TSA

Lenore Zimmerman, 85, accused the TSA last week of forcing her to strip as part of her pat-down.

A passenger at Norfolk International Airport was stopped by the Transportation Security Administration because her purse had designs that looked like guns, according to reports.

Vanessa Gibbs, 17, of Jacksonville, Fla., told a TV station in her hometown that she missed her flight from Norfolk because TSA agents stopped her for carrying the purse, which she said was "camouflage."

"It's my style. It has an old Western gun on it," Gibbs said in the interview with the TV station, WJXT.

The Transportation Security Administration says it made a stunning discovery when it inspected a passenger at Los Angeles International Airport: what looked to be an ordinary cell phone was actually a stun gun.

The discovery happened Monday night, when TSA agents checked a passenger at LAX who was bound for Washington's Reagan National Airport, officials said.

The stun gun was camouflaged as a pink cell phone, TSA said. The agency said the passenger was allowed to continue onto her flight after the cell phone stun gun was confiscated.

The House's unanimous vote this week on a bill to accelerate airport screening military personnel for flights is the least lawmakers can do for active soldiers, its sponsor, Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), said.

The legislation, which calls for the TSA to develop a separate process for checking military personnel when they travel, is designed to ensure members of the armed forces can board planes more quickly. The measure was approved on 404-0 vote late Tuesday afternoon.

Cravaack said it was good to see Congress, which has been sharply divided on most issues, come together.

“With all the contention and political gridlock we’ve witnessed over the past several months, what’s most important is that we come together to agree where we can,” Cravaack said in a statement. 

The Transportation Security Administration's behavior detection program allows for racial profiling at airport security, a key Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee is alleging.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee, wrote a letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole after reports that Mexican passengers were targeted by TSA at airports in Honolulu, Hawaii and Newark, N.J.

The officers, who Thompson said were part of TSA's Screening of Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT) program, were engaging in racial profiling, the Mississippi lawmaker said.

"According to the news report, the TSOs, known to their fellow employees as the 'Mexicutioners' engaged in the pursuit of Mexican passengers through the SPOT program in an effort to appear 'highly productive' to their supervising managers," he wrote in the letter, which is dated Nov. 22. 

The legislation is designed to ensure members of the armed forces can board planes more quickly. 

The TSA said the incident happened Tuesday morning at Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J.

Senate Homeland Security Committee ranking member Susan Collins (R-Maine) wrote to the head of the Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday reiterating her request for an independent study of the health effects of scanning machines.

In her letter, Collins notes TSA Administrator John Pistole agreed to conduct the study on the effects of backscatter Advanced Imaging Technology machines earlier this month, but later told the Senate Commerce Committee that a forthcoming DHS Inspector General report would be sufficient.

Collins disagreed in her letter.

"My understanding is that the IG report will examine whether or not TSA is doing an adequate job of inspecting, maintaining, and operating AIT machines," Collins wrote. "This is not the same as conducting an independent study on the health effects of those AIT machines emitting ionizing radiation."

A Transportation Security Administration worker has been removed from his post after being charged with sexual assault in northern Virginia.

The Associated Press reported this week that 52-year-old Harold Rodman was arrested in Manassas, Va., for allegedly assaulting a woman in his neighborhood while wearing his TSA uniform.

The agency confirmed to the The Hill that it took action following the incident.

"TSA holds its personnel to the highest professional and ethical standards, and investigates all allegations of misconduct," TSA said in a statement.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

A Transportation Security Administration worker has been charged with sexual assault.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is issuing more rail grants.

Maryland's new Intercounty Connector may be the last new highway in the state for long while.

Chicago has installed cameras on its CTA trains.