WEBVTT - TSA Checkpoint Chaos - Lab 096 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:09.080 I'm t T and I'm Zakiyah and this is Dope Labs. 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:14.600 Welcome to Dope Labs, a weekly podcast that mixes hardcore 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:17.639 science with pop culture and a healthy dose of friendship. 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:25.760 I don't think I've ever asked you this, zee. Do 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:30.120 you like traveling? I mean, I travel a lot, and 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:34.760 I think usually I do. But it's just the little 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:38.080 in between time before I get to my gate and 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.479 board the plane, Like everything leading up to that, like 0:00:40.479 --> 0:00:42.320 from when I wake up that morning to that point, 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:45.919 is stressful. It really gets on my nerves. And I 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:49.280 you know, I always pack at the last minute. Yeah, 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:51.760 of course, of course. And then I have to figure out, 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.120 am I taking an uber which is gonna be a 0:00:54.160 --> 0:00:56.400 trillion dollars to the airport? Am I driving myself to 0:00:56.440 --> 0:00:58.080 the airport? Which I used to like doing? But then 0:00:58.360 --> 0:01:00.440 I get there, none of the information is corrected. The 0:01:00.600 --> 0:01:03.280 Atlanta Airport sometimes they're like, oh, this parking lot is full. 0:01:03.640 --> 0:01:05.640 It's like I just passed a digital sign that you 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:10.080 could easily update remotely that says this airport lot is available. 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.919 I wouldn't even come this way. And then I think 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.600 the gotcha, gotcha, guess who's coming to dinner. Part is 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:21.160 what your experience at TSA is gonna be, Like, it's 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.760 gonna be seven minutes or seventy you know, Oh my gosh, TSA. 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.880 It feels like everyone has an attitude. Folks are yelling, 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:32.959 people have their shoes off, people are struggling with the bens. 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:36.280 It is a nightmare. Yes, and so by the time 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:37.759 you get through there, it's like, I don't even want 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:42.160 to go. Actually, I'm going home. My shoes, I'm going home. 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.440 This sounds like a great topic to dive into today 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:49.960 because summer is near, and that means we are hitting 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:52.960 the friendli skuys. People are going on vacations, they flying out, 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.440 they flying folks out. I don't know what your business is. 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:59.240 I think you're right. So let's jump into the recitation 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.320 to figure out what we know and what we want 0:02:01.320 --> 0:02:07.400 to know about TSA. Well, we know that the TSA 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:09.239 is meant to keep us safe and that there is 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.440 an attitude needed to serve in that role, a very 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.320 particular attitude. Yes, okay. So we know that the TSA 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:19.480 stands for the Transportation Security Administration and it's a part 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:23.240 of the Department of Homeland Security, and it's in charge 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:29.840 of keeping the nation's transportation systems safe. So that's airports, rails, highways, pipelines, 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:32.400 you name it. I have never seen the TSA at 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:36.080 a train station now, but I'm not going not too 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:37.680 much on it, but I just want to say that. 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.040 And we know that the rules for travel are constantly changing, 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.160 sometimes from my being to the next person's being, and 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.040 from one airport to another. Sometimes you got to throw 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:52.320 out your heat protected or your expensive perfume. So we 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:55.320 know that. So what do we want to know personally? 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.200 I want to know more about the tech. It's a 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.560 different scanner at every airport. Whether it's gonna pick up 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:03.040 my ank lit or not, I don't know how is 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.480 that working. And speaking of tech, I want to know 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:10.040 about the tech associated with you know, the real idea 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.720 that they're saying that we have to have you have yours. Yes, 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:18.760 they've been telling us this for six years. Oh, I 0:03:18.760 --> 0:03:21.200 know some folks still don't got it. I know they don't. 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:23.560 They're going to be at home. That's wild to me. 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:28.160 But I also want to know if TSA is actually 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:31.160 protecting us or is it just the illusion of protection, 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:35.360 Because I feel like I'm constantly seeing like women lived 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:38.600 in airport for two weeks or snuck onto plane. I'm like, 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:41.640 I can't sneak a lotion into my carry on, so 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:44.920 how did that happen? I think this is a great 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:53.360 place to start, so let's jump into the dissection for 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.800 today's lab our. Guests are the hosts of No Such 0:03:56.920 --> 0:03:57.920 Thing podcast. 