Quote:
Originally Posted by
TSORon
Let me assist:
1. No one can compel you to answer a question. No one. If you don’t want to answer, don’t answer. Its your decision, feel free to make it however you like. As with all things in life though, there are consequences for our actions. Consequences can be good or bad, I guess it depends on your view of life.
2. The law says that if you travel outside of the US with $10,000 or more in cash that it must be declared. TSA cannot determine if you have declared your cash, which is why we will call a LEO if we suspect that you are carrying large amounts of cash outside of the US.
3. TSA cannot confiscate contraband. You can surrender (abandon) it, or not. Once again its your choice. We CAN refuse to allow it into the sterile area. How you handle that problem is up to you. If we think the contraband is an illegal substance or item, we CAN ask a LEO to intervene. We will NOT arrest you, not that we don’t have the authority (every citizen does), its just not a part of our job and is why we have access to Law Enforcement officers.
No one is forcing you to do anything. Do as you like. But I remind you of my comments about consequences. Those who stand on their rights usually find that they are standing on nothing but air, because they are ignorant of their rights. I have seen lots of misconceptions of rights in this blog, which of course provides me with a great deal of laughter. The rampant posturing and ignorant declarations are what keeps bringing me back here.
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?bl...39154720982548
Thanks very much. Now we are getting somewhere.
So according to you, (1.) the correct answer to Steven Bierfeldt's question, posed to a TSO like you (remember, he asked the TSO, "Am I legally required to answer that question?") is "DY...T?" That's it?
(2.) In the event a TSO like you asks, "Where did you get this money?" or "Why are you carrying so much cash?" and the criminal, er, pax responds, "None of your business," (or if an international itinerary is involved, the crook, er, taxpayer says, "I'll be visiting the Customs office inside security to fill out the appropriate form, now am I free to go?") the correct response for that TSO is to call over an LEO and insist on an investigation, as you have now established a reasonable suspicion of a crime for that LEO and that lazy LEO must do his or her duty, right?
(3.) In the event a pax on a domestic itinerary with no international connections shows up at your security location with $10,000.01 that you find in his or her carry-on, and starts in with a lot of prattle like "Am I legally required..." or "None of your business" to your questions (thus raising reasonable suspicions of the money being related to a crime), then you are more or less required to keep that $10,000.01 out of the sterile area of the airport, because it is defined by TSA as contraband at that point, and you must do your duty, right?
And, why? I mean other than just following orders, do you have any sense that in any of these three scenarios you have moved the air security gauge even one iota in the direction of "safer"?