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TSA defends handling of 'steampunk' watch
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is defending its handling of a watch it thought looked like a bomb during a recent screening in Oakland, Calif.
The watch, which was discovered at Oakland International Airport, had tubes that looked like wires coming from its wristband and an on/off switch.
The agency said Wednesday that it followed protocol and treated the watch like it could be an explosive device, though it was later discovered not to contain a bomb.
"As you can see from the picture, this is not your everyday watch," TSA blogger Bob Burns wrote in a blog post on the TSA website. "If I could show you what our employees saw, you would see that it looked even more nefarious to our officers viewing it on the X-ray monitor."
Steampunk describes a style that incorporates elements common in 19th century technology, often steam-powered, into items from other eras.
Burns used the incident to warn Thanksgiving holiday airline passengers to think about whether the items they are traveling with may trigger red flags for TSA. The AAA auto club has predicted that 3.1 million people will travel by airplane over the Thanksgiving holiday.
"Terrorists take everyday items and attempt to manipulate them to make improvised explosive devices. Our officers are trained to look for anomalies such as this one," Burns wrote. "Please take a moment to think about what you’re traveling with and how it might appear to TSA. I happen to think this watch is pretty cool, and I’m a fan of all kinds of art and homemade DIY gadgets, however, they’re not always the best things to travel with."
Burns said the watch in question was cleared by TSA, but local police officials at the Oakland airport decided to arrest the passenger.
Photo courtesy of TSA.
