Current and former federal air marshals allege that the Transportation Security Administration intentionally hid embarrassing information about supervisors’ misconduct and targeted employees who sought to expose the truth.
The allegations revolve around TSA management’s overuse of an agency-specific designation called Sensitive Security Information (SSI). Though it is not classified, information deemed SSI is supposed to be kept from the public because it would harm transportation security. The marshals claim that the TSA has repeatedly abused the SSI classification, even going so far as to use it on fictitious information, in an effort to keep the public in the dark.
One current federal air marshal, whose name has been withheld for fear of retaliation, asserts that the TSA has repeatedly sought to silence its employees.
“When it comes to the Air Marshal Service and TSA, when they are determined to f*** you, they are going to f***ing do everything in their power to make you out to be the bad guy, and they will twist every single word that they can to reflect their position [rather] than the truth,” says the marshal. “They want you to shut up, get on the plane, and sit down. They don’t want to fix any of the problems that exist.”
The marshal is not alone in making such allegations. In 2011, the TSA fired former federal air marshal Jose Job Lacson, who goes by the name “Jay.” Officially, Lacson was terminated for releasing SSI material online, despite his assertion that he made up the material in question. But he believes the TSA actually sought to punish him for blowing the whistle on his bosses.
In December 2009, Lacson claims, he exposed his superiors in the Miami field office for violating federal travel regulations. Lacson spoke up after noticing that higher-ups in the Miami office were using an internal policy dictating how much mileage federal employees were allowed to expense while traveling on official business, in clear violation of federal rules. Lacson says the TSA changed its unwritten policy in light of his inquiries, but management officials proceeded to retaliate against him anyway.
A few months after the policy was changed, the TSA began investigating Lacson because of posts he made on Officer.com, a website for law-enforcement officials. Some of his posts referenced the attrition rate and the number of marshals that the TSA planned to hire, but Lacson says he made up the figures and did not know the actual numbers. He says he provided an estimate in response to a question someone had posted online. The TSA deemed that information SSI, and he was placed on paid leave multiple times while he was investigated for releasing the information, for misusing government computers and a government cellphone, and for bringing discredit on the TSA.
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