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:00.880 My name is Manny. I'm a co hosts for No 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:02.360 Such Thing. I'm Noah. 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:04.680 I'm also a cost of No Such Thing. 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:07.480 And I'm Devin also I'm co host. I'm No such Thing. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:10.480 But before we get into the nitty gritty, let's get 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:14.520 some background on TSA. So the TSA became a thing 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:17.680 in November nineteenth of two thousand and one, so that 0:04:17.880 --> 0:04:21.279 was barely two months after nine to eleven, and it 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.919 was out of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act and 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:27.239 so on the heels of nine to eleven and all 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:32.520 of the reaction, TSA was able to federalize sixty thousand screeners, 0:04:32.520 --> 0:04:34.800 so those are people to screen you coming through. In 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:37.280 under a year. They had a budget that ballooned from 0:04:37.320 --> 0:04:40.120 one billion dollars in two thousand and two to fast 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:43.400 forward to today a budget of over ten billion dollars. 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:46.839 So it's about to be summer. Last summer, TSA screened 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:50.520 over three million people in one day. People. That's a 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.719 ton of people. We're heading into another record season and 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:56.760 they're expected to surpass about eight hundred million screenings this year, 0:04:57.360 --> 0:04:59.840 and I'm just like, what's going on with tsall? 0:04:59.880 --> 0:05:00.000 Right? 0:05:00.120 --> 0:05:02.640 Is this system keeping up? Are we just squeezing more 0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:05.240 people through the same old bottom nicks? Yeah, Okay, y'all 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.599 did a great episode about TSA on your podcast, so 0:05:07.600 --> 0:05:09.440 I want to know y'all's take on the TSA. 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:11.800 I was actually in your neck of the woods in 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:16.280 Atlanta in January and I got stuck at in the 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:19.400 TSA lines, and I think it was one of the 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:22.320 inspirations to do this episode, which was like, I'm getting 0:05:22.400 --> 0:05:25.640 yelled at by this guy who's telling me not to 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.400 take my laptop out, even though the sign behind him 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:30.480 is saying that I have to take my laptop out. 0:05:31.200 --> 0:05:34.320 And I think, just like, these frustrations are so common. 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:37.039 This is my wheelhouse because I've worked with a lot 0:05:37.040 --> 0:05:41.640 of scanning devices in my day. Go off, let me 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:45.640 come the reason why we have to take the laptops out, 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:50.479 so the old school X rays they can't really see 0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:53.200 through dense batteries, So you have to take your laptop 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.480 out of your bag so that I can really get, 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.720 you know, a good picture. It's not about the laptop, 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:03.720 about the items in the bag. Yeah, that's not clear 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.080 to other items. Yeah, because it's a two D X ray. 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:12.320 So they fire a fan shaped X ray beams straight 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:15.560 through your bag and it produces this flat picture on 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.960 the monitor, and they calculate density by how much of 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:22.560 that beam is absorbed. The more dense an object is, 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.360 the brighter that blob is on the screen. So lithium 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:31.320 ion laptop batteries pack layers of metal foil, so aluminum, 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:35.880 copper and some other metals, and plus this steel shell 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:39.400 that's around the battery, and those have high atopic numbers, 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:41.440 and so those are gonna light up like a Christmas 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:43.680 tree when you send it through that X ray scanner. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:47.000 And so then they can't see my you know, over 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.040 three point four ounce perfume that's in my bag if 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:53.479 the laptop is blocking it exactly, exactly, somebody should have 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:55.440 said that I thought they were looking for things in 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:57.480 my laptop and that's why it needed to be out 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:00.839 the bag. Yes, I mean it. If they explain that 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.679 I feel like a lot of folks would be less upset. 