TSA was forced to change their procedures for handling non-terrorist and non-airplane safety issues at their checkpoints. Last March, Steve Bierfeldt, a fundraiser for Rep. Ron Paul, was stopped while carrying $4,500 through airport security in a lock box. He refused to tell TSA why he had the money and where he got it prompting the TSA officers to become apoplectic.
Now, TSA has had to instruct its screeners that it is legal to carry money though security checkpoints. (Wasn’t it always?)
The ACLU sued TSA claiming that the agency is exceeding their rights by searching passengers for far more than simple airplane security. The ACLU noted that it has heard reports that the TSA screeners often were found to be on “fishing expeditions” for illegal activities.
Mr. Bierfeldt recorded audio of the confrontation on his iPhone, including threats, insults and repeated questions about where he obtained the money.
“Are you from this planet?” one officer told him, while another accused him of acting like a child for asking what part of the law forced him to answer their questions about the money.
“The TSA has stated that their policy is going to change, which is basically what we were after all along,” Mr. Bierfeldt told The Washington Times.
The Washington Times article noted, “TSA has been given some leeway when it comes to the Fourth Amendment that prohibits unreasonable searches, strictly to keep weapons and explosives off planes, not to help police enforce other laws.”
Just I mentioned in an earlier post
TSA is discovering illegal goods, weapons, stashed bottles of liquids, corkscrews, drugs, folk traveling on someone else’s ticket, false IDs and other contraband (but no terrorists yet) passing through security checkpoints.
Though the justification for these searches is terrorism, no terrorists seem to have been apprehended. It seems like a major invasion of personal privacy just to get on a plane.
One reader responding to a bulletin board thread noted: “We would not tolerate border checks on highways between states, and we do not find it legal to stop all patrons leaving a bar to see if they are drinking and driving… why is wholesale TSA screening tolerated if it does not fulfill its real purpose?”
The TSA has issued directives to its field force of screeners with clear limitations on their actions and searches when it comes to issues other than aircraft safety and terrorism. The new rules state, “screening may not be conducted to detect evidence of crimes unrelated to transportation security”
With this TSA action, the ACLU has dropped their suit.
But this doesn’t mean criminals heading through security can rest easy. In the performance of a regular screening, should a TSA officer come across evidence of illegal activity, such as a bag of illicit drugs, this new directive will not affect the situation.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
