Fool’s News

Building on the “Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government” that President Obama issued on his first full day in office, he has today issued a 45-day order to agencies and departments to identify and post online “high value data sets” — or key data that need to be released.  Of course, I think more transparency in government is a good thing, especially after 8 years of the Bush administration making everything a national security secret.

It seems that one agency though, the TSA, has taken the President’s message a bit too literally.  Someone has leaked the TSA manual online.   Of course, the TSA claims that the manual is “outdated”.  It’s not so old; it went into effect on June 30, 2008.  So, it’s not that old.  Undoubtedly, most elements remain current.

Since I am a stickler for detail, I want to point out that on Page 4-1 (Sec. 4.1(C)) there is a typographical error:  ”stationery” is incorrectly spelled “stationary“.  ”A courier letter must be on appropriate letterhead stationary and must bear a seal of the sending state, embassy, consulate, or international organization.”  I guess the letterhead must be unmoving!   Of course, “letterhead station[e]ry” is redundant.  But, I digress.

ABC News has posted the memo online here.  Some claim that this leak is giving the terrorists information.  I think there is relatively little here that gives anything away.  Frankly, most of the document contains things that most people know.  Frankly, I think all such things should be public.  In a democracy, it is wrong to have the rules hidden away so you don’t know if you’re breaking them or not.

Of course, the weakest link in the security procedure is the frontline TSA employees themselves.