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.719 It's like, hey, this big old laptop battery is just 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:09.600 blocking everything else. I don't know if you got, you know, 0:07:10.160 --> 0:07:13.640 a hammer in there, or if you in Atlanta a 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:19.800 hammer in there. Hammer. Yeah. So with the new types 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:24.680 of scanners, they're called computed tomography scanners, they fire hundreds 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.480 of X rays slices, producing a three D model of 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.920 what's inside of your bag. So the software is able 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.720 to see your laptop and rotate it around and see 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:36.960 what's all around it. So it could basically pick up 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:39.840 your bag rotated on the screen, it could see every 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.160 item that's in there. So there's no need to take 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:45.800 your laptop out because they can see everything. So laptop 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:47.800 in the bag when you have these new scanners. Ah, 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:49.440 So it's just do you have the old tech or 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.400 the new tech exactly. And TSA has been rolling out 0:07:52.600 --> 0:07:56.440 CT units since twenty twenty four and it's been installed 0:07:56.800 --> 0:08:00.960 at more than two hundred and fifty lanes nationwide and 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.240 they have one point three billion dollars with a B 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:07.120 to finish the job over the next few years, so 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:09.000 they're going to be rolling out more and more. So 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.280 I think people can be excited about being able to 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:15.880 leave their laptops in their bag. Eventually, well it doesn't 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:16.440 stop there. 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:20.040 We've got a new layer coming into this whole tsa 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.000 thing because the real ID. 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:25.480 Yes. So the nine to eleven Commission set up the 0:08:25.480 --> 0:08:28.160 real ID Act of two thousand and five and signed 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.880 it in two thousand and five. So we've had some time. 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.319 They were flagging sloppy state by state license rules and 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:38.840 they were saying, hey, this is a security gap. So 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.880 it ordered the Department of Homeland Security to set a 0:08:41.960 --> 0:08:45.839 minimum issuance and car security standard before any ID could 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.520 be used to board a plane or intra federal site. 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:53.119 Now what this means is that you have a superdense 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.200 card that can hold a lot of information compared to 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:59.959 a non real ID card, and all fifty six jurisdictions 0:09:00.160 --> 0:09:02.640 in the United States must encode the same data fields, 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:05.920 so every scanner can speak the same language, just like, hey, everybody, 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:08.320 let's get on the same page, get the choreography right, 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.559 and we can say who's passing with real ID or 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:16.240 who's failing get information? And so there are some anti 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:19.319 counterfeit elements that are incorporated into the real ID, so 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:26.000 they have UV ghost images, microprinting, laser perforations, color shift, inc. 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:29.680 And that telltale star that is on the front of 0:09:29.720 --> 0:09:33.160 your ID. That's the only thing I've noticed is the star. Okay, 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:35.719 if you have a real ID, take it out, look 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:39.040 at it. You'll see all of these little characteristics that 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.760 all make it so that it's harder to counterfeit or 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.120 almost impossible to counterfeit the ID. 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:48.360 Even getting a real ID is kind of paining the 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:50.640 ass because I tried to get one a couple of 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:53.720 years ago, Like, went to the DMV with this mission 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:58.000 in mind, and I guess I brought like only three 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.600 out of the four documents I and I just ended 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:03.920 up waiting in line for three hours and getting a 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:07.160 regular ass ID. And so now I've just taken my 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:08.320 passport everywhere with me. 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.200 So just steal no star. Steal no star on your idea. 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:12.760 Yeah, you don't get the star on a corner. 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:14.480 Sticker on the It's terrible stuff. 0:10:14.679 --> 0:10:16.880 So the way that real ID works when you get 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:20.480 to the TSA podium is that their tablet checks it 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:24.640 in about a second and at the checkpoint, a credential 0:10:24.720 --> 0:10:29.680 authentication technology or CAT unit grabs the barcode decodes your name, 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:32.960 your data, birth, your license number and issuing state, and 0:10:33.000 --> 0:10:36.640 then the embedded security signatures they confirm that the card 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:40.640 hasn't been tampered with, and then using a secure look 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:45.240 up via the American Association of Motor Vehicles Administrations in 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.240 their network, they make sure that you don't hold two 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:52.199 licenses in different states. Yeah, out they're catfish and they're 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:57.840 gonna find you and then be with the credential authentication 0:10:57.960 --> 0:11:01.000 technology so cat as we were calling, it is also 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:04.559 wired to the TSA Secure flight database, so they're able 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:08.120 to instantly match your ID with your flight reservation. So 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:10.360 the end result is something very close to a two 0:11:10.400 --> 0:11:14.280 factor authentication for your face and your ticket without even 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:15.920 having a hand over your boarding pass. 