This morning two black sedans with TSA special agents came to the Connecticut home of blogger Steven Frischling and walked out with his laptop computer. They promised to return it, but later claimed that there were "bad sectors" on the drive.
He is not sure when he is going to get it back.
The agents were looking for the anonymous source who leaked a TSA Security Directive which advised airlines to restrict passengers from getting out of their seats, concealing their hands, or accessing carry-on luggage an hour before landing.
Frischling, home alone with three young children, was intimidated by the armed agents who had driven from Newark and Boston to central Connecticut. 
The agents threatened to get Frischling -- a blogger for KLM airlines -- fired from his job, confiscate all his electronic devices -- phones, computers, and iPods -- and declare him a security risk -- which would get him on the No Fly list -- unless he cooperated.
Frischling -- who has worked for Life, Time, Newsweek, New York Times, and was embedded with troops in Iraq -- didn't know what to do. He couldn't reach a lawyer.
The civil subpoena threatened a fine and up to a year in jail for failure to comply.
The TSA has been under fire lately for failure to stop the Christmas Bomber from boarding the NW flight.
Frischling told me that he didn't know who sent him the memo and that it is not in any of his computers. The memo was hardly secret. It was sent to approximately 10,000 airlines, airports, and security firms around the world, including locations in Riyadh, Islamabad, and Lagos.
The agents also told him that there are no Federal Shield laws and that he was not a journalist anyway.
Frischling said that, as a photographer, his most thrilling photo assignment was his extensive long term coverage of Homeland Security that took him all over the world.
Department of Homeland Security special agent Nelson Minerly relayed a TSA statement about the agents behavior and the subpoenas, but didn't comment further:
"Security Directives are not for public disclosure. TSA's Office of Inspections is currently investigating how the recent Security Directives were acquired and published by parties who should not have been privy to this information."
Yesterday evening Chris Elliott, another respected travel blogger -- who works for MSNBC, National Geographic, and the Washington Post -- was at home in Florida, when TSA Special Agent Robert Flaherty knocked on his door with a similar subpoena. 
The subpoena demanded that Elliott turn over all documents, emails, or faxes and his hard drive by the end of business day, Dec 31, New Year's Eve.
"Darrin," a reader of Elliott's blog said:
So instead of catching terrorists, they go after bloggers who got ahold of their stupid security procedures that make them look like idiots.Standard big government.
How about they just act like professionals and admit their SD was crap and a knee jerk reaction. Rescind the worthless procedures and focus on keeping terrorists trying to kill us all off the plane in the first place.
Elliott told me that he had contacted an attorney and that he didn't know what he was going to do. He said that he didn't know the person who leaked the memo and that he didn't ask for it.
Tom Johansmeyer, another reader wrote:
Chris- congratulations on the subpoena; the TSA has told you you're doing a great job in the only way it knows how.To all of you who talk about the "right" to protect a confidential source, you've chosen the wrong word: it's an obligation. Period. If you have someone who is willing to talk about something sensitive so the rest of us can benefit, you have a duty to protect that person's identity. "
You can read the full text of the directive at Elliott's blog here.
With three young kids at home, Elliott said he doesn't want to go to jail, but there are some things worth going to jail for, and this is one of them.
P.S. Talked to Steven Frischling this morning and he told me agents brought back his computer yesterday in the late afternoon. But it wasn't all OK. " The operating system was not working correctly, sectors were corrupted, and the audio wasn't working."
write: jfleetwood@aol.com.
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"No other dissemination may be made without prior approval of the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration. Unauthorized dissemination of this document or information contained herein is prohibited by 49 CFR Part 1520 (see 69 Fed. Reg. 28066 (May 18, 2004)."
Therefore, he should have known it was a violation of federal law to post it.
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&sid=0c2051cf4abfdfe1f75f22cc069501eb&rgn=div5&view=text&node=49:9.1.3.4.8&idno=49
Took me about 30 seconds to find it.
Do you:
1) Secure the information and contact the proper authorities regarding the info?
2) Delete it and forget about it?
3) Violate the instructions of the document and the federal law by posting it on the internet?
Twitter coercion?
Here's the post on Tnooz: http://bit.ly/8U3CiA
It appears that we have too many independent federal agencies with police powers. Where is the oversight?
As for oversight, the buck should stop with O. He ran as the anti Bush, who was never responsible for anything wrong. The willingness to accept responsibility for what happens on his watch was one of my reasons for supporting him.
But at this level it has to Janet, she is the head of Homeland Security which oversees TSA.
If he didn't, I'd suggest he get one.
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2009/12/flight_253_passenger_kurt_hask.html
Following up on a visit from FBI officials about an eyewitness account first described to MLive.com, Michigan attorney Kurt Haskell described the visit in comment sections across MLive on Wednesday.
Something more than meets the eye going on here.
AQ or the TSA?
Imagine the tax dollars flushed on this ridiculous keystone cop romp.
You would be more likely to see it on the BBC or CBC than in any U.S. news media.