A former Newark Liberty International Airport TSA agent has revealed what really goes on at airport security, the
New York Post reported. Lax pat-downs, falling asleep on the job, and ogling female passengers are just some of the breaches that occur regularly at this "bottom-of-the-barrel" agency.
"Did you know you don't need a high-school diploma or GED to work as a security screener?" the agent wrote. "These are the same screeners that TSA chief John Pistole and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refer to as a first-class first line of defense in the war on terror. These are the employees who could never keep a job in the private sector. I wouldn't trust them to walk my dog."
It's all for show, the agent writes, confessing to 10-second pat-downs that do little to detect weapons or contraband. The supervisors reportedly do nothing other than tell TSA employees to spit out their gum, and half-hour-long bathroom breaks are the norm.
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"Most TSA screeners know their job is a complete joke," the agent writes. "A small number of screeners are delusional zealots who believe they're keeping America safe by taking your snow globe, your 2-inch pocket knife, your 4-ounce bottle of shampoo and performing invasive pat-downs on your kids."
Newark Airport has fallen victim to security breach after security breach even though it employs 1,400 screeners and supervisors. In March 2011, a woman got through security with a steak knife in her carry-on. In October 2011, a TSA agent slipped a note saying, "Get your freak on, girl," in a female passenger's bag after finding a vibrator.
An internal audit conducted in October 2012 found that Newark TSA followed protocol only one in four times, and only patted down passengers 16.7 percent of the time. That same month, 25 agents were fired for falling asleep on the job.
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Most recently, and perhaps most frighteningly,
an undercover inspector cleared security carrying a fake bomb in his pants. The man evaded two screenings and a pat-down.
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