TSA Flexes Security Muscles, Threatens Bloggers
The TSA might have dropped the ball with keeping Americans safe in the skies, but if you’re a blogger writing about the affair–look out! They’re hell on wheels.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) flexes its mighty muscles–against bloggers who wrote, after the fact, that the TSA was increasing security at airports.
From TSA Subpoenas Bloggers, Demands Names of Sources:
TSA special agents served subpoenas to travel bloggers Steve Frischling and Chris Elliott, demanding that they reveal who leaked the security directive to them. The government says the directive was not supposed to be disclosed to the public.
One of the bloggers said that the TSA agents “threatened to interfere with his contract to write a blog for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines if he didn’t cooperate and provide the name of the person who leaked the memo.”
If only the TSA were so zealous in its protection of Americans’ safety.
The TSA can’t keep a Nigerian who’s on a terror watch list off an American plane, but when it comes to bloggers who write about an obvious increase in airport security–boy, look out! They’re hell on wheels.
Scratch that “obvious increase in airport security” remark.
When the TSA is concerned, nothing is obvious except CYA.
UPDATE
MORE: TSA subpoenas, threatens two bloggers who published non-classified airline security directive:
Attendants on my flight explained that the stepped-up procedures came from a just-issued TSA security directive. As soon as airlines and airports began implementing the directive—and that began before the bloggers posted their copies—the contents of the directive were no secret. So why the strong-arm tactics?
Exactly.
Instapundit says it’s to “send a message to the leakers–in a way the Bush Administration never did.”
He makes one additional point that was on this writer’s mind, though lost in the rush to publish.
“It would have been nice to see such keen interest in the sourcing of certain MSM terror stories, in prior years.”
Exactly x2.
UPDATE on Jan 1 2010: TSA withdraws subpoenas of travel bloggers
I’m loving this site! Seriously, seriously loving it!
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Die Daily,
Thanks!
…and thanks for stopping by, reading and taking the time to leave a comment.
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There is a Grigg article on lewrockwell.com today (12-31) about this recent incident. Sorry I don’t have the url but you can find it on lewrockwell.com for Dec. 31.
Very interesting commentary, and I am inclined to agree.
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While airline security officials quickly announced how they will be making our lives even more miserable on flights in the future, including “pat-down” checks for all passengers and a hand luggage check at the gate, what is not being publicized as much is the fact that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had his visa request to study in the UK refused in May 2009…
What we’re not seeing much of is that: “For the past two years Abdulmutallab has been on a United States watchlist for people known to have extremist links, but he was not prevented from flying to America.”
And that “His father reportedly went to the U.S. embassy in Abuja, Nigeria to report his concern that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a terrorist. But the information his father provided was not of significant reason to place his son on the “no-fly” list.”
Hmmmm!
This dude is on the extremist watch list for two years and his father is so worried about his son that he reports his concerns to the U.S. Embassy saying that he believed his son was a terrorist yet, this “was not of significant reason to place his son on the “no-fly” list.”
Well thank goodness they are preventing people like Cat Stevens from flying into the U.S. eh? Talking about Cat Stevens…, U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) stated in a committee hearing that his wife Catherine had been subjected to questioning at an airport as to whether she was Cat Stevens due to the similarity of their names.
As my daughter used to say years ago: “Like Duh!”
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The crazy thing is I already knew this data but never implemented it
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