The Investigators

DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ― CBS 11 News took undercover cameras to security checkpoints to see why rules protecting the public from terrorists are not enforced consistently at the two major airports in North Texas.
 
According to the Transportation Security Administration, the rule is simple. With few exceptions, any container of liquids or gels cannot be larger than 3 ounces in your carry-on bag. The TSA requires a quart sized bag.

The ban on liquids started in August 2006 when British officials said they foiled a terrorist plan to blow up U.S. bound airliners. The plot, they said, centered on liquid explosives disguised as simple household products.

But many passengers said they find TSA security very "inconsistent" and "a hassle."  

On his recent trip, airline traveler Victor Judd followed the rules, even though he said he thinks the entire idea is "stupid."

"We tend to overreact to the last problem instead of thinking about the next one," he said.

To test the system, CBS 11 packed prohibited items in a gallon-sized plastic bag inside carry-on luggage and brought it through security. Each of the items were four ounces or more.

Here's what happened.

At DFW International Airport, a TSA screener stopped us, looked at the bag and then let us go with all the prohibited items.

Fifteen minutes later, the same bag was taken to a new checkpoint. The screener put on her glasses to examine the bag's contents. She let everything through.

Thirty minutes later at another checkpoint, another TSA screener confiscated the toothpaste and hair crème, but did not take two other prohibited items still in the bag.

The bag was restocked with the confiscated items and crossed another checkpoint. This time, TSA screeners did not check the bag.

On twenty different occasions, TSA secured checkpoints failed to catch all the items banned by the government.

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson sits on the Senate committee overseeing the TSA. When told of the results, she found the security at Dallas airports "not acceptable."  

"It is of great concern when you are taking things through for a test and it's not caught," she said.

"When you have a checklist, people get bored and people get sloppy," said Jennifer Holmes, an associate professor at UTD. Holmes is also an author of books and literature about terrorism.

At terminal B at DFW Airport, soldiers congregate to ship out for Iraq. Four out of five times, TSA screeners let all of the prohibited items through security.

Screeners seemed more concerned with the items that are allowed in carry-on bags.

Contact lens solution and KY jelly are specifically exempted from the liquid rule. In a separate TSA test, those items were put into a carry-on bag.

Even though the items are legal, TSA screeners confiscated the KY jelly many times and missed all of the other items.

To add to the confusion, TSA bureaucrats in Washington told CBS 11 News that the 3-ounce rule is really 3.4 ounces. The rule helps to keep in conformity with European airports, which use 100 milliliters -- roughly 3.4 ounces. This difference is nowhere to be found on the TSA Web site.

The TSA declined to speak on camera for this story. Off camera, a spokesperson said, "It's a tough balance. We never say we're consistent." According to the spokesperson, the TSA destroys all the items seized.

Screeners at Love Field Airport also failed to confiscate all the items not in compliance with TSA's liquid rule.

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