Harry Reid: TSA Workers Need To 'Smile And Say Hello'

WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is planning to send a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano asking her to direct airport security staffers to be nicer to international travelers.

"She can instruct everybody that works at TSA to smile and say hello," Reid said Wednesday during a Las Vegas press conference, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "People who work for our government have to be able to do it with a smile on their face."

Reid's comments came after a private meeting with Nevada gaming, business and tourism leaders who, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, said international travelers often complain about the way they're treated by Transportation Security Administration workers at the airport. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar led the meeting, which was called to discuss ways to boost tourism in the state. Nevada currently has the highest unemployment rate in the country, at 12.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

TSA spokesman Greg Soule defended the professionalism of the agency's workers.

"TSA strives to treat all passengers with respect, while providing the best security in the most efficient way possible," Soule said in a statement to The Huffington Post.

Comments

[shifafa]

04:19 PM on 04/16/2012

"Harry Reid: TSA Workers Need To 'Smile And Say Hello'"
TSA workers need to find suitable employment!

[LeftoftheLeft]

09:08 PM on 04/08/2012

And they need to hand out cigarettes. You know... afterwards.

[JGCitygin]

08:05 PM on 04/07/2012

The Nazis were really sweet to the Jews when they came off the trains to the concentration camps. Even played music at the stations.
Then, off to the gas ovens.
So, what's this about?
Smile nice while they sexually assault us in the name of "liberty"?
Tee-hee... i can hear al-Quaeda in hysterics.

[VA Jill]

06:58 PM on 04/07/2012

The TSA people at LAS really are a surly, impolite bunch. It's probably my unfavorite airport to go through security at because of them. My home airport these days is Dulles, and while they are businesslike there, they are at least polite.

[btread]

04:48 PM on 04/07/2012

I believe most passengers find many airport security staffers to be less than courteous. Senator Harry Reid should broaden his request to ask that airport security staffers be nicer to all passengers. Why should airport security staffers be nicer to only international travelers?

[leo21]

07:48 AM on 04/07/2012

I dealt with TSA in LAS. I completely understand where he's coming from. Those folks need an attitude adjustment.

[Wonder Woman2]

03:32 PM on 04/06/2012

Right before they grope you??????

[harrykid]

03:15 PM on 04/06/2012

harry ried needs to go and should have never been re-elected, just goes to show you why Nevada is becoming a waste land,

[Sienna Brown]

02:01 PM on 04/06/2012

What an absurd idea. If any of these supposed lawmakers had any idea how rudely and nastily the passengers treat the TSA workers, they would know why they don't smile. I smile genuinely and politely at TSA workers and greet them pleasantly. They always respond in kind. They have exceptionally difficult and physical jobs. If "lawmakers" knew what goes on behind the scenes and how many of these workers are assaulted verbally and sometimes even physically, they would not make such preposterous statements.

[TBrennan]

01:33 PM on 04/06/2012

Of course Reid is right but his advice applies even more to Congress.

[winstonyogi]

11:27 AM on 04/06/2012

Her's a better idea. How about we balance the budget by firing half the government workers and make them get real jobs at normal pay rates? It's a win, win.

[Johnangry]

11:04 AM on 04/06/2012

Smiling as they dig through my crevices probably won't improve the situation. I think they get to be just a bit too comfortable with other people's bodies.

[surfinnonreality]

10:46 AM on 04/06/2012

If you have never been through a tsa patdown, you don't have any idea why those of us who have, hate the tsa. I have a replacement knee so I get one everytime I fly. The patdown is more intrusive than a proctology exam. In any other situation, it would be sexual harrassment. The tsa is looking for bad things when they should be looking be bad people. You have seen the stories of kids being mollested by the tsa. Parents work hard to get their kids to be wary of strangers and here is the tsa goon putting hands all over them. The kids are screaming for their parents and the tsa is oblivious the the discomfort of the child. Or the grandmother stories where the tsa searched through the Depends. The tsa is out of control and needs to be replaced. Profile for terrorists. It works for Israel and they are incredibly successful. They profile for behavior. The tsa uses no common sense when it comes to children and the elderly. There should be procedures in place to deal with children and the elderly and the handicapped. Smiles won't make any of that better. Disabnding the tsa would bring a smile to my face.

[Johnangry]

11:02 AM on 04/06/2012

Or just build planes with compartments. if you choose to blow yours out, well, boom, you are gone. Everybody else is safe. No more need for TSA.

[JGCitygin]

08:07 PM on 04/07/2012

Don't you get it?
The real terrorists are the ones brainwashing the masses to bedn over and get sodomized. Then they say: smile pretty at them to make them even more brainwashed.

[pharmmajor]

09:21 AM on 04/06/2012

Harry, here's a better idea: ABOLISH THE TSA.

[AZreb]

08:28 AM on 04/06/2012

Just for "international travelers"? What about the everyday US citizen who is flying? What are they? Chopped liver?