I appreciate the sentiment and will say that, unequivocally, in every conversation I have had with anyone about the topic I have explained that the document was mentioned on FlyerTalk and that FT was my impetus to go read it. I even mention that another member actually realized the text was not redacted before I did (there is a post 2 minutes prior to mine in the FOIA request thread noting the same). At this point I've been credited with "discovering" this the same way that Columbus was credited with discovering America. It was there; I have simply raised the level of attention that it receives.

I honestly have no idea why my blog post became the tipping point for the story. Looking at the few logs I have it seems that the story was posted on news.ycombinator.com at some point on Sunday. It made it to Wired's ThreatList and BoingBoing on Sunday or early Monday as well. SlashDot picked it up on Tuesday, as did the AP, the Washington Post and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. This morning has seen a rather significant amount of traffic from a BBC News story and the Register UK.

I've had hits from over 100 countries in the past 72 hours. This story has most definitely gone global. I'm happy that I've been able to help raise the issue and bring it to the forefront. I just hope that something good comes from it. I continue to press the TSA press contacts I have and will be contacting some elected officials today in an effort to delve more into the FOIA issue that was identified yesterday.

sbm12/Wandering Aramean.