{"id":13373,"date":"2019-02-12T12:33:42","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T17:33:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=13373"},"modified":"2025-02-19T14:58:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T19:58:24","slug":"tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/","title":{"rendered":"TSA’s Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don’t Kowtow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Future of Freedom Foundation<\/a><\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/a>The TSA\u2019s Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don\u2019t Kowtow<\/a>
\nby James Bovard<\/h2>\n

\u201cI need a witness!\u201d exclaimed the worried Transportation Security Administration screener at Reagan Washington National Airport a few months ago. Because I had forgotten to remove my belt before going through a TSA scanner, he explained that I must undergo an \u201cenhanced patdown.\u201d I told him that if he jammed my groin, I\u2019d file a formal complaint against him. So he summoned his supervisor to keep an eye on the proceedings. After his white-suited boss arrived on the scene, I announced that I too, needed a witness. The boss bureaucrat assured me there was a video camera recording the scene. \u201cBut does it have audio?\u201d I demanded to know. \u201cThat\u2019s confidential security information,\u201d he replied. \u201cHa! More like security theater,\u201d I retorted.<\/p>\n

I thought of this exchange when the New York Times revealed that the TSA has created a new secret watchlist for troublesome passengers. The TSA justifies the new list because TSA screeners were said to have been assaulted 34 times last year. \u201cWe were seeing an alarming increase in the number of assaults against our officers,\u201d fretted Darby LaJoye, one of the TSA\u2019s top security officials. TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein declared, \u201cTSA is committed to its people and wants to ensure there are safeguards in place to protect TSA officers and others from any individual who has previously exhibited disruptive or assaultive behavior at a screening checkpoint and is scheduled to fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the TSA\u2019s press office refused to release a list or any details of those assaults, including how many times accused assailants were arrested. The TSA also refused to answer my question: \u201cHow does TSA define an \u2018assault\u2019 on a TSA screener?\u201d I was told I would need to file a Freedom of Information Act request for that information, but the TSA scorns federal law and often delays responses for months or years. Such tactics help explain why some people believe that \u201cTSA\u201d stands for \u201ctactics to suppress accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Naturally, the TSA\u2019s new official definition of \u201ctroublemaker\u201d for this list goes far beyond people who slug screeners. Have you ever \u201cloitered\u201d near a checkpoint? Bingo. Any woman who ever pushed a screener\u2019s hands away from squeezing her breasts could also be guilty \u2014 even though the TSA never formally promulgated its territorial claim to that part of the female anatomy.<\/p>\n

Intrusive patdowns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Any behavior which is \u201coffensive [to the TSA] and without legal justification\u201d can get a person secretly listed, according to a confidential TSA memo acquired by the New York Times. \u201cChallenges to the safe and effective completion of screening\u201d also can be punished. If you complain that a TSA agent is violating your constitutional rights, you could be tagged as a troublemaker in perpetuity.<\/p>\n

The TSA would have been more honest if it announced that anyone who fails to instantly and unquestioningly submit to all TSA demands is guilty of insubordination. ACLU attorney Hugh Handeyside warns that the new watchlist \u201cpermits TSA officials to blacklist people for conduct that could be wholly innocuous. This is conduct that\u2019s so completely subjective, and in many cases likely completely innocent, it just gives officers too much latitude to blacklist people arbitrarily and to essentially punish them for asserting their rights and in doing anything other than complying with officers\u2019 demands.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happens to travelers put on the watchlist? It\u2019s a secret \u2014 so far. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) declared, \u201cWhat I don\u2019t want \u2026 is an excuse for unfair, secret profiling that doesn\u2019t even offer a chance for people to contest their name appearing on such a list.\u201d The TSA denies that this is a \u201cNo Fly\u201d list. However, the TSA has been caught in so many falsehoods over the years that people are naturally wary.<\/p>\n

The TSA\u2019s latest effort to vilify resistance would be less perilous if it was not one of most incompetent agencies on earth. Last year, a TSA undercover team succeeded 95 percent of the time in smuggling weapons and mock bombs past airport screeners in Minneapolis. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general concluded that TSA screeners and equipment had failed to detect mock threats roughly 80 percent of the time. Recent results parallel earlier findings revealing the TSA\u2019s utter inability to detect smuggled items regardless of how badly it abuses travelers. Despite squeezing millions of behinds and breasts, the TSA has never caught a real terrorist.<\/p>\n

Despite its debacles, the TSA recently became even more intrusive and punitive in its patdowns:<\/p>\n

*Jenna McFarlane, a 56-year old teacher and graphic designer, was traveling out of Charlotte, N.C., when a TSA agent repeatedly told her \u201cto spread my legs wider\u201d and proceeded to \u201ctouch my vagina four times with the side of her hand,\u201d as she complained to the TSA afterwards. She was selected for a vigorous patdown after an unreliable TSA test gave a false explosive alert for her carry-on baggage.<\/p>\n

