Remember the embarrassment that the Transportation Security Administration suffered last month, when a bout of lax editing allowed the TSA standard operating manual to leak across the Web? Last week, the TSA inflicted another public relations snafu upon itself. Agents subpoenaed two travel bloggers who published the organization’s temporary procedures in the wake of the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing, only to drop the subpoenas shortly thereafter.
The document, which the two bloggers published within minutes of each other Dec. 27, was sent by TSA to airlines and airports around the world and described temporary new requirements for screening passengers through Dec. 30, including conducting “pat-downs” of legs and torsos. The document, which was not classified, was posted by numerous bloggers. Information from it was also published on some airline websites [Wired.com]. Still, the TSA (which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS) decided to target the two bloggers, Chris Elliott and Steven Frischling, to make them reveal who leaked the information to them. And the strong-arm tactics the agency used quickly made it look draconian and repressive.
After both men published accounts (Elliott, Frischling) of the TSA threats on their blogs, media outlets picked up the story and the TSA dropped both subpoenas. Public embarrassment could have induced the TSA to leave the bloggers be, but the agency may have already had what it wanted by the time the story broke. DHS officials returned to Mr Frischling’s home on Wednesday morning and forced him to hand over his laptop computer. The TSA has since dropped both subpoenas, but it’s certainly possible that the agency was able to discern the leaker’s identity by sifting through the information on Mr Frischling’s computer [The Economist].
Perhaps the TSA simply wanted to find out who sends its info to members of the media, even though the information in this case wasn’t actually classified. In a statement Friday, the the agency wrote, “TSA takes any breach in security very seriously. In light of the posting of sensitive security information on the web, TSA sought to identify where the information came from. The investigation is nearing a successful conclusion and the subpoenas are no longer in effect” [CNN]. Frischling said the TSA also apologized to him, but only after taking the laptop and threatening to get him fired from his job writing a blog for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Wired.com reports. Frischling also says the TSA agents indicated that they could have him declared a security risk, which presumably meant he’d be flagged for additional screening at airports.
The TSA’s public stance, expecting privacy for information sent to thousands of people around the world (and posted on some airline Web sites), smacks of the same unfair finger-pointing that the U.S. Senate was guilty of when it lambasted the TSA in response to the leak of the standard operation manual in early December. At that time, the TSA lacked an official head because of a political fight in the Senate over nominee Erroll Southers, led by Senator Jim DeMint. The South Carolina Republican wants Mr. Southers to promise that he would oppose granting collective-bargaining rights to the TSA’s tens of thousands of employees [Wall Street Journal]. A month later, that fight still goes on, and the TSA remains without a Senate-approved leader.
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Image: TSA
January 5th, 2010 at 12:43 am
“Frischling also says the TSA agents indicated that they could have him declared a security risk, which presumably meant he’d be flagged for additional screening at airports.”
That sounds like it shouldn’t be legal.
January 5th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
I’ve always felt that experience of flying in the modern world is as close to a police state as I wish to get.
January 6th, 2010 at 1:47 am
Once again it’s the bizarre behavior of the authoritarian personality that is so attracted to paramilitary-style careers that now poses a threat to the very citizens they are supposed to be protecting. The list of dysfunctional behavior is a long one, and it becomes exceptionally so when they are placed in a position where they can act out on the impulses we know compel so many of them to seek out positions of authority over others.
Those who have been tasked with selecting applicants for such jobs must be made to understand that a clean prison record and a strong desire to put on a uniform does not automatically mean they are capable of taking on such a huge responsibility.
Among may others, a few of their more destructive tendencies are tunnel-vision in an emergency, strong resistance to changing tactics in their approach to problem-solving — not to mention chronically increased levels of both fear and aggression. Combine this with a known fear of engaging anyone representing a significant threat to themselves while at the same time showing a desire to find someone much less powerful than themselves to serve as a handy outlet for their chronic hostility!
Now most of us would call that cowardice. But they are also very talented at making sure their victims come from the mainstreams idea of who should be societies marginalized people eg. homosexuals, Muslims, blacks, drug-users, etc. In this way they are almost always seen by media to be serving the common good while in reality they are the source of the violence they were entrusted with lethal tools so they could better protect us all from people like themselves.
Put all these factors together and it’s no wonder that violence, crime, drug use, wars and terrorism all continue to increase in rate and lethality with the more money we throw into solving these problems. And the reason is clear for those who can step outside and examine our status quo preconceptions. And that is that we far too often grant important security-related decisions to persons whose cognitive skills and integrative complexity are simply not up to the task demanded of them. This, while far too often they themselves feel they are the ONLY people competent to make such weighty decisions!
Unfortunately for those displaying this RWA personality syndrome, the data is overwhelmingly not in their favor on this.
Time to rethink security-related hiring practices. The “RWA-SDO embrace” (google it) is increasing our danger – both from abroad, as well as on the domestic front. Civilian oversight of LEOs has become an issue of national security.
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