Answers in order of your questions above:

1. Bigotry covers racial bigotry -- set includes subset.
2. It has nothing to do with imagining who is bigoted, as the TSA has a history of employing some bigots.
3.Ethnic minorities in the employ of the TSA can be bigoted too.
4. There is, but not always and everywhere.
5. There is, but not always and everywhere.
6. They exist.

Well, first of all when you say Arab you need to be specific. That's like calling everyone from the pacific rim "oriental" or "asian." I have met Lebanese TSA agents, Kuwaitii's, and even one Sikh originally from the UAE who wore his turban at work. That being said, they never seem to last very long. When I've spoken to them, they like to see themselves as a buffer to their colleagues. They see cultural understanding as an asset.

That being said, I don't think the racial and ethnic biases of the TSA are systemic. They seem to be more localized. As one of their policy wonks in DC who I met at a mixer told me, "smart people in the TSA rise very fast after a year in service, the ones that make a career at the gates, they aren't too bright." So I think we are dealing with individual biases, and being the forward facing part of the TSA, it's easy to see them as the whole.

The biases I see as "scattered but pervasive." Of course, you have the Sikh's who created the TSA complaint application, because the TSA agents don't understand they aren't Muslims and in most cases aren't even from any part of the globe that's considered Arabia (UAE being the exception). You also had a supervisor at Logan who was targeting blacks simply because he thought them more likely to be carrying drugs, who he could turn over to local police to score quid pro quo points. Of course, that backfired when the local police turned back on the TSA and told them that they were wasting time and personnel from more pressing criminal matters to chase after worthless leads. I've witnessed multiple times TSA agents doing random checks only on passengers who were only guilty of "flying while brown." If there are a hundred people at a gate, and you only stop to random check people who aren't white, the bias is pretty apparent.

By Arab I mean Arab in ethnicity. Just like Asians or blacks (who one could argue could or should be distinguished into multiple groups) are ethnicities-- not religions.

I bolded your insightful commentary.^

Thanks, I only point that out as I like to do because I used to work with many Lebanese, and I remember they used to get really annoyed at being called "arabic." It's just like the conflicts you can easily fall into if you aren't careful around Chinese to not distinguish Taiwan as separate country, and around Taiwanese to make sure you distinguish them as being separate from China.

This is true in many situations if you assume someone's country from their accent (quickly comes to mind ... Scot/Brit/Irish/Welsh, Australian/New Zealander, Canadian/American). It is safer to ask "where are you from?" rather than making the statement "Oh, you're Australian" .

Interesting. There are lots of Lebanese where I am and I was not aware.. I do know that Iranians are Persian, not Arab. Many Persians don't like this common misunderstanding, understandably.

Most Lebanese are Arabs, probably including those working for the TSA.

There are Iranians who are Arab. Not all Iranians are Persians. There are non-Persian ethnic minorities who are Iranians, including ethnic Azeris, Baluchis and Arabs. A lot of the minority Arab Lebanese employees of the TSA probably don't know that.

My letter will be in tomorrow's NYTimes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/21/op...screening.html

Props

Congratulations - short and to the point!

Don't you mean "oriental"? I thought occidental referred to the Western Hemisphere, while Oriental referred to the Eastern?

Word switch, it was late. Thanks.

Do you write LSATs?

While I have taken LSATs, I don't write LSATs for others.

I did stick to writing facts in the post of mine which you quoted. Most Lebanese are Arabs even as some Lebanese are not Arabs.

http://www2.tbo.com/news/travel/2013...-mi-ar-625804/

Whaddaya know? Managed Inclusion was a rousing success at Tampa and will now be expanded nationwide.

TSA mind-readers and dogs successfully identified passengers who were not hiding bombs in their shoes.

Who would have seen that coming?