DHS IG Report Snuck Out On Holiday Weekend
The Department of
Homeland Security's Inspector General, in a report released late on
Good Friday, admitted that the TSA systematically misled almost
everybody: individual citizens and travelers, reporters, FOIA act
information requestors, the US Senate, DHS's own Chief Privacy
Officer (!), Congress, and the Government Accountability Office
--about the TSA's CAPPS II system and TSA's use and abuse of
private personal name record (PNR) data, throughout 2003 and
2004.
"TSA officials made inaccurate statements regarding these
transfers that undermined public trust in the agency," according to
the report, signed by DHS Acting Inspector General Richard Skinner.
The report resulted from widespread media reports of TSA misconduct
in reference to the development of the CAPPS II screening database
system.
Skinner danced with double-talk in an attempt to minimize the
impact of these new revelations. "These misstatements were
apparently not meant to mischaracterize known facts. Instead, they
were premised on an incomplete understanding of the underlying
facts." It's hard to cut to the core of what that statement is
saying, but it appears to be, "they thought they were telling the
truth but they were wrong." If that is truly what he meant, that
conclusion is very, very hard to square with the facts in the
report. (We have linked the actual report at the end of this story,
so you can see for yourself).
TSA Spokesman Mark O. Hatfield Jr was quoted by the AP as
saying, "The core of our mission is preserving our freedoms, and
that means doing the utmost to protect every American's privacy."
This is boilerplate and frequently uttered by TSA talking heads.
For example, former director Loy said in March 2004, "in carrying
out the TSA mission to secure our nation's transportation systems,
we must respect and protect the privacy rights of all individuals
we serve."
The report made public by TSA is redacted, so some of the most
sensitive evidence that convicts or clears TSA of misconduct may be
missing. Despite that, there was plenty of detail in the report. In
areas where the report danced around names of persons,
publications, or contractors, Aero-News has usually been able to
find out who they mean.
TSA has taken a few grudging steps towards protecting traveler
privacy since Congress threatened to cut off funds for the massive
Secure Flight (formerly CAPPS II) database, which has been a
centerpiece project for all three TSA Administrators. This new
report is likely to raise further concerns.
This report was
carefully written and carefully timed to minimize damage to the TSA
and to its Secure Flight program, which is the cornerstone of TSA
plans for the future. Despite that, it is an extremely dismaying
glimpse at the culture of the Agency. The TSA's response to the
report's recommendations (which this article didn't even get into)
was in places defensive, even truculent, in its insistence that the
TSA and its people have done nothing wrong. They refused the
reasonable request to review the procedures that led to over a year
of lies about the Jet Blue data. It would not be reaching too far
to infer that for many TSA leaders and spokesmen, who are convinced
that they are on a righteous mission of great national importance,
"the end justifies the means." Giving an agency with that sort of
culture the fruits of a massive data-mining scheme is like giving
rocket fuel to a firebug.
The timing of this report is one indicator that TSA and DHS are
circling the wagons, and are determined to fight it out, having
decided that the public is the savages. To release a negative
report on the Friday of a long holiday weekend is a time-honored
dodge in Washington. In this particular case, it indicates that DHS
is flying cover for TSA and doesn't want TSA leaders to bear any of
the consequences for their misconduct -- or their previous false
statements to the Congress, the press, and the public. It remains
to be seen whether all those entities will take this lying
down.
To Be Continued...
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