Following a lawsuit filed by American Civil Liberties Union, the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has revised its policies
governing airline passenger screening to make clear that TSA agents are
authorized to conduct searches related to safeguarding flight safety,
not to engage in general law enforcement.
The lawsuit was filed by the ACLU on behalf Steven Bierfeldt, who was detained on March 29, 2009 in a small room at
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and interrogated by TSA
officials for nearly half an hour after he passed a metal box
containing cash through a security checkpoint X-ray machine.
The incident was widely reported because Mr. Bierfeldt secretly recorded his exchange with TSA personnel. On the recording, Bierfeldt repeated asks on what authority the TSA has to detain him. TSA personnel, instead of answering his questions, become increasing threatening.
Let's hope the TSA lives up to it's word. For a while, the best spin I could give to the TSA and airport security measures post 9/11 was that they were providing jobs (real government jobs--with real benefits).
But that's not the case. They can't form a union, it pays very little, and the hours are structured to keep you from receiving benefits. The one person I know who worked for the TSA (at Detroit Metropolitan Airport) explained that he had to pay his own parking at the airport. He quit after 6 months to serve in Iraq.
I don't have a problem walking through a metal detector or showing my identification to get on an airplane. I do have a problem with security measures that do nothing to prevent terrorism but force me to give up my liberty.