On 9/11 anniversary, TSA upgrades its … uniforms?

by Christopher Elliott on September 11, 2008

Just what the country needs. On the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Transportation Security Administration has unveiled its latest “improvement” — new uniforms.

I’m not making this up. This is how the government agency charged with protecting our transportation infrastructure celebrates the anniversary of its reason for being. It gets a costume change.

Starting September 11, 2008, transportation security officers at airport checkpoints nationwide will begin wearing new uniforms and badges. The new uniforms and badges are another step in the ongoing evolution of TSA, an agency that was created in the wake of September 11, 2001 to federalize airport security.

This isn’t a snap decision by government bureaucrats. Nothing like the snap decision to create the TSA.

The new uniform concept was presented on TSA’s Idea Factory, an online forum for TSA employees to “openly and candidly discuss their ideas” with other members of the workforce around the country. Prototype uniforms were unveiled on an employee Webcast with Administrator Kip Hawley in mid-July.

There’s no word from the TSA as to how, exactly, these new uniforms and badges will stop terrorists from blowing up planes. Or how they will keep dangerous liquids and gels like Starbucks coffee or hairspray off the aircraft.

But on this 9/11 anniversary, I’m willing to give these federal screeners a break. Maybe a costume change will make them feel better about themselves, lift morale a little, and lead to an improvement in customer service.

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Tagged as: security, TSA

  • Hapgood

    The TSA is Security Theater (in which all passengers get to play walk-on roles, no less). So shouldn’t a long-running (perpetually-running?) production merit the occasional freshening up with new costumes? As long as the award-winning script and highly competent direction remain unchanged, the new uniforms will only help the TSA continue to provide the same efficient, professional, and very effective protection against all threats to aviation.

    Happy anniversary!

  • Drew

    Great… so yet something else that the government can go spend money on and ‘say’ that they’re improving the security in the air… Any idea how much this ‘Idea’ is costing the taxpayers?

  • http://www.tripso.com/author/elliott Christopher Elliott

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  • edna

    They are ugly, uncomfortable and if a hat was added they could be mistaken for a skycap or a bellman at a hotel.
    The badge is representative of nothing.
    Now there is a workforce of smurfs among us.

  • Frank

    by Christopher Elliott
    Just what the country needs. On the seventh anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Transportation Security Administration has unveiled its latest “improvement” — new uniforms.
    =====================================================
    Play a TSA employee for FIVE MINUTES: http://msnbc.com/modules/airport_security/screener/

    I fly close to 500 FLIGHTS per year and I have NEVER, EVER witnessed an unprofessional TSA employee at the airport. Quite the contrary, they speak to the traveling public explaining what and why they do certain procedures. Help out the elderly and families. And, in return, for their safety efforts, I’ve witnessed passengers argue, sigh, throw their shoes (think childish tantrum), snap at the agents, and try to argue their way out of a POLICY.
    So, after SEVEN years, they’re getting a new uniform. SO WHAT! Maybe the current one isnt wearing so well. Maybe feedback from the ONE’S WHO WEAR THEM necessiated the need for new ones.
    At any rate, it’s a UNIFORM, NOT a costume. And, someone who works daily to make your flight safe deserves RESPECT. Does a Doctor or Nurse wear a COSTUME? I think not.

  • Prof Burgos

    Because nothing says “secure” like a blue shirt. If Uncle Sam wants to do something about the TSA employee, how about letting them being regular career civil servants like the rest of the government?

  • Joe Farrell

    You ever watched those guys eat? Blue will work better with the grease stains than the white ones. They can probably wear the shirt an extra day thereby saving the government billions – unless they simply have the employees wash their own clothes . . .

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