Armed TSA Agents Threaten Travel Journalist

Pajamas Media ^ | Dec. 31 | Annie Jacobsen

[AJKauf]

At 7:00 p.m. on December 29, armed TSA agents banged on the door of photojournalist and KLM Airlines blogger Steven Frischling’s Connecticut home. “They threatened me with a criminal search warrant and suggested they’d call up my clients and say I was a security risk if I didn’t turn over my computer to them. They said ‘we could make this difficult for you,’” Frischling told me in a telephone interview the following afternoon. By then, TSA had removed Frischling’s computer from his home, made a copy of his hard drive, and returned the computer to him.

The federal agents, dispatched form the Transportation Security Administration’s Office of Inspection, had wanted Frischling, a respected travel journalist, to name names. They wanted Frischling to tell them who had given him “TSA Security Directive SD-1544-09-06,” which Frischling and another blogger had posted online three days earlier.

“It was a double-edged sword for me because I did not know who sent me the document. And it was absurd because that document had been seen by approximately 10,000 airline personnel around the world, including personnel in Islamabad, Riyadh, and Nigeria, so the idea that it was somehow in their control” was false, Frischling said....

[Gaffer]

He should have made them to produce the “warrant”....probably wasn’t one. First thing he should have done is got a lawyer on the phone and kept the line open.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Thanks, W. That was a great idea to federalize them so that they can become official, bureaucratic, G-men thugs.

[thefactor]

ARMED federal agents!? The horror!!!

I love when writers try to scare and incite their readers.

[darkwing104]

Why don't they go after terrorists with the same zeal...After seeing this story these punks must work for the ACORN Office in Chicago...

[Rushmore Rocks]

Remind me again. What country am I living in?

[Marty62]

Produce the warrant
I’m calling my attorney
Tape the encounter

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Are they allowed to take his computer like that without a warrant?

[Presbyterian Reporter]

It is good to know that TSA has the capability to shakedown people.

Now we need to work on TSA’s ability to shakedown Muslim Terrorists.

[boomop1]

These goon's need to put a little of that effort protecting this country.

[jra]

Good...I bet that’s the last time he posts TSA policy directives on his blog.

Freedom isn’t free.

[apillar]

He should have told them to come back with a warrant and slamed the door in their faces. Then called the local sheriff and said that men “claiming” to be TSA agents were trying to steal his computer. If nothing else, he could have probably caused them some hassles and delays when the local police detained them long enough to verify their identity.

[libh8er]

Remind me again. What country am I living in

Obamastan

[Talisker]

Produce the warrant
I’m calling my attorney
Tape the encounter

You forgot the start word: NO.

[Talisker]

Good...I bet that’s the last time he posts TSA policy directives on his blog. Freedom isn’t free.

Go jerk your knee somewhere else.

[Tijeras_Slim]

He needs one of these.

[ColdWater]

Are they allowed to take his computer like that without a warrant?

They had a warrant.

[muir_redwoods]

"Good...I bet that’s the last time he posts TSA policy directives on his blog."

If the TSA (Twits Standing Around) can't keep their policy manuals secret, they don't deserve to have them. Someone they screened and employed released the manuals to bloggers. What should come out of this is Better security for the policies and, by extension, for travelers.

The nazis who run the TSA need to be better, smarter and more dedicated. Right now, they suck.

[jerri]

He should have made them to produce the “warrant”....probably wasn’t one. First thing he should have done is got a lawyer on the phone and kept the line open.

He had to think of his children first. The agents could have arrested him and his wife wasn't there to care for them. (Yes, they could have for any trumped up charge even though it may not stand.) He did call a lawyer and the lawyer advised him to cooperate.

I hate the A-Holes in government who use their positions of power to intimidate the rest of us.

[WestCoastGal]

Did you see the Interpol link I posted on the old TM thread this morning?

This is just a start