New TSA Site

What will they think of next?


http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/01/31/tsa.blog.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Frustrated by long airport-security lines? Certain those
screeners aren't paying attention? Wondering why your grandma always gets
frisked?

The federal government wants to hear -- or at least read -- your gripes at
the "Evolution of Security" blog the Transportation Security Administration
introduced Wednesday. And it promises those complaints and suggestions won't
vanish into thin air.

The blog, at http://www.tsa.gov/blog, is getting a rather "blah" response
from aviation analysts and passengers advocates who say it will do little to
improve process or perception.

"This will just make it easier for them to receive complaints for them to
ignore in the name of national security," said David Stempler, president of
the Air Travelers Association.

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In the blog's initial post, TSA Administrator Kip Hawley said the goal is to
provide a forum for the agency to explain why travelers must go through
certain steps at checkpoints since interaction at airports is often harried
and halted, resulting in "feedback and venting ... circulating among
passengers with no real opportunity for us to learn from you or vice versa."

"We will incorporate what we learn in this forum in our checkpoint process
evolution," Hawley wrote. "Our postings from the public will be reviewed to
remove the destructive, but not touch the critical or cranky."

Terry Trippler, a Minneapolis-based airline expert, applauded the idea but
said TSA "was in the right church, just not the right pew yet."

And that church could become anything but sacred. Trippler said he envisions
the blog quickly degenerating into an online vacuum where a handful of
habitual complainers force TSA officials to respond to them, while other
self-appointed security "experts" pontificate on the best ways to improve
the process.

Even worse, he said some travelers will avoid the blog for fear of
retribution from the government.

The TSA already is fighting an uphill battle in the court of public opinion.

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted last month found that only the
Federal Emergency Management Agency, still dealing with its mismanagement of
Hurricane Katrina, ranked below the TSA among the least-liked federal
agencies. TSA tied with tax collectors in the ranking of a dozen executive
branch agencies.

The AP poll found that the more people traveled, the less they liked TSA,
but also that 53 percent of air travelers though the agency did a "very" or
"somewhat" good job. Their top complaint: the inconvenience of security.

By late Wednesday there were 29 comments on the blog, mostly from TSA
employees and moderators. One anonymous poster asked why some airport body
scanners stop him due to a hip replacement while others do not.

The response from "Christopher," identified as an "evolution blog team
member," said answering those kinds of questions in future posts was why the
site was started and added: "Come back on Friday to check out our post on
the top three questions security officers get from passengers."