Your Morning TSA Security Round-Up

[Trigger warning for fat hatred and general harm.]

The Hill—Next step for body scanners could be trains, boats, metro:

The next step in tightened security could be on U.S. public transportation, trains and boats.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says terrorists will continue to look for U.S. vulnerabilities, making tighter security standards necessary.

"[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through," Napolitano said in an interview that aired Monday night on "Charlie Rose."

"I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?"

Is she having a laugh?

AP—TSA: Some gov't officials to skip airport security: "Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior U.S. officials are exempt from toughened new airport screening procedures when they fly commercially with government-approved federal security details. ... The TSA would not explain why it makes these exceptions. But many of the exempted government officials have gone through several levels of security clearances, including FBI background checks." TSA has also now exempted flight attendants, in addition to pilots.

Disability Scoop—TSA: Pat-Downs A Must For Some With Disabilities:

In an open letter (pdf) to members of the disability community, a top Transportation Security Administration official says that some people with disabilities will be required to undergo "alternate screening techniques including pat-downs."

... TSA officials say some people with disabilities are ineligible for the body scanners and therefore must automatically undergo secondary screening measures. This includes individuals who use wheelchairs or other mobility devices and cannot stand, travelers with service animals, people who rely on a cane or walker and those unable to lift their arms to shoulder level for several seconds.

Similarly, travelers who are accompanying or assisting a person who cannot pass through the machines will also be subject to alternative screening measures, wrote Kimberly Walton, the TSA’s special counselor in the letter.

"There is nothing punitive about our measures; it just makes good security sense," Walton wrote.

Daily Fail—'We hate obese passengers and people with personal hygiene issues': TSA staff vent their anger at patdown searches: This whole story is a clusterfuck. TSA staff interviewed are being verbally abused by passengers, which is terrible, but they are also talking about how disgusting it is to be forced to touch fat people, how being accused of molestation is worse than actually being molested, and how being a man made to touch another man's genitals is horrible (not because it's intrinsically wrong, but because of how totes gay it is). I sincerely doubt/hope that these 17 agents are representative of their entire vocation, but just knowing that there are agents thinking this stuff is yet another disincentive to travel.

Meanwhile, in efficacy news...

Ars Technica—Adam Savage: TSA saw my junk, missed 12" razor blades.

And this is reassuring...

CNN—Law enforcement officer left loaded gun magazine on plane: "A federal law enforcement officer mistakenly left a loaded gun magazine that was found Tuesday on a Southwest Airlines plane, officials said. ... The head of the Transportation Security Administration said the unnamed law officer will be given remedial training."