Still, You Probably Shouldn't Wear Bin Laden T-Shirts When Flying

The Transportation Security Administration tests its own security screeners periodically by sending investigators to attempt to sneak contraband past checkpoints, for state stated purpose of finding and patching vulnerabilities. Past reports have indicated the results of those tests are decidedly mixed, at best.

Now, author Jeffrey Goldberg says he's conducted similar tests, just to prove his assertion that the TSA "...represents an egregious waste of tax dollars."

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune found Goldberg's article in the November issue of Atlantic Magazine a matter of local interest, because the author says he talked his way through security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport using a fake, first-class boarding pass for a Northwest flight to Washington. He deliberately carried no photo ID, and even wore an Osama bin Laden T-shirt under his coat.

Goldberg adds he was wearing the long coat on a hot day, had splashed water on his face to simulate sweat, and had earlier torn up a bunch of other fake boarding passes conspicuously in a men's room to see if anyone would report his suspicious behavior.

"No one piped up," he writes.

Used to being on the defensive when it comes to the agency that signs her paychecks, TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe calls Goldberg's article, "more of an entertainment piece than a treatment of security. ... It's absurd to think that we take things from people because of what they wear."

Goldberg says he finally approached the Minneapolis checkpoint with his bogus boarding pass and told security that he had lost his ID but still hoped to board. he says that after looking over a credit card, health insurance card and a library card, he was allowed through with the ironic parting advice, "Let this be a lesson for you."

Apparently, the lesson is that a smooth talker can subvert the TSA. And it's not the first time -- Goldberg claims that he has boarded flights with pocketknives, matches from hotels in Beirut, dust masks, nail clippers, box cutters... and an inflatable Yasser Arafat doll.

Next time, perhaps Goldberg should try transporting cameras?

FMI: www.tsa.gov