# TSA agent plants bag of powder on passenger. "It was just a joke." **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 26, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534 "2010-01-26T17:31:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/1 "2010-01-26T17:31:54Z")
[Story.](http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20100121_Daniel_Rubin__It_was_no_joke_at_security_gate.html) I can’t even begin to imagine where someone could have considered this to be a good idea. I can see the need for the security service that TSA allegedly provides, but really, let’s get some professionals with more than 8 hours of training to do it. And with the young lady’s father being a lawyer, I’m sure the dust hasn’t even begun to settle on this one. ---
**Author:** ![justrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@justrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justrob)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/2 "2010-01-26T17:59:55Z")
I don’t know what the hell the privacy issue could be. The only appropriate response is to make that TSA agent publicly apologize, probably in front of television cameras, before firing him. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/3 "2010-01-26T18:06:41Z")
Employer-employee relations are often treated as confidential, so I’m not surprised at the TSA saying that it’s a “privacy issue”. However, apart from behaving quite inappropriately as a TSA employee, the idiot in question probably broke several laws, and committed several torts that the young woman could sue over. It appears that he’s being protected from the consequences of that. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/4 "2010-01-26T18:06:58Z")
Update from the web link: > [@](#): > > Update: Ann Davis, the TSA spokeswoman, said this afternoon that the worker is no longer employed by the agency as of today. She said privacy laws prevented her from saying if he was fired or left on his own. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/5 "2010-01-26T18:35:53Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Update from the web link: Yes. If a member of the public tried something that, they’d be hauled off by police officers faster than you can say “TSA sucks!” And no “privacy policy” would stop their name and picture being in the news the next day. It does seem like two different standards here. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/6 "2010-01-26T19:35:32Z")
Jesus, people. I was expecting to read about someone being detained and possibly strip searched because an agent slipped something into a bag to “mess with” his buddy at the scanner. But jeez, he just freaked her out for 20 seconds. I agree with “highly inappropriate and unprofessional” but, seriously, “such a violation”? How scared can you possibly be by a 20-second inquiry? The guy should have been fired, but I really can’t see justification for suing him. This is less newsworthy and less frightening than Air Force One’s little Manhatten photo op. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/7 "2010-01-26T19:41:57Z")
The story I saw about this made it clear that the offending TSA idiot was not simply some line grunt - it was a _trainer_! Someone there to teach the rest of the workers how to do their job. Which makes the whole thing even more appalling. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/8 "2010-01-26T19:54:09Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Jesus, people. I was expecting to read about someone being detained and possibly strip searched because an agent slipped something into a bag to “mess with” his buddy at the scanner. But jeez, he just freaked her out for 20 seconds. > > I agree with “highly inappropriate and unprofessional” but, seriously, “such a violation”? How scared can you possibly be by a 20-second inquiry? The guy should have been fired, but I really can’t see justification for suing him. This is less newsworthy and less frightening than Air Force One’s little Manhatten photo op. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/9 "2010-01-26T20:00:00Z")
I wish I could have seen the whole thing go down. I bet it was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/10 "2010-01-26T20:01:31Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > I wish I could have seen the whole thing go down. I bet it was hilarious. Sorry, but you’re prohibited by law from finding anything funny that happens in any airport at any time. Airplanes and flying are _not funny_, goddammit! ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/11 "2010-01-26T20:10:39Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. You wanna be more specific? Sorry, they were sold out of tickets for the bandwagon ride we’re about to go on. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/12 "2010-01-26T20:12:11Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Sorry, but you’re prohibited by law from finding anything funny that happens in any airport at any time. Airplanes and flying are _not funny_, goddammit! When we stop laughing in airports, you know who wins? The terrorists. The terrorists win, MsWhatsit. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/13 "2010-01-26T20:21:24Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. I dunno. I came in here expecting to see that someone planted this on her, and someone who wasn’t in on the “joke” found it. He does still need to be fired, but there wasn’t any chance of her actually suffering legal consequences from his joke. I think part of the reaction is just let-down from the thread title. I’m glad he no longer works for the TSA. There’s no way he should keep a job after that. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/14 "2010-01-26T20:28:01Z")
