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Online TSA Breach Finds Top Secret Security Documents Leaked

by Amar Toor on December 10, 2009 at 11:01 AM

With all due respect to the artisans of the world, the average butcher, baker, or candlestick maker can probably commit the occasional FAIL without endangering too many people. If you're working at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), though, and your job consists of details like, oh, protecting America... a workplace mishap is a tad more serious

As ABC News reports, someone from the TSA accidentally posted online a top secret manual of security screening procedures -- basically, a how-to guide for people looking to circumvent security. Not only does the 93-page document give templates of easily copied CIA, congressional, and law enforcement IDs that would get anybody past security, it also reveals some 'tricks of the trade,' including detailed info about what an X-ray machine can't pick up. Whoops.

TSA has acknowledged the seriousness of the breach and says it's conducting a comprehensive review. In a statement, the agency tried to reassure citizens, saying it's "confident that screening procedures currently in place remain strong." A TSA spokesman added that the leaked documents are old and outdated anyway, and wouldn't be compatible with current procedures. Former Federal Air Marshal Robert Maclean, who was fired after publicly revealing holes in airport security procedures following 9/11, though, isn't buying it. Maclean rhetorically asked ABC News, "How much in screening procedure changes in 17 months?"

Equally surprising are some of the insights that the manual actually contains. Take, for example, the revelation that during peak travel times, TSA agents may only use blacklight authentication procedures on just 25-percent of passports. The worst part of all is that even though the TSA tried to take it down, the document is still out there swimming across the Web. The only solution now, it seems, is to make sure that procedures change drastically from the ones outlined in the leaked document -- if they haven't already. And seriously, for the love of Scooter Libby, do something to ensure that this won't happen again. [From: ABC News]

Tags: airport security, AirportSecurity, fail, security, top, transportation security administration, TransportationSecurityAdministration, travel, tsa

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