids inventory to include emerging explosive threats based on intelligence,” the DHS IG writes. In undercover tests conducted by the TSA, canines did not always detect explosive training aids during actual screening at airports. “TSA’s Office of Inspection’s Special Operations Division also assessed PSC teams’ effectiveness through its covert testing and identified deficiencies,” the report says.

The TSA canine security program fails in other ways. It seems to randomly deploy its 287 canine teams without determining how many are needed to mitigate risks and does not bother identifying or documenting operational goals. Investigators found that the TSA “may not be allocating PSC teams to the highest risk airports because if does not properly justify and document allocation decisions.” The agency does not even keep track of the canine teams’ effectiveness and “cannot be assured airports are using PSC teams properly because it does not adequately oversee TSA management operations at airports.” In short, the probe concludes that the agency “cannot show deployment and use of its PSC teams provide effective security at passenger screening checkpoints” and that the millions spent on it should be redirected to “other security programs and activities to better protect the aviation system.”

The TSA’s transgressions have been well documented since the agency with around 50,000 officers was created after the 2001 terrorist attacks to secure transportation by adequately screening luggage, passengers and properly vetting foreign flight students. Instead, it is best known for its shameful security lapses and efforts to cover them up. For nearly a decade Judicial Watch has reported extensively—and uncovered records—involving the TSA’s failure to adequately fulfill its mission. This includes missing guns and bombs during covert exercises known as “red team tests,” TSA agents literally sleeping on the job and stealing from passengers, the failure to properly screen luggage and a number of other violations that have risked the nation’s safety. Records obtained by Judicial Watch a few years ago show hundreds of badges that allow agents to access secure areas of airports went missing along with uniforms and other devices used to control entry. In 2018 a bipartisan congressional investigation found that persistent misconduct by TSA managers often goes unpunished and whistleblowers who report it as well as airport safety risks are penalized by senior officials.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/...ntent=20200511182105

W's legacy.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
W's legacy.

Many of these people were Mall Security prior to getting that Phat gubmint job with a pension. Bureaucracy at it's finest! The bush's loved big and bigger government.
The Israelis presented the optimum airline security at a fraction of the cost of the TSA program, but it was about public image, not actual security.

Of course they cant.

Failure dogs TSA's every step.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
Failure dogs TSA's every step.

I see what you did here!

TSA security is PC theater. Govt is not serious about any security but its own

quote:

You can’t blame it on the dogs, though. Their human handlers at the famously inept Transportation Security Administration (TSA) fail to train them properly or use them in an appropriate fashion,

There are no bad dogs, just bad owners.

Ok, since we've now established they can't do any kind of security, can they be turned into therapy dogs for all of us standing in line?

TSA was created as a jobworks program in response to the recession after the dot com bust, plain and simple.

quote:

TSA’s Office of Inspection’s Special Operations Division

You know all of those who got to be in this department sprang a woody at the thought of being 'Special' especially getting their daily pep-talk briefings where the head of the department would emphasis they were America's First Line of Defense

Were they trained to grope passengers, perhaps?

This is the T.S.A. we’re talking about.

What would it take to make the TSA go away and security back to local law enforcement?

Without a lot of detail, I've spent some time carrying explosives through security checkpoints.

It's been a rare occasion when I wasn't picked up by the dogs.

I wouldn't be remotely comfortable attempting to smuggle explosives past them, based on my own experience, given the very high rate of detection. Nothing is foolproof, but I will say that the dog handlers are VERY serious about what they're doing, and the dogs are VERY effective.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Were they trained to grope passengers, perhaps?

I don't know, but I bet a lot of ladies get their crotches sniffed.

It seems that TSA’s dog training center is co-located at Joint-Base San Antonio/Lackland where MWDs are trained. I have no idea if there’s any interaction, but I think we are pretty confident that there are quality working dogs coming out of Joint-Base

quote:

Originally posted by DrDan:

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Were they trained to grope passengers, perhaps?

I don't know, but I bet a lot of ladies get their crotches sniffed.

By who, the dogs or the TSA agents?

Some years ago (10?) I was coming home from a trip to Idaho. Checking in at the airport in Spokane.

I was there at about 0600 hoping to miss the rush checking in.

There were, by actual count, 30 "agents" standing around playing "switch". I was the only passenger at that time of morning. So, I got the full treatment. By my actual count, they dumped my carry-on bag and sorted thru the very sparse contents. Some chewing gum, ear plugs, a couple of books. EIGHT TIMES!

Then, of course, the body search.

There was one of those brand new screening systems standing there without being even turned on. I had gone thru one of those at the DC airport on my way out to Idaho.

I asked the "agents" why they were not using it.

My answer was that nobody knew how!

Been standing there for nearly a year.

So, the canine units are improperly trained?

No surprise to me. Also, as I recall, they found some felons working in the TSA as well as other "questionable" types.

not a surprise

didn't they miss 97% of all test articles that were run through their screeners...

all that money for 3% inefficiency

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:

quote:

Originally posted by DrDan:

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Were they trained to grope passengers, perhaps?

I don't know, but I bet a lot of ladies get their crotches sniffed.

By who, the dogs or the TSA agents?

Yes!!