Is TSA hiring noncitizens or is our Education system that bad???

[coltle6920]

Saw this posted on the Web...

TSA agent denies boarding to man with a drivers license from the District of Columbia.Man was told it was an invalid form of I.D. and was then asked for his passport.

Justin Gray was heading home to D.C after a stay in Orlando when this happened.Apparently this TSA agent thought that D.C. was foreign territory.Actually most of us have come to that same opinion lately but for different reasons.

Have we finally reached that point where we need someone to protect us from those that are hired to protect us?

Here's a link to the article...

Journalist Justin Gray stopped by TSA agent who didn't know District of Columbia was in US | Mail Online

[steveno]

it wouldn't surprise me if they were hiring non-citizens.
nothing surprises me about the education system in this country anymore

[Jessie]

I saw that. Unbelievable. But then again, a lot of D.C. inhabitants ARE alien to me.

[Texas Star]

Another TSA worthy stopped S. Dakota former governor and NRA President Joe Foss for having a throwing star in his luggage. The "star" was Foss's Medal of Honor from WWII, when he became a distinguished Marine fighter ace! This goes back a decade or so. I believe that Gov. Foss is now deceased.

And I had a grocery checker send a colleague to see which mysterious vegetable I was buying. It was radishes! I think I know why this happened but it can't be discussed here. Still, it's a sad thing that a grocery checker can't recognize something as basic as radishes.

[-db-]

Reminds me of the numerous YouTube videos shot at checkpoints in the Southwest where guys wearing Border Patrol costumes demand drivers' citizenship status and sound like they just crossed the Rio Grande themselves the week before.

It's amazing that people put up with it.

[LoboGunLeather]

After retiring from law enforcement I ran a pretty fair sized company for years, 30-plus regular full-time employees and sometimes 60 or more seasonal employees. I can tell you that a high school diploma is no guarantee that an applicant can read, write, or do simple math. Geography or knowledge about the US states, territories, or the District of Columbia are not in the general knowledge base.

In my opinion, our public education system is in very poor condition.

As far as TSA agents are concerned, should anyone be surprised that creating a new federal agency and transforming a bunch of people from private security guards to federal employees had little effect on job performance? For most the pay and benefits are probably better, but becoming a federal employee does not change a person genetically.

[safearm]

I had a TSA "agent" (I use that term very loosely) who refused to honor my retired military ID card because it doesn't have an expiration date on it (it will expire when I do). Luckily, a supervisor was standing nearby and interceded; he looked at my ID card, handed it back to me, and said, "Thank you, Colonel." The agent had an "I guess I screwed up" look on his face as I passed by him, but he didn't apologize.

[BearBio]

TSA has refused to accept my Federal ID card (which has my security clearance, and all kinds of data encrypted on it. Gets me into Top Secret installations all the time). She demanded a WA state DL.

I assured her that both my pay grade and clearance were higher than hers!

[Muss Muggins]

I gave up trying to use any form of ID other than a DL years ago, unless I absolutely have to. Saves time, trouble and attention, and I'm usually in a hurry. Arguing with goofballs serves no purpose, and I'm not in the business of trying to prove a point with form over function. Yes, they should recognize an ID and move me along, but I know they're for the most part too stupid to do it, so I show my DL and move on.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

DC is so different from the rest of the country it might as well be a different country.

[Broker50]

There's actually a new law taking effect that requires different ID than many state DL's. The law says that the DL has to be issued by a single state agency, & here in KY they're issued by county circuit court clerks. So, here in our state, they're recommending passports. It affects more than TSA, too, also includes many secure facilities. Just more government over-reach by the feds.

[Arik]

.........

uploadfromtaptalk1405609082680.jpg

[chaparrito]

You have to be a U.S. citizen or a U.S. national to work for the TSA. As far as the state of education is concerned. Who are the first teachers?

https://hraccess-assessment.tsa.dhs....quirements.pdf

[Mule Packer]

Oh well...like the old saying goes, "You pay peanuts and you get monkeys."

I hate to say it, but I know a TSA agent and, if the rest are anything like poor ol' Johnny, we're in serious trouble. Really.

His son was one of my college students years ago. The poor kid had absolutely no business being in college. He could barely spell his name correctly. That's probably an exaggeration, but seriously, I have no idea how he managed to graduate, in fact, I'm not sure that he did. But anyway, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. The dad, prior to becoming a TSA agent, collected the quarters at our local car wash and cleaned out the car wash bays for a living. That was the level of his mentality. Nice guy...just not real bright.

You can imagine my surprise when I saw him at the local airport frisking people down and checking their hairspray and mouthwash bottles. What was even scarier was the fact that he was the shift supervisor. Seriously!

[Harrison]

A couple of years ago my firm was involve in a lawsuit involving a TSA screener. She flat out lied on multiple parts of her TSA employment application and her superiors knew she lied. She was still hired, and retained.

