MetaFilter Thread on Stacey Armato’s ‘TSA Revenge Screening’

I thought this comment was particularly good:

The thing is, as presented, [Armato is] trying to follow their procedure. The agents clearly don’t want to be bothered do so. It doesn’t matter why she want what she wants, policy has been decided at senior levels in the TSA and it is not the job of the operational folks who run the screen checkpoints to alter or adapt it or do what ever they feel like. It’s their job, and only their job, to follow procedure.

The good functioning of government depends on this. If you’re a public servant who can’t follow rules, you shouldn’t be a public servant. Letting agents get away with arbitrary, ad hoc “policies” is the start of a slippery downward slope that leads to corruption and compromising the security they’re trying to ensure.

Most TSA agents do their jobs professionally, sure. But anyone who travels regularly knows there are a lot of bad ones. I’m not surprised at all by Armato’s story.

★ Monday, 6 December 2010