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:20.040 Well, I saw today the reporter was saying that lax, 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.320 because of course nobody knows this is happening, and nobody 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.120 has their real IDs, and they're saying if you don't 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:27.000 have real i D, they just give you a piece 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.199 of paper that says you should get a real i 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.520 D and they still let you go through. Okay, well 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:35.920 next time, next time, this lax. 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:36.520 Don't you know. 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:37.640 I can't speak for a friendly. 0:11:37.760 --> 0:11:40.280 The big deadline is just a friendly reminder. 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:44.440 Yeah, they kept pushing it back for five years to 0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:45.160 remind you. 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:51.840 They're like, oh, that's today. 0:12:03.320 --> 0:12:07.880 You talked about being yelled at by TSA, and I 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:10.560 think everyone has stories about being yelled at by TSA. 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.120 It feels like that's what you have to be able 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.719 to do to have the job, is yell at strangers 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.720 who are dragging a bag and a baby and all 0:12:18.800 --> 0:12:23.560 these things behind them. Why is this the case? I mean, 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.840 it feels like, specifically TSA screening, it still feels so 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:32.000 fraud even though we're twenty plus years after nine eleven, 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:35.840 which is when you know TSA really really really became 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:36.240 a thing. 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:39.679 Yeah, I guess, yeah, that was my big thing, right, 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.400 It's like, what, Okay, it's hard enough to follow the rules, 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.520 Why are y'all coming with this energy like chill? 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:46.240 You know. 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:49.120 It's like, if you're gonna make it confusing, I'm gonna 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.480 be confused. That's like the way it's gonna work. But 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.880 when we talked to Darryl, like, it did make me 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.880 feel a little bit more sympathetic because they're one of 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.520 the lowest paid government workers, you know, they they start 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.559 out making I think he said like thirty five K, 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:06.839 and then they work their way up to forty two, 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:12.840 which is nothing, especially nowadays, and then for a long 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.000 period of time they're on probation. So it's like they're 0:13:16.080 --> 0:13:19.040 yelling at you because they're trying not to get in 0:13:19.120 --> 0:13:21.800 trouble from their supervisors because if they do anything within 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.720 I think he said those first two years that is deemed, 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:27.480 you know, a violation about their supervisor. The's not like 0:13:27.520 --> 0:13:30.240 trial or anything, you could just get fired. So I 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:33.480 think they're anxious because they're not being paid a lot, 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:39.160 and their supervisors are you know, have for any reasons 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:42.480 to fire them. So then they put that anxiety onto us, 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:46.439 the passengers who are just you know, trying to understand 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.079 the very confusing rules, and I think creates a cycle 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.080 because then we give them that energy back. 0:13:51.520 --> 0:13:53.440 Mentioned Darryl and I have to shout him out. Dryl 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.280 Campbell is the author of this article, The Humiliating History 0:13:56.320 --> 0:13:59.160 of TSA, and you all had him on your podcast 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:03.000 as well. Everybody should read that article because it led 0:14:03.040 --> 0:14:05.040 to me looking up stats and it was saying that 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:08.960 like ts agents are in basically hostile work environments and 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.559 that could be what affects our customer service. It is 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:15.079 a lot to unpack, but I also am curious, like 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:21.320 TSA feels like such a huge production. Just recently, just 0:14:21.320 --> 0:14:23.440 this past weekend, my bag got stuck and I was like, 0:14:23.520 --> 0:14:26.120 what's happening? The guys like pause, I'm like, what the 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:29.120 machine is on pause? I'm on pause? Can I move 0:14:29.200 --> 0:14:29.960 to the other line? 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:30.120 Like? 