The misinformation about photography in public places is not unique to TSA staff. People are frequently harassed or arrested for photographing federal buildings, even though Federal Protective Services (Department of Homeland Security's police force) have issued an informational bulletin explicitly stating that the public are allowed to do so (HQ-IB-012-2010, issued August of 2010).

I was at a peaceful protest outside the Jackson Federal Building in Seattle last month, and asking the private security guard (who came out to hassle a television news reporter) about photography policies, then calmly noting that everyone who photographs the front of the building from the sidewalk captures images of the "security equipment" behind the glass entryway, resulted in a friend and me being forcefully detained and dragged into the building by the Paragon Systems rent-a-cops, where we were arrested and cited by FPS police. I'm still waiting to find out if federal government will prosecute us.