Five myths about the TSA

Few government agencies seem to inspire as much rancor as the Transportation Security Administration. Some of that ill will might be due to the fact that the traveling public interfaces with them in person every day, often while standing in slow-moving lines or getting searched. But while there are many misconceptions about the TSA, here are five myths that seem to be among the most prevalent.

1. TSA officers are law enforcement officials.

TSA officers may look the part, but they aren't cops.

"Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) are not law enforcement," according to Ross Feinstein, Press Secretary of the Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "TSA officers rely on state and local law enforcement to resolve any situations that may arise at the checkpoint."

In other words, the airport police are called in when necessary. So what are the powers of TSA officers? Feinstein says that "TSOs are trained, certified and authorized, in accordance with applicable TSA standard and directives, to inspect individuals, accessible property and/or checked baggage for the presence of explosives, incendiaries, weapons or other prohibited items."

But the level of their expertise has been called into question by frequent travelers and travel professionals such as Adrienne Sasson of Rubinsohn Travel, a Tripology agency in Jenkintown, Pa. She says that "Many of these people have never worked security. They have no real training or an idea of what security is about. The ideal security is at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, where the security team has all served in the Israeli Army and the airport security system gets tested five to seven times every day."

2. The TSA uses profiling to screen travelers.

"Racial profiling is not tolerated by the TSA," says Feinstein. "Not only is racial profiling generally prohibited by federal law and under department and agency policy, but it is also an ineffective security tactic. "

3. Once you've passed through the screening detector, you're free to go.

Well, you're free to go unless you're selected for a secondary screening at the discretion of a TSA security officer. Feinstein says that "TSA's Behavior Detection and Analysis program identifies potentially high-risk individuals exhibiting behavior indicative of excessive fear or stress and re-routes them for additional screening by looking for a combination of individual indicators that warrant follow-up."

He adds that "Behavior Detection Officers (BDOs) are trained to identify behavior cues that have been shown … to be reliable indicators and predictors of anomalous or suspicious behavior. BDOs engage in conversation with individuals displaying anomalous behaviors, looking at possible verbal cues indicative of a high-risk passenger and refer those individuals exhibiting such behavior for additional physical screening and/or to law enforcement."

Sasson disagrees, saying that "The TSA officers don't know the tell-tale signs. They may look at carry-ons but not at every person. In Israel, the security people know to watch your eyes and your perspiration level."

4. There's no way to beat the long lines at a TSA checkpoint on a given day.

Feinstein says that "Wait times at the airport can fluctuate based upon the volume of passengers, weather and/or flight operations. In 2013, 98.65% of passengers experienced wait times under 20 minutes. This past summer, with a record number of passengers flying, 99.6% of all passengers waited in line less than 20 minutes."

That said, even the TSA knows that the name of the game is to game the system. They offer a free "My TSA" app that updates wait times at security checkpoints at major U.S. airports.

For an agency that is synonymous with waiting, that's no small irony.

5. TSA Pre-Check is the fastest way to get through TSA checkpoints.

The concept behind TSA Pre-Check was that select passengers who had paid an $85 fee, undergone fingerprinting and a security check could use designated TSA Pre-Check lanes. They could leave their shoes, light outerwear, and a belt on while keeping their laptop in its case and their 3-1-1 compliant liquids and gels in a carry-on bag. The idea was that these pre-cleared passengers would move quicker through Pre-Check lanes than standard security lanes.

Well, they have, but with a wrinkle. Some non-approved travelers that the TSA has deemed "low-risk" can use the Pre-Check lanes. That means many more travelers are being funneled into these lanes, much to the displeasure of frequent travelers who have paid for the privilege. Many of these low-risk travelers don't know that they have been designated for a Pre-Check lane and begin to take off their shoes and take out their laptops, slowing down the line for frequent travelers who are regular TSA Pre-Check users.

How do you know if you've been allowed to use a Pre-Check lane? The information, it turns out, is on your boarding pass, according TSA's Feinstein.

"If a passenger is eligible for expedited screening, a TSA Pre-Check indicator will be embedded in the barcode of the boarding pass so that when scanned at the checkpoint, the passenger may be referred to a TSA Pre-Check lane," Feinstein says. "The 11 participating airlines also print a TSA Pre-Check indicator directly on the boarding pass so passengers will know in advance that they have been cleared for expedited screening."

Yet few of these "low-risk" travelers are aware of their Pre-Check status until they find themselves directed to a Pre-Check lane. Nor does it help that many of them are very infrequent travelers, says Jamison "Jamie" Bachrach, owner and travel consultant at Wandering Puffin, a Tripology agency in Minneapolis. Bachrach says that "Some of them take one vacation a year. They don't travel very often."

The result is that, at some airports, the Pre-Check line has become a mix of frequent and infrequent travelers and TSA officers who offer little direction. The agency says it is reducing the number of non-members it steers through those lanes, and with the program now in operation at 120 airports nationwide, the aim is to have wait times of five minutes or less.