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:31.880 Is anybody can get my stuff out of there? It 0:14:32.000 --> 0:14:35.080 just always feels so confusing, and I'm like, oh, well, 0:14:35.080 --> 0:14:39.040 they really are working hard, They're really protecting us. But 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.480 I saw where they said ninety five percent of the 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:45.240 time they were failing to like when they do these tests, 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:49.480 they're failing to detect mock weapons. And I'm like, in Atlanta, 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:55.800 I mean that's an all TSA. But baby, right, it 0:14:56.000 --> 0:15:00.000 just feels like I'm concerned about that. You know where 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:04.600 we are. I'm throwing away full cans of he protected 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:09.200 for my hair and it's goods moving through you not 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:13.080 just feel like my motion back yes, And I just 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:15.800 feel like, is this something that's about compliance or is 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:19.600 this about actual threat detection? And where do we land 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:23.400 on that it is TSA deterring threats? 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:25.600 I think the long and short of it is no 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.720 like they're pretty bad at stopping. Like you said, the 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:32.200 I think a ninety number. They they said, hey, we 0:15:32.240 --> 0:15:34.160 got better. A couple of years later after that, I 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:36.560 think it was like twenty seventeen. Seventy percent of the 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:38.200 weapons got through. 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:43.760 That's a that's not good. That's still still thirty out 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:44.320 of one hundred. 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.840 You're letting a lot of weapons. Should be zero. But yeah, 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:51.440 there's been lots of studies on this. 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:51.840 Right. 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:55.160 They do this like cost per late life saved metric. 0:15:55.680 --> 0:15:58.000 If we want to say, like TSA, you're stopping every 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:02.240 single terrorist attack. Is the only organization that's going to 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:04.080 stop it. There's no police that, there's no FBI, we 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:07.360 have no intelligence, it's all TSA. If we say that, 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.200 if we give them that benefit of the doubt, it's 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:13.800 fifteen million dollars per life save, which is well above 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:17.000 what you know the government wants to spend. If you 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:20.880 start to take into account, well, you know, you got 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:24.440 the FBI, you got other agencies involved. Most people who 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:27.280 are planning this type of thing don't even make it 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:30.120 onto the plane. Then it goes up to something like 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:32.520 I think he said, like one hundred million, five hundred million. 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:35.400 Like the numbers get crazy high. But it's the sort 0:16:35.440 --> 0:16:37.160 of thing where it's this is just the way that 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:37.680 it's been. 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:38.400 Right. 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.080 We haven't had another nine eleven since nine to eleven, 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:43.640 So nobody wants to put their neck out and be like, oh, 0:16:43.680 --> 0:16:45.920 maybe we should stop doing this thing, because what if 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:49.880 a year from now there is another terrorist attack. Even 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:52.120 if TSA wouldn't have stopped it, there's always going to 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:54.680 be that thing in the back of people's minds of like, oh, 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:56.520 we should have just kept doing that annoying thing. 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.280 Right. There was a time where me and Takia we 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.640 uh we travel with the well to the same place 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:07.679 a few times in the last year, and we were 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:12.320 leaving Boston and I had a newborn baby and so 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:14.960 I was like I was pumping and things like that, 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.920 and I had this big ass container of breast milk 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:20.720 and so they were like, okay, we have to swap it. 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.280 I said, that's fine. They came back and said it 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:28.760 tested positive for explosives. 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:34.560 Any explanation, Yeah, was this true? Yeah? Did they stop you? 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:38.600 Yeah, we gotta take we gotta take you to a lab. 0:17:39.920 --> 0:17:42.320 I was like, excuse me, and he was like, yeah, 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.639 so we have to do more testing. So they called 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:49.119 this man out, that's like the head of bomb squad 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:51.960 or something. He comes out with this whole kit. He's 0:17:52.000 --> 0:17:55.000 taking droppers of my breast milk and cringing it into 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.679 all these things. And he's like, I can confirm that 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.239 is a liquid, and I can confirm that it is 0:18:03.280 --> 0:18:05.760 not alcohol. Yeah, me too. 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:11.200 The baby can confirm that. 