House Republicans Probe Bizarre Actions by Airport Screeners

Republicans on the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have launched an inquiry into a series of bizarre incidents involving alleged abuse of passengers by government airport screeners. The alleged misbehavior includes forcing a handicapped child to walk unsupported through a metal detector and planting a bag of white powder in a college student's carry-on bag.

On Tuesday, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the oversight committee's ranking Republican, sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano requesting copies of assorted Transportation Security Administration records. (TSA is part of the Homeland Security Department.) Among the records Issa wants to see: copies of all passenger complaints received since Jan. 20 of last year; records about how TSA and Homeland Security handled those complaints; and records relating to TSA's procedures for screening passengers with disabilities.

In his letter, Issa wrote that his inquiry was prompted in part by an incident involving the screening of a handicapped 4-year-old boy last year at Philadelphia International Airport—a story first brought to light by Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Daniel Rubin. In March 2009 Bob Thomas, a Camden, N.J., police officer, was taking his wife and 4-year-old son Ryan to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Ryan, who is developmentally disabled, wears leg braces, which triggered the airport metal detector. Instead of escorting Ryan to a separate area for additional screening—which Issa says TSA is supposed to do—government screeners ordered Ryan's parents to remove his braces and stand aside, forcing the boy to hobble through the metal detector on his own.

"This inflicted extreme public humiliation on the Thomas family," Issa told Napolitano. Issa added that when Ryan's father complained to a TSA supervisor about how his son had been treated, another TSA official advised him to "drop it" and get on with his vacation. According to the Associated Press, the TSA apologized to Ryan last month, not long after the Philadelphia Inquirer called attention to his case.

Issa's letter also raised the case of Rebecca Solomon, also first reported by the Inquirer's Daniel Rubin, who was involved in another strange incident at the airport in Philadelphia in January of this year. After Solomon passed through security with her carry-on bag, a TSA officer called her over and started to question her about a small bag of white powder the officer said he had retrieved from her bag. Solomon, a college student, burst into tears and insisted the bag wasn't hers. Only later did the TSA officer admit that he had planted the bag in her luggage himself, apparently as a practical joke. Solomon told the Inquirer that when she complained to TSA about what had happened, she was informed that the officer in question was training other screeners how to detect contraband. TSA told the Inquirer that the screener in question was subsequently disciplined.

Two weeks ago, Issa sent an earlier letter to Napolitano, asking for information about an even more bizarre incident in January of this year. A man, posing as a U.S. marshal, allegedly escorted a woman he had kidnapped through TSA security at San Diego International Airport. According to Issa, the man wore a "U.S. Federal Agent" T shirt and had a fake police badge. The Los Angeles Times reported that the man was later arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, impersonating a peace officer and other violations.

UPDATE: In response to a request for comment from Declassified, TSA sent us the following official statement: "At TSA, security is our top priority. Our highly trained workforce safely screens nearly 2 million passengers every day to ensure they arrive safely at their destinations. We hold our employees to the highest professional and ethical standards. TSA has a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior and acts swiftly when proper protocols are not followed. The inappropriate actions of a few individuals in no way reflect on the outstanding work of the more than 50,000 Transportation Security Officers who work tirelessly to keep our skies safe."