<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Fenito:
Obviously you did not read my response very closely. As I said, in some airports they do not possess the facilities to conduct a briefing in an enclosed area away from the public. For our checkpoint screeners we use a gate area that has been closed down which public doesn't have access to. If we could fit 100 screeners into our small onsite office we would. But it barely holds our 30 some baggage screeners for briefings. I will argue all day long if that's what you really want to do. I would rather just get my point across that maybe they didn't have a choice as to where they could conduct their briefing and it really isn't any of your business trying to listen in. And should someone be caught trying to listen in I'm sure it would be handled accordingly.</font>
Fenito -
Thanks for sharing your contributions as it provides a view from the TSA side. IMHO, what the TSA screeners allegedly did to the OP was not only wrong, but extremely unprofessional. Perhaps even illegal, depending upon exactly what happened with the verbal threats & the extent of the physical assult. If a passenger said such a thing to a TSA agent and/or pushed / purposely ran into an agent, I suspect the passenger would be in jail. Double standards like these are wrong.
I understand there are physical plant constaints at airports to where there might not be a private area for such (larger) meetings to be conducted. I would suspect such facilities exist at EWR; however, if such a meeting is to be held where SSI is being discussed and no reasonable private accomodations are available at the airport, it is in my opinion the meeting should be moved off-site to a facility that has the space for a private meeting. Most airports have hotels and other businesses nearby which provide such facilities.
Personally I feel the OP had the right to stand there and listen to what was being said in a public location. At the same time, I believe it may of been done in poor taste (especially after he was asked to move on). At the same time, I believe the OP did have the legal right to be there as long as he was not interfering with or disrupting the meeting. His mere presense nearby does not constitute interference or disruption (unless he was shouting / making noise / etc).
Beyond that, it's difficult for me to comment further as I wasn't there and didn't see what happened... but if what the OP said is true, in regards to what happened to him, it was wrong and I would expect to see action taken against the employees involved.
Other government agencies, such as the FBI, DEA, etc., do not hold meetings where sensitive / confidential information is dealt with in public places (that I am aware of at least). I understand where you are coming from, but I also undertand the views of the OP.
Given the current state of affairs and the current mess with the TSA, I'd be willing to bet many passengers would be interested in listening into such meetings if they could. People are curious -- it's human nature.. people are nosey as well... and personally I'd probably be interested in hearing what was said too.
No offense to you, but the TSA is an agency which is completely out of control in many ways. It's expensive window dressing and a large waste of taxpayer money, IMHO. At some level, it is an improvement upon the old security, but in many ways it is much worse when it comes to the respect of passengers, their privacy, and civil liberties. There are many great TSA employees, but there are also many not so great ones -- but worst of all is TSA management and the way the agency is operated from the top.
In closing, based on your comments, I get the impression you're a hard-working, dedicated employee who takes your job seriously, yet you respect passengers. I get the impression security is well operated at your airport -- and I'll admit there are some airports where the TSA has a great operation -- but unfortunately such facilities are few and far inbetween.
Best,
SDF_Traveler
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin