Feds Threaten Bloggers Over Leaked Air Security Memo

Agents squawk about memo sent to airlines, airports
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 31, 2009 3:24 AM CST
Feds Threaten Bloggers Over Leaked Air Security Memo
A computer monitor displays instructions as the Transportation Security Administration demonstrates passenger screening technology.   (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Two bloggers who posted details of new airport security directives online were visited at home by agents from the Transportation Security Administration demanding to know their sources. Armed agents vowed to obtain a criminal search warrant if travel writer Mike Frischling didn't identify his source and threatened to get him fired from his job blogging for KLM, said the writer. Frischling and Washington Post Christopher Elliott were both served with subpoenas.

Frischling says he put the document online to clear up confusion about the new procedures after receiving it from an anonymous source via Gmail. "They’re saying it’s a security document but it was sent to every airport and airline,” he tells Wired. “It was sent to Islamabad, to Riyadh and to Nigeria. So they’re looking for information about a security document sent to 10,000-plus people internationally. You can’t have a right to expect privacy after that.” (More TSA stories.)

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