[sigp220.45]

Try living in New Mexico. The number of people who don't think it is a state is astounding.

[amazingflapjack]

I graduated from high school in that foreign land, and later in university, I was asked what state The school was located in that I graduated from, in a class discussion, by an instructor, to which I replied that my high school wasn't in a "state" but the District of Columbia. There was eye rolling...

[JJEH]

D.C. stands for District of Cuba, right?! So the TSA guy did the right thing...

[Straightshooter2]

Originally Posted by sigp220.45

Try living in New Mexico. The number of people who don't think it is a state is astounding.

My wife ran into that at the Post Office when sending something to my aunt.

Its' the education system rapidly circling the toilet. But it's not just the TSA. At Delta we had a Frequent Flyer reward called the North American Award. It stated in the rules it was valid for travel in "the 50 United States and North America." One of our sales agents called our area for an interpretation of the rules because she had a a customer who wanted to travel to Hawaii on one of these awards. She asked if Hawaii was the fifty-oneth state or the fifty-second or was it part of North America. My first thought was how did this woman graduate high school. My second thought was how the heck did we HIRE this woman!

CW

[jag312]

The last time I flew back from Los Angeles I showed my badge and my agency ID. I was asked for my DL, because the young lady didn't think that my badge and ID were official goverment identification. Well, it was Los Angeles.

[BearBio]

When I was in grad school, I took a class in Animal Behavior from my Grad Chair (Chairman of my Graduate Committee). This was my field of study for my MS.

The last month of class, he starts the lecture with "How to read a map". North is at the top, etc. Later that day, I was sitting in his office discussing my thesis and I had to ask why he did that.

It seems that we were starting a series of lectures on animal navigation during migration (different species navigate using different markers like Sun position, north star, gravity, etc.) and it was going to be a large part of our final. Several years ago, he had several young ladies who really did poorly on a quiz. He was tutoring them outside on the lawn and asked them "Which way is North?" (Easy to answer due to a mountain range 5-10 miles North of campus). All three pointed up into the sky.

Now, understand: This was a course in grad school! They had their degrees (or were graduating that semester)!

Yes, it was at a State college in the San Fernando Valley and they were "Valley Girls" but still.......

[vytoland]

"Is TSA hiring noncitizens or is our Education system that bad"

TSA and education used in the same sentence??????????????

now I AM confused.....

[the ringo kid]

Originally Posted by coltle6920

Saw this posted on the Web...

TSA agent denies boarding to man with a drivers license from the District of Columbia.Man was told it was an invalid form of I.D. and was then asked for his passport.

Justin Gray was heading home to D.C after a stay in Orlando when this happened.Apparently this TSA agent thought that D.C. was foreign territory.Actually most of us have come to that same opinion lately but for different reasons.

Have we finally reached that point where we need someone to protect us from those that are hired to protect us?

Here's a link to the article...

Journalist Justin Gray stopped by TSA agent who didn't know District of Columbia was in US | Mail Online

THAT is the exact type of people they want to hire--instead of at least some who actually HAD some experience as well as common sense.

[the ringo kid]

Originally Posted by LoboGunLeather

After retiring from law enforcement I ran a pretty fair sized company for years, 30-plus regular full-time employees and sometimes 60 or more seasonal employees. I can tell you that a high school diploma is no guarantee that an applicant can read, write, or do simple math. Geography or knowledge about the US states, territories, or the District of Columbia are not in the general knowledge base.

In my opinion, our public education system is in very poor condition.

As far as TSA agents are concerned, should anyone be surprised that creating a new federal agency and transforming a bunch of people from private security guards to federal employees had little effect on job performance? For most the pay and benefits are probably better, but becoming a federal employee does not change a person genetically.

You would be surprised at what I saw--when they first started hiring TSA screeners in my area. They hired those who couldnt bend down low enough to touch their knees (and no--im NOT making fun of heavy set or handicapped people-since I fit both descriptions now))) as well as a 70-somehting year old lady who couldnt ID stuff shown in radar, as well as others totally unqualified for the job. They didnt hire anyone who had Military or Law Enforcement backgrounds--at least when Sarge Bill and I went to apply.

[the ringo kid]

Originally Posted by 2ndAmendmentNut

DC is so different from the rest of the country it might as well be a different country.

Austin is the D.C of Texas.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Originally Posted by the ringo kid

Austin is the D.C of Texas.

You got that right.

[Comrad]

I don't know, there are a lot of Americans, mostly recent graduates who think New Mexico is in another country.

[Harrison]

I always thought of Austin as the San Francisco of Texas.

[Doug M.]

The first problem is parents. I could read a bit when I started school, because my parents (mostly mom) read to me as a little kid and made me sound out words, etc. I had classmates in HS who simply refused to read anything they did not have to, likely because they had different socialization than I did.

