To fly in the post- 9/11 world, travelers practically have to imitate striptease artists, kicking off shoes, tossing coats into bins, even unfastening metal belt buckles hoping that gravity is looking the other way. But in the new documentary “Please Remove Your Shoes,” the roles are reversed: U.S. airport security is disrobed before our critical eyes. And it looks pretty bad in this naked state. The film interviews a host of experts — federal air marshals, a Federal Aviation Administration employee, a Transportation Security Administration screener, a passenger interrogated for carrying a metal box full of money, etc. — who divulge the oversights and ineptitudes that riddle the system. To dig deeper into the plot, we spoke with Fred Gevalt, former publisher of the Air Charter Guide and the film’s executive producer. Excerpts:
Q: What inspired you to make this movie?
A: I’m 64, a Vietnam vet, so I’ve been around. I was flying my own airplane into New York the morning of 9/11 and felt part of the event. I watched TSA be created too quickly. They were a little too big for their britches from the get-go, and they have gotten worse. When I sold my business in 2006 and retired, I decided it would be interesting to do this project.
Q: The interviewees did not hold back. Were they eager to tell their stories?
A: I think most of them were. This is an important topic, and from their standpoint, they were frustrated guys. They had been trying to do their job, and the government wouldn’t let them do it.
Q: Were you surprised by the flaws in airport security?
A: I was surprised at the extent of it and the kind of wholesale obstructionist quality to a lot of the management. The sort of stuff like putting federal air marshals to work washing the fleet out back. In the movie, after being accused of being a whistleblower, federal air marshal Jeffrey Black was grounded and ordered to clean company vehicles. So much of this stuff is Kafka-esque and Catch-22: Dig me a 10-foot hole over there and when you’re done, fill it up.
Q: You shot a lot of footage in airports. Did you have easy access to these locations?
A: Not initially, but as soon as I pulled out a checkbook, not a problem. (Washington’s) Reagan and Dulles, ironically, were the most straightforward, the easiest to deal with and the least expensive. Logan (Boston’s airport) was difficult. But if you belly up to the bar and say you’re willing to pay for this, then all doors open up.
Q: Which security-related issues do you find particularly worrisome?
A: The uniforms that TSA screeners use frustrate me because there are a lot of agencies that regard these guys as tin cops. They are mismanaged and in many cases unmanaged.
Q: Any others?
A: Here’s a disturbing thought: What if all along the theatrical aspect (of TSA) was intentional? TSA has been quoted one too many times as saying they are essentially a deterrent. And if this is to be a deterrent, then they need to have you and me in the pen or pit around the checkpoint, visibly being wanded and patted down. Essentially that requires them to put all of their resources on people who they know are not a problem. It’s sort of reverse profiling.
Q: At the end of the movie, you show a letter from the TSA declining to participate. Did you also approach the FAA?
A: We didn’t need to talk to anyone at FAA because most of the people who were responsible had moved over to TSA. I did subsequently talk to a guy named Billie Vincent, who was at our screening in D.C. He was responsible for FAA airport security from ’82 to ’86. He verified a lot of what these guys had said.
Q: What do you hope viewers take away from this documentary?
A: The main message for America is: Wake up and quit trying to delegate everything. Weigh in on the subject; get involved. Because as much as we like to blame our politicians, I think all of us are guilty as sin of not participating enough in the maintenance of our country.
Q: Any suggestions on how to achieve that?
A: What we can do as citizens is raise hell with Congress. You’re not going to do anything at the airport because you do not have, under the administrative law, the First Amendment rights that you would normally expect. You really do have to do what you’re told at the airport.
Q: But in the film, passenger Steve Bierfeldt spoke out when TSA officials grilled him about that wad of cash.
A: Oh, man, they messed with the wrong guy. ACLU sponsored him, and they launched a suit against TSA. . . . I don’t think you’re going to have the money problem again.