*Hollywood reporter and author Sharon Waxman complained about an aggressive female TSA agent who \u201cplaced both hands around my legs and slowly \u2014 very slowly \u2014 rubbed up and down. The touching went all the way up to my groin. My private parts were touched by the edge of her hand, twice.\u201d The TSA agent rested her hands on Waxman\u2019s chest much longer than necessary to check for weapons. Waxman groused, \u201cThe TSA screening felt like nothing less than physical assault. If anyone other than a government officer had done anything of the kind, I would have reported it as a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

*David Stavropolous complained that a TSA agent doing a search at Chicago O\u2019Hare airport jammed his hand into Stavropolous\u2019s groin so hard that it caused bleeding and will require surgery to correct, according to Chicago\u2019s NBC station and his lawsuit against the TSA.<\/p>\n

Such abuses spurred Flyersrights .org, the nation\u2019s largest airline-passenger organization, to complain to the TSA last year about \u201chighly invasive patdowns, especially on children, disabled, elderly, transgender, and sexual assault victims, thereby undermining public confidence and instilling fear and loathing by many passengers for the TSA, and used by no other country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Americans have filed thousands of complaints that TSA screeners had used excessive force or touched them inappropriately. How many TSA screeners have been fired as a result? Maybe none. What is the ratio of alleged assaults on TSA agents to the actual number of assaults on passengers (based on prevailing local definitions) by TSA agents? Alas, such trivia could never hold a federal bureaucracy\u2019s attention. Or perhaps the agency simply presumes that \u201cit\u2019s not an assault when federal agents do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

We do know that the TSA dismally fails to police its workforce: the number of TSA misconduct allegations (including bribery, smuggling, and voyeurism) is up more than 50 percent since 2010 \u2014 including more than 17,000 misconduct allegations against TSA\u2019s 55,000 employees in 2015. A House Homeland Security Committee report derided the agency\u2019s \u201cMisconduct Industrial Complex\u201d for failing to respond to proliferating problems.<\/p>\n

Judicial permission<\/strong><\/p>\n

An ongoing federal court case is showcasing the TSA\u2019s accosting prerogatives. Airplane captain James Linlor was traveling through Dulles Airport in 2016 when he suffered a brutal patdown that left him requiring surgery. A TSA video shows that the patdown was proceeding normally \u2014 if somewhat aggressively \u2014 until the TSA agent with no warning administered what appeared to be a karate chop to Linlor\u2019s testicles.<\/p>\n

Linlor sued, claiming that the TSA violated his rights with an unconstitutional and unreasonable search. The TSA asked the court to dismiss Linlor\u2019s case because, instead of suing, he could have phoned in his complaint to the TSA Contact Center. In a federal court hearing last year, Justice Department lawyer Nicole Murley insisted that \u201cthere\u2019s no law \u2026 establishing a specific degree of permissible intrusiveness of a [TSA] security screening patdown.\u201d And since there\u2019s no law, Americans should have no legal recourse no matter how they are abused. The TSA also insisted that its screener deserved legal immunity even if he did pummel Linlor\u2019s private parts. Federal judge James Cacheris scoffed at the government\u2019s \u201coratorical calisthenics\u201d and rejected the inference that \u201ca reasonable federal officer would be surprised to learn that gratuitously striking an individual in the groin while searching them violates the Fourth Amendment.\u201d The judge quoted an earlier court decision that stressed the illegality of using \u201cunnecessary, gratuitous, and disproportionate force to seize a secured, unarmed citizen.\u201d Linlor\u2019s case is currently before a federal appeals court.<\/p>\n

The TSA has a long history of maximizing intimidation. In 2002, it created a secret system of fines to penalize travelers who had bad attitudes towards TSA screeners. It fined some Americans $1,500 for \u201cnonphysical interference\u201d at a TSA checkpoint \u2014 which included any \u201csituation that in any way would interfere with the screener and his or her ability to continue to work or interfere with their ability to do their jobs,\u201d according to TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis. The TSA failed to specify precisely how much groveling was necessary at checkpoints. It claimed the right to inflict surprise ex post facto penalties long after flights were completed on the basis of a 2002 Federal Register notice that announced that people could be arrested if they acted in a way that \u201cmight distract or inhibit a screener from effectively performing his or her duties\u2026. A screener encountering such a situation must turn away from his or her normal duties to deal with the disruptive individual, which may affect the screening of other individuals.\u201d Practically any comment or behavior that makes a TSA screener \u201cturn away\u201d from whatever he was doing can thus be a federal offense. The TSA\u2019s attitude fines eventually fell into disuse.<\/p>\n