Never underestimate the stupid. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/15 "2010-01-26T20:34:30Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Sorry, but you’re prohibited by law from finding anything funny that happens in any airport at any time. Airplanes and flying are _not funny_, goddammit! Not even an airplane full of clowns, which crashed into a mountain made of mashed potatoes (with little marshmallows in it) and the in-flight movie is _Ghostbusters_ but they accidentally showed it with the Japanese audio track? ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/16 "2010-01-26T20:34:37Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Jesus, people. I was expecting to read about someone being detained and possibly strip searched because an agent slipped something into a bag to “mess with” his buddy at the scanner. But jeez, he just freaked her out for 20 seconds. > > I agree with “highly inappropriate and unprofessional” but, seriously, “such a violation”? How scared can you possibly be by a 20-second inquiry? The guy should have been fired, but I really can’t see justification for suing him. This is less newsworthy and less frightening than Air Force One’s little Manhatten photo op. I’m with you. It was stupid, mean, and unprofessional, and he rightfully should be fired. But, given the headline and the first few posts, I had expected a long detention, maybe a custodial interrogation, and a strip search. Then I realized that we both misunderestimated the SDMB’s ability to overreact to the misuse of authority. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/17 "2010-01-26T20:47:41Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Jesus, people. I was expecting to read about someone being detained and possibly strip searched because an agent slipped something into a bag to “mess with” his buddy at the scanner. But jeez, he just freaked her out for 20 seconds. > > I agree with “highly inappropriate and unprofessional” but, seriously, “such a violation”? How scared can you possibly be by a 20-second inquiry? The guy should have been fired, but I really can’t see justification for suing him. This is less newsworthy and less frightening than Air Force One’s little Manhatten photo op. It is a big deal, because this asshole did something unbelieveably stupid and abused his authority to “play a joke”. He scared the shit out of some random total stranger (and probably everyone nearby) just for a laugh. He needs his ass kicked. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/18 "2010-01-26T20:47:56Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > You wanna be more specific? Okay. > [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Jesus, people. I was expecting to read about someone being detained and possibly strip searched because an agent slipped something into a bag to “mess with” his buddy at the scanner. But jeez, he just freaked her out for 20 seconds. If this were a security guard at a club or something, I could see a prank like this not being a big deal. But this guy was a proxy for the U.S. Government, they who lock people up for years at a time for possession of cocaine. During that 20 seconds, she was probably thinking, “Am I going to jail for the rest of my life because I can’t prove that isn’t mine?” How long would this have needed to go on before a reaction was justified? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/19 "2010-01-26T21:03:54Z")
> [@Lord\_Ashtar](#): > > If this were a security guard at a club or something, I could see a prank like this not being a big deal. But this guy was a proxy for the U.S. Government, they who lock people up for years at a time for possession of cocaine. During that 20 seconds, she was probably thinking, “Am I going to jail for the rest of my life because I can’t prove that isn’t mine?” How long would this have needed to go on before a reaction was justified? I think I see where we disagree on this. You’re calling TSA a “proxy of the US government” whereas I liken them to “a security guard at a club or something.” Now, maybe that’s because I’ve spent my entire adult life in similar positions in the US Government, so I’m not nearly as terrified of them as some travelers would be. I mean, you might see it as someone striking abject terror into the heart of a defenseless little girl and I see it as some dufus colleague with a badge giving someone a hard time. But even if she was thinking what you wrote, it was only 20 seconds. I’ve been more terrified than that by thinking “Did I leave the oven/iron/tub on when I left?!” I didn’t get my photo in the paper because of it. To answer your closing question, it would depend on what reaction you’re referring to- TSA’s, the girl’s, or the OPs? In general, I’d say they would have to take her into an inspection room, or make her do some other task (e.g. “stand over there and wait”) that would push it from :o to :eek: ETA: It’d also be newsworthy if anyone other than the TSA agent thought this was acceptable behavior. But no one does, not even his bosses. They fired him. End of interest. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534/20 "2010-01-26T21:08:15Z")
[Slovak security test loses explosives.](http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2010/01/07/slovak_airport_security_test_assailed/) An innocent passenger wound up with explosives hidden in his luggage by security agents as a test. > [@](#): > > While the Slovaks attributed the incident to “a silly and unprofessional mistake,’’ Irish officials and security specialists said it was foolish for the Slovaks to hide actual bomb parts in the luggage of innocent passengers under any circumstances. > > **The passenger himself was detained by Irish police for several hours before being let go without charge Tuesday.** There have been similar stories in past years. Why don’t they use an undercover agent to do these kinds of tests? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-agent-plants-bag-of-powder-on-passenger-it-was-just-a-joke/526534.md?page=2)