Thursday, January 31, 2008

New TSA blog

Yep - as if they don't have enough to do preventing those dangerous face creams in containers larger than 3 oz from getting on board a plane, they've now launched a blog.

While I appreciate their effort to garner feedback, I'm not sure they're going to like what they read, considering most people's experience with the ridiculous regulations they're charged with enforcing.

And in all fairness, it's really not the fault of the individual screeners that they're tasked with just nonsense ... but they do have some discretion in how they carry out their duties and there is significant room for improvement in that area as well.

From their welcome post:

"There isn’t much opportunity for our Security Officers to explain the ‘why,’ of what we ask you to do at the checkpoint, just the ‘what’ needs to be done to clear security. The result is that the feedback and venting ends up circulating among passengers with no real opportunity for us to learn from you or vice versa. We get feedback verbally and non-verbally at the checkpoint and see a lot in the blogs, again without a real dialogue.

Our ambition is to provide here a forum for a lively, open discussion of TSA issues. While I and senior leadership of TSA will participate in the discussion, we are turning the keyboard over to several hosts who represent what’s best about TSA (its people). Our hosts aren’t responsible for TSA’s policies, nor will they have to defend them -- their job is to engage with you straight-up and take it from there. Our hosts will have access to senior leadership but will have very few editorial constraints. Our postings from the public will be reviewed to remove the destructive but not touch the critical or cranky.

Please be patient and good-humored as we get underway. The opportunity is that we will incorporate what we learn in this forum in our checkpoint process evolution. We will not only give you straight answers to your questions but we will challenge you with new ideas and involve you in upcoming changes."

When government actually solicits feedback, we should respond. So, if you've got thoughts to share, please be sure to do so!

3 comments:

Timothy W Higgins said...

Maggie,

As a frequent traveller and one who has suffered under the ministrations of this organization on more occasions than I would like to be able to remember, you can bet that I will respond to their solicitation for feedback. This response may take a bit of time however, as there are so many things that I would like to say and I will want to need to put them in such a way so as not to draw undue attention to myself during my travels (or to have them come knocking on my door some day).

Ultimately, I believe that the TSA is part of a global conspiracy run by a group known as the ADL (Anti-Destination League). This group consists of agents randomly blocking access to airplane boarding gates, baggage carousels, and yes TSA agents, among others. Their nefarious goal is to prevent anyone from being able to travel anywhere in a timely fashion, and these days they come damn close to succeeding.

Of course, my impressions may be the product of latent paranoia and I may just need my medication adjusted.

Maggie said...

oh my - hadn't even thought about the fact that they might be able to track complainers and then target them in some way when travelling...

loved the comments!!!

Libertarian Jason said...

Oh, THIS is priceless.

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