Hope and Fail

TSA leaks its own screening procedures while waiting for union-friendly boss

This is what happens when the president leaves the top post at a vital national security agency waiting for an appointment for nine months.

The Transportation Security Administration inadvertently posted its manual for airport screeners online — with the supposedly “redacted” portions blocked electronically, making it easy to get to the classified parts. From ABC News:

The most sensitive parts of the 93-page Standard Operating Procedures manual were apparently redacted in a way that computer savvy individuals easily overcame.

The document shows sample CIA, Congressional and law enforcement credentials which experts say would make it easy for terrorists to duplicate.

The improperly redacted areas indicate that only 20 percent of checked bags are to be hand searched for explosives and reveal in detail the limitations of x-ray screening machines.

The TSA says the June 2008 manual is out-of-date and that it will investigate the matter. As “Blogger Bob” (seriously?) posted on the TSA blog:

Once we were made aware of the situation, it was immediately taken down from the Web site and a full review by TSA’s Office of Inspection was initiated.

TSA takes full responsibility for this improper posting and all individuals who may have been involved have been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the review.

Could this have been avoided if President Obama hadn’t waited nine months to appoint someone to head the TSA? Kip Hawley, President Bush’s TSA chief, left Jan. 20 and the agency has been under an interim administrator since.

Obama sent his nominee, Erroll Southers, to the Senate on Sept. 17. Why did it take so long? The president was waiting to find someone who would please the public employee unions. From CNN:

Erroll Southers currently is the department’s chief of homeland security and intelligence. His name had been floated for the federal job earlier this year and was warmly received by unions and airport screeners, who say Southers will embrace collective bargaining for screeners.

Now “the question of bargaining rights at TSA is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when,’ ” said John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a statement applauding the choice. “We are confident that the appointment of Mr. Southers as administrator will help put that matter to bed.”

Screeners had an often hostile relationship with the Bush administration, which opposed unionization, saying it would hinder the agency’s ability to quickly respond to emergencies.

How’s that for priorities?