The Corruptible TSA
By Randall Holcombe • Thursday September 15, 2011 3:02 PM PDT • 6 Comments
Here’s a story about TSA agents accepting bribes to allow passengers to carry large quantities of the prescription narcotic oxycodone onto airline flights. I have two comments.
First, people are allowed to carry prescription drugs on airline flights. These drugs were pills, and there is no security threat to carrying them, nor are there TSA rules against carrying them. There is no limit to the number of pills you are allowed to carry with you on an airline flight. Sure, the drug couriers planned to sell them illegally to people who didn’t have prescriptions for them, but that is an issue well beyond the TSA’s mandate. Big Brother is watching you (but if you pay enough, you can get him to look the other way).
Second, this incident shows that TSA personnel can be bribed to allow passengers to carry questionable items onto commercial aircraft. If this goes much further, the next thing you know we’ll be reading stories about passengers bribing TSA agents to carry substances that are actually banned onto aircraft. If we’re not careful we’ll find people boarding aircraft with more than 3.4 ounces of toothpaste, shampoo, and maybe even bottled water.
It is worth a remark ten years after 9-11 that the TSA has yet to identify a single terrorist trying to board an aircraft.
Tags: Civil Liberties, Corruption, Drugs, Integrity, Nanny State, Personal Liberty, Privacy, Surveillance, Terrorism, The State, Transportation 
Creation of the Homeland Security Department (a creepy name if there ever was one) and its spawn, the odious TSA, was never about security. That is nothing but a cover for its real mission: keeping the sheeple scared, growing a bureaucracy, ever-expanding budgets, and finally, a conditioning of Americans to living in a police state.
Steve Hogan | Sep 15, 2011 | Reply
Great post! How much do I have to bribe a guy to bring a Crystal Geyser on the plane?
Anthony Gregory | Sep 16, 2011 | Reply
From the article, it appears the going price is $500, Anthony. If you’re really concerned about security, one thing that’s mildly disturbing about this is that it went on for months, despite the TSA being heavily staffed (as anyone who passes through an airport knows). Surely other TSA people saw what was going on, but didn’t blow the whistle on their fellow employees.
Steve, I hadn’t seen the term sheeple before, but it really fits all the sheeple going through TSA checkpoints trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible in order to get through with minimal harassment. We are, indeed, being conditioned.
Randall Holcombe | Sep 16, 2011 | Reply
I totally agree to Randall that we are, indeed, being conditioned in this case.
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Brian | Apr 27, 2012 | Reply