The Transportation Security Agency accidentally posted its 93-page manual on airport screening procedures online, a mistake that has since been addressed although reports indicate the document is still widely available online. Making matters worse, the agency used redaction techniques that can be easily overcome.
Former Homeland Security Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin told ABC News that the event was "an appalling and astounding breach of security that terrorists could easily exploit." He urged the TSA to launch an investigation into how the breach had occurred.
Among the topics covered in the document are items which do not have to be screened such as wheelchairs and orthopedic shoes, and countries whose citizens must be screened more closely than others.
TSA officials are claiming that the document is "outdated," however critics argue that the screening process has likely not changed that drastically that the procedures detailed here are worthless to terrorists and other interested parties.
Certainly this breach is a threat to national security, and I tend to agree with those critics who say this one is pretty serious. 9/11 was a product of terrorists understanding the loopholes in our airport security procedures, and this breach now threatens to give our enemies insight into how we're keeping them out.
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