Tom M.

Many of our readers have asked if our officers are required to give their full name when asked by a passenger. Hopefully I can provide some clarification.

If asked, our officers are only required to provide their last name and rank. This information is printed on the nameplate on every officer’s uniform. Furthermore, supervisors, managers, and customer support managers are not required to provide the officer’s full name.

As far as the photo ID badge on the officer’s uniform, this is a badge that all airport employees must wear. It’s called a Security Identification Display Area (SIDA) badge. Basically, it’s a badge that allows employees access to non-public areas. One side of the badge has the employee’s full name on it. Many officers choose to wear their SIDA badges vs. a name badge. This is permissible.

If at any time you need to file a kudos or complaint regarding one of our officers, the only information you need for us to be able to recognize an employee or resolve an issue is:

Last Name/Rank/Date/Time/Location

Our officers have a right to privacy, and TSA has the responsibility of protecting our officers from the harassment that could result from revealing their full names.

Bob Burns
TSA Blog Team

Tom M.

So basically TSA "officers" are free to simply walk away when asked to identify themselves. Managers can't give out the information and the TSA can ignore the complaint because the required information isn't provided.

cottonmather0

Shouldn't it go both ways?

("Let me see your boarding pass!")

Ari

A direct answer to a direct question. Does Bob have a terminal illness?

Boggie Dog

that only took two weeks to formulate.

Also in one part of the answer he says "This information is printed on the nameplate on every officer’s uniform" and then says "Many officers choose to wear their SIDA badges vs. a name badge".

Both cannot be true so the answer is misleading.

saulblum

EDIT: Bob edited his post to link to a new image.

I just added this comment, referencing a photo URL that Bob provided.

>> Take a look at this image: http://bit.ly/TMF76g

Bob, you do realize I assume that the photo you reference comes from this article.

http://rt.com/usa/news/tsa-passenger-theft-irwin-670/

"A former screener with the TSA has pleaded guilty to charges relating to the theft of $520 during a routine security check last year, a move he says was motivated by his desire to punish a particular passenger. John W. Irwin, 60, admitted to taking a wad of cash from a passenger …"

One could not make this stuff up if one tried.

Too bad the joke's on us, the taxpayer.

Mad_Max_Esq

He has now changed the picture.

Maxwell Smart

That's not the image that the link on the blog connects to, it's a group photo of 4 screeners. Wonder if they changed it based on your comment?

ND Sol

Do you have a link as I am not finding it on http://blog.tsa.gov/ ?

Thanks.

saulblum

See my update.

The original image Bob displayed redirected to http://rt.com/files/usa/news/tsa-pas...shington.n.jpg

The weasel saw my comment, will likely not post it, and edited his post.

Too bad I do not have a screenshot.

Maxwell Smart

In retrospect, I think the mistake was responding too quickly to the post, which gave him the opportunity to make the change before too many people saw the original link. Certainly not your fault, though.

Based upon this episode, looks like the lesson is to let embarrassing things stay for a while before calling attention to them, thus making it harder to revise history.

loops

Y'know... the press usually pulls from a set of "stock" photos when doing a story about the TSA rather than send somebody over to the airport for a fresh shot of some uniformed TS"O"s loitering around the checkpoint. I've seen the same photos repeated in a number of stories. Find another unflattering story of the TSA illustrated by the new photo that has been posted. Shouldn't be too hard! :-p

lovely15

Don't passengers have a right to privacy?

Not really relevant, but at my airport, we have to wear our badges picture side out - I'm guessing that's a fairly common rule. Just like them to ignore their own regulations...

N965VJ

Apologies in advance to Mike for the crosspost but ,

There is precedent for what Bob says. SIDA and AOA are credentials used to gain access to the non-public areas of the airport, not to provide identification to the public. My crew badge was AOA, and it gave access to ops, the crew rooms, and "shadow of the aircraft" on the ramp. Airport Operations Area allows for blanket coverage for crew at all the airports they work flights out of, and in my case it was integrated into our company photo ID. SIDA is for ground based employees, usually issued by each individual airport. As late as the mid 1990s there were some airports placing really sensitive info on their SIDA like Social Security Numbers.

On board the aircraft we weren't supposed to have them visible. I wore mine on a ski pass lanyard, and stuck it my pocket as I was getting settled. Not that I cared if someone knew my last name or how bad my mugshot looked, I'd just rather not have it get tangled up in the shoulder harness if I needed to get out in a hurry. Same reason I wore a clip-on tie.

If a TSA employee is not wearing their metal tag with their last name on it, a Supervisor should be notified as they are out of uniform.

Now instead of providing just some calm factual information recently, TSA Blogger Bob Burns decided to stomp his feet up and down like a child and attack Amy Alkon. What purpose did that serve?

FliesWay2Much

Blogdad Bob and his boss, David Castelveter, buried this "revelation" deep inside a blog post with a completely different subject. Let's not get caught up in the false pretense that the TSA has come clean, because that's exactly the reaction they want from us.

Remember: Scumbag Castelveter's objective is to do whatever it takes (including lying) to enhance the morale of the TSA workforce and to combat public criticism