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:17.360 No, that man drunk all the time. And he said, 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:20.800 I can say that it is not explosive, but I 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:22.000 cannot say that it is milk. 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:23.520 Yeah. 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:28.080 I imagine the TSA machines aren't necessarily built to confirm 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:29.520 whether something is milk or not. 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.239 Right, So what those initial swaps are looking for is 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:37.520 trace nitro benzene residue. So that's a cousin to TNT 0:18:37.760 --> 0:18:41.360 or dynamite. And the problem with that is that gliscerin 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:45.200 and lotions hand sanitizer and even some breast milk bags 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:49.440 can mimic the chemical signature of nitro benzene, and so 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:53.040 that might explain the flag on my breast milk or 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:58.120 or you know, yes, I am Alex Mack. Are y'all 0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:01.000 too young for Alex Mack? I am it? Look it up. 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:05.840 I ran into a similar thing in Atlanta once again, 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:09.040 where I go through the machine and it's beeping, and 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:10.720 I go back and I take off my belt and 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:13.159 I go through and it beeps again. And you know, 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.280 we went through that over and over in tim like 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:18.679 almost naked at this point, and it's still beeping. And 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.040 so finally they're like, okay, we have to pat you down, 0:19:21.560 --> 0:19:23.679 and they, to their credit, gave me a little warning 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.000 that the pat down was like pretty invasive, and I 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:28.280 was like, whatever, I need to get back to New York. 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:30.399 But at the end I asked him, I was like, so, 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:33.840 why does the machine beep if there's no metal on me? 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:36.119 And he just said he just shrugged his shoulders. He 0:19:36.119 --> 0:19:37.960 said he doesn't and didn't know. And then I was like, 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:42.280 all right bye, Like that just wasted twenty minutes of 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:44.520 my life, and it feels like these machines should be 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:46.240 better equipped to handle that. 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.440 We talked about scanning bodies earlier, but scanning people is 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:52.200 where I also lose my cool for TSA, because metal 0:19:52.240 --> 0:19:55.520 detectors feels like such old technology. It is the first 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:59.040 airport deployment of metal detectors came in nineteen seventy three, 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:02.880 after a whole bunch of hijacking platforms. People were wearing 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:07.439 platforms and build bottomies going through metal detectors. Yes, with 0:20:07.520 --> 0:20:11.600 the big collars on your shirt. Then by the early eighties, 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:17.359 the magnetometer arc was really common in all airports, and 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:23.240 today TSA still fields thousands of units nationwide, especially in 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:27.000 the pre check lanes, because they're cheap, fast and require 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:30.159 no radiation waivers. So the amount of radiation that comes 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:33.160 out of those arcs is below the limit that will 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:35.320 require you to sign a waiver to go. Wait, but 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:36.800 what if you're going through a lot. I don't know. 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:39.119 You got to tell me how this works. Because I'm 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:43.000 going through a lot. You need a docimiter. Yes, I 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:45.520 do tell me that the little quick click clicklicklick tell 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:50.200 me the dose. Now do remember that from experiments lab Absolutely. 0:20:50.600 --> 0:20:53.320 And the way that these metal detectors work is that 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.240 there is a coil in the side panels that fire 0:20:56.359 --> 0:21:00.000 one hundred to one thousand micropulses of current per second, 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:05.840 and each current generates a magnetic field very quickly, and 0:21:05.880 --> 0:21:08.400 when the pulse stops, the field snaps back and induces 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.959 a tiny echo current in the coil. And if a 0:21:12.040 --> 0:21:15.800 metal object is in that field, the electrons on that 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:19.960 metal object will wiggle some, stretching the echo for a 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:25.879 few extra microseconds, and the machine measures that stretch, so 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.160 then it's able to create a sound. So it bounces 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:32.480 back and it creates this be beep to let you 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:36.240 know metal has been detected. Huh. And so I don't 0:21:36.240 --> 0:21:39.320 think I realized that. But also I don't have to 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:42.520 carry a docimitar because I am able to walk by 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:45.040 those machines. And I want to talk about being able 0:21:45.040 --> 0:21:48.760 to bypass those machines because it feels like for ninety dollars, 0:21:49.400 --> 0:21:50.919 I can avoid all of that. And now I can 0:21:51.000 --> 0:21:53.639 keep my shoes on and my laptop can stay in 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:57.080