As the government reviews how an alleged terrorist was able to bring a bomb onto a U.S.-bound plane and try to blow it up on Christmas Day, the Transportation Security Administration is going after bloggers who wrote about a directive to increase security after the incident.I think both of these guys, and anyone else who's being targeted, have legitimate first amendment claims to protect their sources and their personal property. You don't have to be a journalism school graduate or work for some alphabet network to be part of the press these days.
TSA special agents served subpoenas to travel bloggers Steve Frischling and Chris Elliott, demanding that they reveal who leaked the security directive to them. The government says the directive was not supposed to be disclosed to the public.
Frischling said he met with two TSA special agents Tuesday night at his Connecticut home for about three hours and again on Wednesday morning when he was forced to hand over his lap top computer. Frischling said the agents threatened to interfere with his contract to write a blog for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines if he didn't cooperate and provide the name of the person who leaked the memo.
"It literally showed up in my box," Frischling told The Associated Press. "I do not know who it came from." He said he provided the agents a signed statement to that effect.
In a Dec. 29 posting on his blog, Elliott said he had told the TSA agents at his house that he would call his lawyer and get back to them. Elliott said late Wednesday he could not comment until the legal issues had been resolved.
The TSA declined to say how many people were subpoenaed.
I think the TSA has badly overstepped their authority and will likely face a slap-down in court.
UPDATE: Fox News identifies the two as "journalists", not bloggers. Interesting.
UPDATE 2: TSA drops subpoena's. It was a bad idea from the start.
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4 comments:
So much for "hope & change."
Isn't it interesting how absolute authority is so corrupted in Washington nowdays. If the government wants specific information kept secret they shouldn't be so to speak "letting the cat out of the bag"!
If this had been the N.Y. Times do you think someone from TSA would have dropped by? I seriously doubt it. This pales by comparison to the kind of information the MSM seems to think it can reveal.
This whole episode reeked of wackos in Washington to begin with. These guys have let the whole world see how intelligent they are.
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