Sai Gets FOIA Docs On The TSA
Lisa Simeone posts at TSA News Blog on some of what's been revealed through the docs released in the request by Sai, "an intrepid, indefatigable young man." As Simeone writes, "He has been forced to tangle with the TSA more than once, when the agency's workers have bullied, harassed, and illegally detained him."
From his FOIA request:
Here's the TSA's old version defining an administrative search:"Administrative Search: A search conducted as part of a regulatory plan in furtherance of a specified non-law enforcement government purpose, such as to determine compliance with TSA regulations or to prevent the carriage of threat items or entry of an unauthorized person into the sterile area or on board an aircraft."And here's the new version:
"Administrative Search: A search conducted without a warrant as part of a regulatory plan in furtherance of a specified non-law enforcement government purpose, such as to determine compliance with TSA regulations or to prevent the carriage of threat items or entry of an unauthorized person into the sterile area or to screen passengers entering any public conveyance."The words "without a warrant" and "any public conveyance" have been added. Our readers already know that the TSA has always claimed the power to search "any public conveyance" (see VIPR), but most people still don't know it. Now you can see it in black and white. ("Without a warrant" has always been the case since the weasely term "administrative search" was dreamed up by lawyers, because, meh, Fourth Amendment, Schmourth Amendment.)
The TSA is also now claiming the right to search your reading materials. Yep, books, pamphlets, personal documents -- no matter how personal those documents are -- you name it, the TSA now claims the right to conduct a warrantless search on your personal, private information. This claim is new. Up to this point, though many TSA agents have gone through people's personal documents, it's been illegal for them to do so (see Steven Bierfeldt). Now, it would appear, by magic, it's suddenly okay.
Inquisition, anyone?
Check out this pointless thuggery from last year -- an attempt by the pretend cops known as the TSA to screen a man after he gets off the plane. Here's the YouTube description. The TSA thug pictured is Alex Grossman:
They tried to get me to do additional screening of my Body after I was already off the plane and headed out of the airport. I ended up leaving the airport without incident from the Denver police.
More on this from City Pages. Kahler Nygard discusses it here.
Regulations are laws. The government goes through all kinds of verbal gymnastics to insist that they aren't laws. But if they have the force of law, they are laws. Are you free to ignore them? No? Then they're laws. Call them purple Easter eggs if you want, but they're still laws.
Cousin Dave at August 24, 2015 7:22 AM
Apparently Yelp has added a TSA review page to consolidate all the praise and respect we fawningly heap on all those Bush/Obama constitution-shredding minions.
Carly Fiorina gives the TSA one star.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at August 24, 2015 9:52 AM
"I'm following my orders," at 2:40, says the TSA. I wonder if he appreciates the irony.
Patrick at August 24, 2015 10:52 AM
"I wonder if he appreciates the irony."
Nuremburg trials? Never heard of 'em. Was that some kind of sports playoff?
Cousin Dave at August 24, 2015 1:12 PM
TSA regulations generally have force of law; whether they count as "law" depends on the specific context. (Let's say it's probably way more technical about legal details than you want to know.)
Non-regulations like management directives, standard operating procedures, secret 49 USC 46110 "orders", etc. are even more ambiguous.
As for the Yelp reviews, here's a handy Google index of all of them.
Sai at August 25, 2015 5:50 AM
Distressingly enough, I asked a friend of mine, a new lawyer, about the video. He said TSA did have the right to detain him and search him because he was still within their jurisdiction.
Patrick at August 25, 2015 4:13 PM
Patrick: TSA has no authority to detain anyone at all. Zero.
Nor do they have any authority to search except administrative search that is agreed to as a condition of entering a secure area or transportation. If you are trying to leave, they can't do anything.
Your lawyer friend is flat out wrong and should read up on the applicable law. Or prove me wrong: cite the law he believes authorizes TSA to detain anyone or to execute searches on people who are not trying to enter a secured area. :-)
Sai at August 25, 2015 4:44 PM
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