A senior TSA official is warning that smaller airports may close if the partial government shutdown continues to affect airport security staff. In an interview on Fox, Acting Deputy TSA Administrator Adam Stahl said he’s run out of options, including deploying emergency manpower, to keep airport security checkpoints adequately staffed. “So at this point, we’re fully stretched,” he said. “Frankly, there’s not much else we can do. As the weeks continue, if this continues, it’s not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, if callout rates go up … A lot of those officers can’t afford to come in.“ It’s not clear if the airports will be closed to all traffic or if only airline service will cease.
The partial government shutdown has lasted more than a month and some TSA employees are out of money. More than 300 have quit and unscheduled time off has gone from an average of 2% to about 10%. It’s thought that most of the attrition is due to employees finding other work to make ends meet. Faced with “eviction notices, vehicle repossessions, empty refrigerators and overdrawn bank accounts,” TSA union officials told Fox some members are selling blood and sleeping in their cars.
Meanwhile, at some airports passengers are being told to arrive up to five hours early for their flights. There are also fears among agents on the job that security threats will increase as those with ill intent take advantage of the fraught situation. Stall said the situation is likely to get worse before it gets better. “This is going to have knock-on effects also, long-term, to attrition and to recruitment, frankly,” Stall said. “We saw an uptick of 25% attrition after the last shutdown, and so this is going to continue and worsen—not get better, get worse—if we don’t get a resumption of normal operations, DHS funded, and money back into our TSA officers’ pockets.”
According to government sources the unconstitutional ‘war’ with Iran, in monetary terms, is conservatively costing $891.4 billion per day.
Funding for all TSA screening and non-screening personnel per day is approximately $16.27 million, which is 0.001825% of $891.4 billion.
Let’s try to be kind and patient to the agents if we can when we fly. They’re the face of government incompetence and deceit, not players in the game.
We’ve accepted being essentially powerless against such ‘America First’ cons and political swindling. It’s stupefying how this behavior continues year after year through our modern societal history.
oops, I got those figures wrong. Apologies. Should be 1.83% of the war’s cost.
A message edit option would be nice. Even Facebook has it.
You had it right the first time.- 0.001825%
With the numbers you posted. But the $891 billion was wrong. So the second number is correct. But still makes the point.
“The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) initially estimated the first 100 hours at roughly $891 million daily, though overall estimates quickly rose toward $1–2 billion per day.”
So, $891 million not billion. You should have spotted that yourself since the total annual budget for DoD is around 900 billion.
Maybe hyperventilating about that and then screwing up the percentage calculation should cause you to…take a step back.
Thank you kindly.
It’s pretty hard to say that Iran is harmless when we have multiple stories of active shooters at our military bases today.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15656155/holloman-New-Mexico-Air-Force-base-shooting.html
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/component/content/article/joint-base-mcguire-dix-lakehurst-declares-fpcon-charlie-base-locked-down?catid=20&Itemid=101
And I don’t think that the airlines are going to let people board passenger airplanes without being screened during time of war.
We’re actually in a catch 22 situation right now where many in our government want mass shooters so they can justify in the public mind that it’s ok to disarm the public and leave us defenseless without a second amendment. So far the public has been intelligent enough to see through it. Its like the cartoon where Lucy asks Charlie Brown why the government wants to take away guns. Charlie answers, because they plan to kill us and they don’t want anyone shooting back.
Everyone is affected by shutdowns. If you work for the federal government, one of the great perks and benefits is, that you could stop receiving pay, just whenever someone decides that a government shutdown would be a “fun thing to do”. Plan accordingly.
Options:
1. DO NOT work for the federal government.
2. DO NOT complain when “just for the fun of it” becomes the new reasoning behind just about any political action.
Thats about it.
Shut the airports down. We don’t need them.
We don’t need anyone! Remember?
Alternatively: Threaten TSA staff with severe consequences when they call out sick, just like it was done with ATC controllers…
Those who want government jobs looking at nude body scanners all day for the TSA and treating the public like prisoners should have called in sick and never come to work in the first place.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/court-throws-out-case-against-tsa-nude-body-scanners
Until we stop being lazy constituents, this will keep repeating itself.
Or…here’s a wild idea: study after study has repeatedly shown that TSA is absolutely miserable at preforming the one function with which they are tasked. “Red Teams” running tests against TSA have been able to smuggle weapons and explosives past screeners in over 70%-95% of attempts. TSA is pure security theater. So…just scrap it entirely. It’s useless and only creates delays without providing, you know, any actual security.
I won’t get on airlines anymore and I use to be an airline captain at a commuter 35 years ago or so. One of the main reasons I won’t travel on airlines as a pilot is because if the TSA looks through your flight case and sees something they want, they will just tell you it’s not allowed. Then they get to keep it. Of course you could always go back to your car and then miss your flight, but realistically speaking, you won’t ever see those items again. I can’t afford to keep replacing electronics, batteries and other items the TSA confiscates before departure. Maybe they could make ends meet during this crisis by selling some of the property they have taken from me and other passengers over the years.
I just pack all my good stuff with my checked firearms. Hard to beat hand delivered luggage. Lol
Amen…
From all of the net jets hiring advertisements, one would think that they are trying to replace the airlines with their fleet of smaller airplanes. I can’t help but believe these issues are related considering how many pilots they are losing to the higher paying airlines. If shutting down the TSA was in fact an attempt by the government to take blips off of the radars of already overcrowded skies, Net Jets will just put more blips on the radar and make it even more crowded. And with the TSA shutting down the airports that take their pilots to duty assignments, maybe NetJets will have to use some of their own airplanes to shuttle pilots to work.
Hey, I’d be happy to fly a load of pilots to work in a Phenom for NetJets; and I can even save them having to pay a copilot. I mean, how many pilots do you really need on one airplane? Practically All of my time in a Phenom 300 is single pilot anyway.
Of course, wisely not noted by Russ, TSA funding is a bystander caught in a struggle between Republicans and Democrats about whether ICE really needs more than the $85 BILLION multi-year funding it was given last year in the One Big Beautiful Bill and whether ICE should have to abide by the standards of all other state and federal law enforcement.
Imagine he had written such something.
His email would not stop dinging and all kinds of riffraff would collect here, to accuse him of suffering from TDS
My wife and I did a Costco run and donated a bunch of stuff to the TSA at MKE. They have a “store” where their team members can discretely shop after their shift. Did this on the last shut down, too. Stinks that it is needed.
You can also give gas and restaurant gift cards of $20 or less. No VISA type cards as those don’t fit the rules (although the manager told me that they end up using those to buy stuff for their store when they do get those).
Anyhow, a big thanks to those who choose to go in to work in spite of not getting paid (for now).
Forget the smaller airports. Shut down DCA first. If the Congresscritters can’t fly out of their special convenient airport, they’ll figure out how to get the TSA funded.
Regardless if color, sex, or party, only a POS can become a politician. Yes, AvBrief’s beloved Dummycrats as well.