I went to a big 10 University for my BS and JD, and had little exposure to lower quality students. My MPA program (regional comprehensive school) was not bad, except when we had the MBA students in classes; the majority were barely literate drooling idiots with no ethics at all. Seriously: they had the moral compass of a pack of gang rapists, which did not go over well with the Dean when I was reaming him for his own criminal conduct one day. The foreign nationals in the MPA program had better English skills than the majority of the MBA students, even those who started learning English relatively late. It was mortifying.

I have had horrible experiences with semi-literate lawyers. That really gripes me, since we largely make our living by ... words! Some of the briefing I have seen has been truly horrible, and I have been told by 2 judges I know (one appellate and one trial) that the civil lawyers are even less skillful than the criminal lawyers about whom I was griping. An interpreter asked me one day if the evidence rules were different for civil and criminal cases; he was so used to a higher level of conduct and skill from doing his job in criminal cases that he was confused by the crud that was happening in a civil matter. I dealt with one lawyer (a bar investigator) whom I truly believe needs a guardian more than a job.

My wife, another Big 10 grad (BS and Ph.D., same school) has been infuriated by some of the semi-literate swill she has gotten from colleagues. Poor reading comprehension; horrible writing skills. There are a lot of people out there who just flat suck at the language, and I have met a significant number of foreign born folks who do a LOT better than native speakers.

[the ringo kid]

Originally Posted by Harrison

I always thought of Austin as the San Francisco of Texas.

That too!!!

[Texas Star]

In their defense, the TSA screeners may have been told to ask for driver's licenses because they can learn what they look like, at least from their own and nearby states. And many have a photo; they probably want a photo ID. Other forms of ID may confuse them or not be sufficiently reliable for the need, as with, say, a library card.

I noted on the forms above that shoplifting is not a barrier to hiring, nor is gang membership, robbery, or assault. But they'd better not have a debt that's overdue.

[feralmerril]

I spent the majority of my life checking ID`s. I have seen security reps try you out with ID`s of daffey duck etc. People need to work as a guard sometime, you will form a different take on it. Number one thing is many people resent being checked at all and by what they consider a underling in a underling job. Many times there is a plain cloths security type watching you to see that you are doing your job. Maybe your best friend or brother comes up and the guard asks to see your ID. You and him both might know you have checked his ID a thousand times before but YOU DONT KNOW that he knows a stickler boss for the rules is nearby. I had boss`s like that. When you are a guard working on security clearance type jobs you are checked regularly.

[klausinak]

For all of you folks in NM, try Alaska. You would be amazed at the number of people who think we're right next to Hawaii.

[snubbyfan]

[snubbyfan]

[mjr]

And everyone's probably heard stories of people trying to mail packages to Austria, only to be told by post office employees that "Austria isn't an acceptable abbreviation for Australia."

[WR Moore]

It's been years since I've been in DC. At least at that time, in certain sections of the place, English was a foreign language.

Given some of their laws, I'm not real sure it is part of the US.

[Fishslayer]

Originally Posted by 2ndAmendmentNut

DC is so different from the rest of the country it might as well be a different country.

I think it's a monarchy, right?

...maybe malarkey? I dunno... public school...

[jgh4445]

Probably was a standout college quarterback working his summer job!

[Grayfox]

I'm too afraid to fly. I have no fear of airplanes. But idiots scare the bejeesus outta me.

[LVSteve]

Originally Posted by BearBio

TSA has refused to accept my Federal ID card (which has my security clearance, and all kinds of data encrypted on it. Gets me into Top Secret installations all the time). She demanded a WA state DL.

I assured her that both my pay grade and clearance were higher than hers!

If I had a card like that I would not show to anyone outside work. They don't need to know, and that goes double for TSA.

[Road Rat]

Funny!! AND, friends ask me why I drive for a day or so instead of flying!!!! Now, that is funny...............

Haven't flown in years and don't intend to start up again now.

[BearBio]

Originally Posted by LVSteve

If I had a card like that I would not show to anyone outside work. They don't need to know, and that goes double for TSA.

All it has printed is my Agency, duty station, name and photo. The rest requires a reader

[Rule3]

Originally Posted by Broker50

There's actually a new law taking effect that requires different ID than many state DL's. The law says that the DL has to be issued by a single state agency, & here in KY they're issued by county circuit court clerks. So, here in our state, they're recommending passports. It affects more than TSA, too, also includes many secure facilities. Just more government over-reach by the feds.

Here in Fl we had to get new DL with a nice little STAR on the corner. Not all States had to participate but we did as the pilot training for 911 was done here. Without the STAR no flying!

The whole process was like I just entered the Country, original Birth Certificate,vehicle registration, proof of residence, utility bill etc.

Well duh! it is done at the same place that has all our records. I have renewed my DL at the same place for over 20 years, They have all my records, right there on the same computer. Had to pay $50 to get an original certified copy of my BC from another State.

[LVSteve]

Originally Posted by BearBio

All it has printed is my Agency, duty station, name and photo. The rest requires a reader

That's still too much info for me, but I'm a sneaky beak.