Editorial: Don’t ask or tell

Monday, Dec. 3, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

Transportation Security Administration employees don't qualify for federal whistleblower protections and, as a result, TSA workers say they have been harassed, suspended and even fired for speaking up about security glitches at the nation's airports.

A series of stories by the New Jersey Star-Ledger in October quoted TSA employees who were fired after reporting such missteps as workers' failing to screen luggage for explosives before the luggage is loaded onto airplanes.

Federal air marshal Robert MacLean, formerly of Las Vegas, was fired after TSA investigators discovered that he told a reporter about a 2003 Bush administration plan to save money by reducing the number of air marshals, who are placed on flights for passenger safety.

MacLean, who now lives in California, repeatedly told his superiors that he feared for passengers' safety if such reductions were taken. After months of agency inaction, MacLean leaked the information to MSNBC.

The news reports prompted Congress to demand that the cuts be rescinded, and the Bush administration withdrew the reductions. Still, MacLean was fired for what the TSA said were "serious doubts" about his "trustworthiness."

And he has little recourse. TSA employees also are deterred from disclosing problems because they are not supposed to reveal information considered important for maintaining national security, what the government calls "security sensitive information."

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told the Star-Ledger he suspects the TSA and other agencies may use the security sensitive information designation to prevent their mistakes from being made public.

The House recently passed legislation sponsored by Waxman to strengthen existing federal whistleblower protections and extend them to TSA screeners. The Senate is considering a similar bill, but it does not include protections for the screeners. But even if Congress does extend the protections to screeners, President Bush could veto the measure.

This simply is not right. TSA screeners are on the front lines of security at our nation's airports. If anything in the process is amiss, they are in a position to be among the first to see it. They should be protected for revealing failures that could place the public at risk.