In Tampa, Florida, a man who was hidden by the name Jason, was to test the Tampa International Airport's security. His task was to walk through the metal detector portal while wearing a "back support" that was really a fake bomb. The mock bomb was as slim as a wallet and its fuse was the size of a cigarette. He wraps the support around his torso and the bombs fits comfortably on his back. Jason was also wearing a black shirt with a maroon golf shirt which really hides the fake bomb. Jason wants to succeed at his task but also fail because if he succeeds it means that the security at this specific airport is vulnerable to real threats but if he fails, that means that the security is on top of their game. He is a covert tester for the Transportation Security Administration and has been finding weaknesses of security for five years by mocking bombs before changing to really small devices that are evolved around terrorists threats. Jason walks through the metal detector portal and as expected, the alarm goes off because he was also wearing a metal knee. Security then pulls him aside and checks him with a metal hand detector all around his body. As security pats him around his back, the fake bomb was found. Although Jason said that he was having a back problem and needs to wear the back support and security lets him through which means that there was a fake bomb in the airport. It was said by TSA that cultural backgrounds of security can fall for these types of reasoning (being a middle aged man wearing a back support) but the security could also performed other tasks to make sure it was really a back support instead of a fake bomb.This was interesting to me because it shows how security really needs to fix those small holes in airports because as a traveler, I want to make sure that my flight from one place to another is safe. It proves how airport security needs to be trained more of how to manage different situations like this because actual bombs get smaller and smaller until it becomes just another object like the "back support". In my opinion, I think TSA does a good job at making tests like this to see the airport's vulnerability to terrorist threats.
This affects the world because people who also travels wants to depart and arrive at their destinations as safely as possible. I think this is an important issue to look at, especially presidential candidates because airport security needs to improve more.
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Labels: Current Event