saizai

I'm going to file a new FOIA suit soon vs TSA/DHS, since I can't just supplement my existing one.

I'm planning to re-request several things they might claim are not included in my existing lawsuit* (e.g. all policy & procedure documents, which they're still processing from my March 2013 request).

If you have any suggestions for things you'd like to see acquired by FOIA litigation, please let me know. I'll be suing them on FOIA anyway, so I figure I might as well pad it out to include anything else of interest. :-)

* I can only force them to respond to requests that are at least 20 days old at the time I sue, and the end date for the search period is the time they "start" the search. That'll probably come up as a contended issue in my current litigation, but I figure I might as well do a "search refresh" while I'm at it.


ETA: Filed.

It asks for quite a lot of records but, IMHO, quite reasonably described — enough to be able to easily find responsive records. (That category includes virtually everything releasable at all, but I figured I might as well not hold back this time.)

Includes all TSA policy & procedure, SEA incident related records, AIT, ETD & patdown testing, etc etc. etc. It's … comprehensive.

Boggie Dog

All documents/policies that discuss the screening decisioning process, such as why an item found in a purse requires a physical pat down. Would also like to see all TSA documents that discuss TSA policy on complaints of abusive screening,such as claims of sexual assualt, and how TSA might try to side step or silence this type of complaint. Also if senior TSA staff knew that some screeners have been paid by other government agencies (DEA) as informants who report on passeners who might have larger sums of cash or other things.

KDS

Perhaps documents detailing complaints about the lack of PreCheck availability for people who paid for the "service", and the TSA's reasoning for why/when PreCheck is open/closed etc.? Would be interesting also to see documents related to the entire PreCheck operation in terms of how it started, why it started, and what its purpose is (from a TSA perspective of course!).

Himeno

Documents relating to testing, procurement and decisions to rolling out body scanners.
Documents relating to decisions to remove Hand Held Metal Detectors.
Documents relating to ETPs.
Documents relating to training, screening, etc of dealing with minorities (eg disabled, transgender, etc)

saizai

I can't ask simply for all documents "relating to" something. That'll get bounced for not giving a clear enough description for them to be able to find the documents I want with a reasonable amount of effort.

I can ask for a lot of documents (e.g. "all complaints received by TSA", "all management directives", "all emails sent between X and Y", etc) — but they have to be able to find it easily and know what is or is not responsive to my request.

So, please be more specific.

Boggie Dog

I would like to know how a screener determines why a person whose purse alarms must undergo a physical pat down. Is it personal choice or a MD or other directive.

Documents that relate to complaints of abusive screening. I suspect TSA is sitting on complaints are taking other steps to quash complaints.

A recent report says that DEA has paid at least one if not more screeners to act as confidential informants against passengers that carried larger amounts of cash. I would like to know if TSA management was aware of this arrangement.

Lastly, I would like all submitted comments to the TSA blog that were not published. That could be reduced to the last 6 months to a year.

saizai

I also can't ask them questions. I can ask for MDs, training documents on subject X, etc., but I can't ask why screeners do or don't do something or who was aware of what.

I'm not sure what documents I could ask for that would answer the DEA issue.

Redacted TSA blog comments is something I should be able to get, if they aren't deleted.

I'll be asking for their entire complaints database. I don't trust them to filter complaints by topic.

I can say with absolute certainty that they sit on at least some complaints — e.g. mine about SFO, which they've refused to respond to since March 2013, including during litigation. (The court ordered them to respond by Jan 22, so I should know by then whether they'll comply or appeal.)

yandosan

All documents related to specification of which company's pizza box
they found their TSA job advertised on.

No seriously, how about the number of terrorists the cretins
have found after 250,000,000 molestations and X rays.

saizai

I could ask for a copy of all their advertising contracts.

And again, I can't ask them questions. I have to ask for clearly describable and findable documents.

P.S. Don't add linebreaks like that. Makes your text harder to read.

FliesWay2Much

Sai, I'm sure you know by now to avoid use of the word "all" because the oldest FOIA trick in the book is to reply stating that "all" in not specific enough. I would figure out a way to quantify your request for complaints -- perhaps limit the request to a specific airport(s) during specific dates.

Concerning the DEA stuff, you might ask for copies of training materials pertaining to detection of narcotics and other controlled substances in carry-on and checked luggage. Further, you could ask for training materials pertaining to detecting non-WEI criminal activity such as large amounts of cash, credit card theft, human trafficking, etc. If they come back stating that no such records exist, either they are lying or they, in fact, do not train their clerks for this stuff. If that's the case, the clerk's judgment is based on either their own hands-on experience or which TV shows they watch.

You might also ask for a narrow set of documents about training for screening of medical liquids in excess of 3.4 oz. You might find some stuff about what clerks can & can't ask you, or, perhaps you'll find that they are taught to decide how much is "necessary" for a flight. This would reveal if they are really concerned about practicing medicine without a license. My guess is that this concept is way too complicated for clerks to understand.

Other interesting materials would be documents pertaining to "screening" outside of the checkpoint: gates, roving patrols inside and even outside terminals, sniffing coffee, etc.

Thanks for doing this.

saizai

I decline to limit the scope. 5 USC 552(a)(3)(A)(i) says the request just has to "reasonably describe[ the] records [requested]" — i.e. they need to be able to easily find the things I ask for — not that I can't ask for the whole damn thing. And that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Note that they tried to pull this BS with my policies & procedures request — before it went to court. Then they reversed "voluntarily", because they know it's completely indefensible in court. Asking for a lot of records can mean they get more time to respond, 552(a)(6)(C), but that's going to happen anyway, so I don't care.

I am looking to get a response with litigation. The tactics differ from getting a response from a cooperative agency without litigation. But if there's one thing that you can rely on, it's that TSA is not going to cooperate.

Good idea. Will do that.

Also good.

FWIW, I'm going to be asking for *all* training documents, period. But adding specific subsections never hurts. :-)

I think that should be covered by the SOPs, which I am of course requesting in full (including all historical versions):

• Checkpoint Screening SOP
• Screening Management SOP
• Checked Baggage SOP
• Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT)
• Whole Body Imaging (WBI)
• Playbook SOP
• Colorimetric SOP
• Stand Off Detection
• Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR)
• Bomb Appraisal Officer (BAO)
• Screening of Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT)

Maybe you had something else in mind?

Murum aries attigit.

Boggie Dog

I'm not sure how to phrase the FOIA request but DEA has paid at least one TSA screener to report on passengers who have certain amounts of cash. The source of that information is here:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wa...rticle/2579951

Towards the end of the story it brings up the TSA connection. My interest is if TSA management had any knowledge or if this was completely between DEA and the TSA screener(s). Also why is any federal agency, especially TSA, monitoring travelers cash if no other criminal factors are in play. Even if there are other factors it still isn't any of TSA's concern. I really get ticked off that just having some money is somehow considered a suspicious act.

gingersnaps

Documents relating to AIT throughput.

br2k

How about communication with research or medical organizations (or other agencies, i.e. FDA?) wrt. public and health safety of AIT?

saizai

Good idea. Should be able to get that. (Comms w/ other agencies is a viable search space.)

E.g.? I don't know what you mean by throughput, nor what documents would have this. Again, I cannot generally do "relating do".

No, it's here: https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2016/f160107b.pdf

Again, I can't ask them questions. I have to ask for documents.