Let’s see. You’re hassled mercilessly by airline employees, who won’t let you check luggage, won’t let you print a boarding pass, won’t let you check in, and bring cops and airport security people to confront you when you appear to resolve the situation. But under a new plan by TSA, the airline risks a $25,000 fine if they tell you WHY they are hassling you.

USA Today reports that TSA’s upset when airlines explain the hassle by telling people they’re on a TSA watch list. TSA will not tell people when they are on such a list. TSA won’t tell people when they ARE NOT on such a list. They want the airlines to do the same — keep mum, but keep harassing the public.

TSA and the DoJ counterterrorism center twice barred a Malaysian woman from flying, ordered her arrested, kept her in custody for hours, and eventually allowed her to fly out of the US only long enough for them to permanently cancel her US visa without notice, so she could not return to Stanford to finish her PhD. The victim, Rahinah Ibrahim, sued them. Even in court, TSA refuses to confirm or deny whether she was on the watch list. Idiots!

TSA’s lists are secret, just as in all good government institutions. TSA’s regulations are secret, just as in all good government institutions. Let’s hope TSA doesn’t propose new regulations next month with $25,000 fines against web sites or the press if they tell people that secret watch lists exist and that you’re being hassled at the airport because TSA suspects you of being a terrorist without a shred of evidence.

(Of course, airlines have been known to screw up, and they love to blame government regulations when it’s their own damn fault. But despite the airlines’ eagerness to check IDs so that their customers can’t resell unused tickets, it was the government that imposed the current system of harassment, and put 400,000 to 1,000,000 alleged communists — oops, wrong bogeyman, it’s not the 50’s any more — I meant “terrorists” — on these secret blacklists.)

Since June 21st, TSA has required all air travelers in the United States to present identification when entering a secure area at airports. Prior to then, a person could simply say they had lost their ID or didn’t want to show it, and they would be subjected to a secondary screening to enter the area. Now you can only get through security if you can convince TSA and their behavioral detection specialists that you lost or forgot your ID and are “cooperative” with their efforts to identify you by means of commercial data. Part of that process involves filling out their Certification of Identity form.

It appears that DHS has ignored the process of procuring an OMB (Office of Management and Budget) number for their new form. The OMB process requires publication of a notice in the Federal Register and the opportunity for public comment whenever the government gathers information from the public. The law clearly states that someone can’t be punished for failing to answer questions on a government form unless the questioning agency has an OMB number associated it. Despite this, TSA’s new Certification of Identity form states that failing to answer the questions may result in your inability to fly. Further, false statements made by travelers when using the form may be punishable by up to five years in prison. DHS is again showing that it doesn’t believe the rule of law applies to them. Read More →

In a series of posts in their blog, the TSA has expanded on its claimed authority for the changes to “ID verification procedures” announced in a press release last month.

Lawmaking by press release exemplifies the evils of “secret law” which the Supreme Court declined to consider in Gilmore v. Gonzalez. The TSA now says that, “Our position is that Gilmore v. Gonzalez affirmed our ability to require ID for transportation via air and the law that formed TSA, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA) empowers the TSA to make these decisions.”

In fact:

1. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Gilmore v. Gonzalez reached its decision without addressing whether it would have been permissible for the airline or the TSA (or anyone else) to require Mr. Gilmore to show evidence of his identity, or to prevent him from travelling if he failed to do so. The court found that, as of that time and in that particular case, Mr. Gilmore could have flown without showing ID. Read More →

Travelers who willingly refuse to show ID to the Transportation Security Administration are now barred from flying. The new rule went into effect over the weekend. Now, in order to board the plane after forgetting one’s driver’s license, it seems you have to answer questions about your political party affiliation and previous addresses. TSA’s press release said that “cooperative passengers” without ID may be subjected to additional screening protocols, including enhanced physical screening, enhanced carry-on and/or checked baggage screening, interviews with behavior detection or law enforcement officers and other measures. It turns out that “and other measures” include questions about political party affiliation and other questionable invasions of privacy, according to an article that appeared on Consumerist.

Finally satisfied that I didn’t have ID, Laurie took my boarding pass and went away. She came back a few minutes later having photocopied it, and also had an affidavit that she requested I sign. It asked for my name and address, and stated in small print at the bottom that I did not have to fill it out, but if I didn’t I couldn’t fly. It also said that if I choose to fill it out and then provided false info, I would be in violation of federal law.

After filling out the affidavit, Laurie called a service to verify my address. The service needed me to then correctly answer three questions about myself, which Laurie relayed to me. The first was my date of birth, the second was a previous address (which I only got right on my second try), and the third was “You are registered to vote. Which political party have you registered with?” I got all three right, and only then did Laurie clear me to go through security.

As there is no published law governing what conditions the TSA has now placed upon individuals who have the temerity to travel without ID, only by reports such as these will we be able to ascertain what’s playing on the screen today at our nation’s security theater. The cost of admission is but your civil liberty and common sense. Contact us with your story.

The Transportation Security Administration has changed its airport ID requirement. These changes allow the agency to deny the right to fly to individuals who “willfully refuse” to present government-issued identification at an airport security checkpoint. The TSA’s press release, which is how we learn about changes in the law, now reads in part as follows:

Beginning Saturday, June 21, 2008 passengers that willfully refuse to provide identification at security checkpoint will be denied access to the secure area of airports. This change will apply exclusively to individuals that simply refuse to provide any identification or assist transportation security officers in ascertaining their identity.

This new procedure will not affect passengers that may have misplaced, lost or otherwise do not have ID but are cooperative with officers. Cooperative passengers without ID may be subjected to additional screening protocols, including enhanced physical screening, enhanced carry-on and/or checked baggage screening, interviews with behavior detection or law enforcement officers and other measures.

In Gilmore v. Gonzales (Gilmore was represented by The Identity Project Director James Harrison), we learned that the pre-June 21, 2008 policy allowed individuals who willfully refused to present government-issued identification to fly if they submitted to extra security screening. This new regulation is a substantial change that was made without public review through the usual Federal Register notice and comment process. Read More →