Reagan National Airport Not Secure

I recently flew out of Reagan National Airport. After showing my papers and answering several inane questions they accepted my luggage. Soon after my ID was checked again and I was submitted to yet another metal detector (something you do in almost every building in Washington DC these days). As I wear an insulin pump, I am pulled out of line every time and subjected to a more personal check with a wand and a pat down. The appearance that all these TSA searches are meant to display is that we are safe to fly.

When I returned home and opened my suitcase, that they tell you not to lock as they may be searched, I found that some change, less than $5, was missing. In order to steal this money one of the supposedly screened, background checked and highly supervised workers at Reagan International had to open the suitcase, unzip an internal pocket, and then gather the change.

I am not so worried about the few missing bucks, but I am very concerned that if someone has the time to steal things out of luggage, what is there to prevent them from putting other stuff, perhaps nefarious stuff into luggage? Clearly security is only as good as the people employed to do it and the system in place to direct those folks. Both have apparently broken down at the so called “most secure airport in the country.”

Not only has TSA allowed a thief to get through their security checks and work at the airport, this person is still working there and most likely continuing to steal. Using the same logic on TSA that the military uses to condemn gays; if someone finds out about their thievery they can be blackmailed and perhaps forced to slip a bomb into someone’s luggage.

Innocent citizens are forced to forgo their Constitutional rights every time they fly. They enter a virtual police state in every airport where they are assumed to be guilty until proven innocent. They are also denied the freedom of speech – If you don’t believe this try telling a TSA agent a joke about a bomb.

Yet TSA lets thieves work at the Reagan airport. The gap in oversight of luggage does not create a sense of safety or tight security in this citizen/traveler. If I am going to be forced to undergo exceptional security checks every time I enter an airport, I expect the same from those charged with enforcing that level of security. They are falling far short of the mark at Reagan National.

Steve McGourty

30 Aug 05