So am I on the new TSA Troublesome Traveler watchlist? I have been hammering the TSA in print for 15 years, and TSA chief John Pistole claimed that a 2014 article I wrote was \u201cmisleading, inaccurate, and unfairly disparages the dedicated [TSA] workforce.\u201d The following year, after I endured a Portland patdown that seemingly sought to turn my family jewels into a pancake, I raised hell in USA Today<\/a> and elsewhere. More recently, a TSA press officer condemned me for an \u201coutrageous\u201d article as well as my previous \u201cTSA hit pieces,\u201d but his boss warned him against \u201cpicking a fight\u201d (as I learned from a long-delayed Freedom of Information Act disclosure).<\/p>\n

If I didn\u2019t make the new TSA watchlist, it was not for lack of trying. The TSA\u2019s latest anti-privacy charade is one more proof that the agency must be abolished. After pointlessly groping millions of Americans, the TSA has no excuse for groping millions more.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published in the November 2018 edition of Future of Freedom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Future of Freedom Foundation The TSA\u2019s Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don\u2019t Kowtow by James Bovard \u201cI need a witness!\u201d exclaimed the worried Transportation Security Administration screener at Reagan Washington National Airport a few months ago. Because I had forgotten to remove my belt before going through a TSA scanner, he explained that I must […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[904,1952,771,1951,1221,842,30,1953,76,1533,1950],"class_list":["post-13373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aclu","tag-department-of-homeland-security","tag-fourth-amendment","tag-hugh-handeyside","tag-james-linlor","tag-security-theater","tag-surveillance","tag-troulemaker","tag-tsa","tag-watchlist","tag-witness"],"yoast_head":"\nTSA's Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don't Kowtow - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"TSA has a secret watchlist for travelers who fail to kowtow. How many other secret lists is TSA keeping to identify Americans who give it guff?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TSA's Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don't Kowtow - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TSA has a secret watchlist for travelers who fail to kowtow. How many other secret lists is TSA keeping to identify Americans who give it guff?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-12T17:33:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-19T19:58:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/jpb-quote-graphic-on-tsa-from-tenth-amendment-centerSHRUNK-FOR-TWITTER.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jimbovard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jim\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"headline\":\"TSA’s Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don’t Kowtow\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-12T17:33:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-19T19:58:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1806,\"commentCount\":22,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/jpb-quote-graphic-on-tsa-from-tenth-amendment-centerSHRUNK-FOR-TWITTER.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"ACLU\",\"Department of Homeland Security\",\"Fourth Amendment\",\"Hugh Handeyside\",\"James Linlor\",\"Security Theater\",\"Surveillance\",\"troulemaker\",\"TSA\",\"watchlist\",\"witness\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/\",\"name\":\"TSA's Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don't Kowtow - James Bovard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/jpb-quote-graphic-on-tsa-from-tenth-amendment-centerSHRUNK-FOR-TWITTER.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-12T17:33:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-19T19:58:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\"},\"description\":\"TSA has a secret watchlist for travelers who fail to kowtow. How many other secret lists is TSA keeping to identify Americans who give it guff?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/jpb-quote-graphic-on-tsa-from-tenth-amendment-centerSHRUNK-FOR-TWITTER.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/01\\\/jpb-quote-graphic-on-tsa-from-tenth-amendment-centerSHRUNK-FOR-TWITTER.jpg\",\"width\":725,\"height\":725},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/02\\\/12\\\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TSA’s Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don’t Kowtow\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"James Bovard\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f\",\"name\":\"Jim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r\",\"caption\":\"Jim\"},\"description\":\"Bovard's homepage is at http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \\\"the roving inspector general of the modern state\\\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \\\"one-man truth squad.\\\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \\\"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\\\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.jimbovard.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/jim.bovard\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/jimbovard\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/jimbovard.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TSA's Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don't Kowtow - James Bovard","description":"TSA has a secret watchlist for travelers who fail to kowtow. How many other secret lists is TSA keeping to identify Americans who give it guff?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TSA's Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don't Kowtow - James Bovard","og_description":"TSA has a secret watchlist for travelers who fail to kowtow. How many other secret lists is TSA keeping to identify Americans who give it guff?","og_url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/","og_site_name":"James Bovard","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","article_published_time":"2019-02-12T17:33:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-19T19:58:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":725,"height":725,"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/jpb-quote-graphic-on-tsa-from-tenth-amendment-centerSHRUNK-FOR-TWITTER.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jimbovard","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/"},"author":{"name":"Jim","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"headline":"TSA’s Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don’t Kowtow","datePublished":"2019-02-12T17:33:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-19T19:58:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/"},"wordCount":1806,"commentCount":22,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/jpb-quote-graphic-on-tsa-from-tenth-amendment-centerSHRUNK-FOR-TWITTER.jpg","keywords":["ACLU","Department of Homeland Security","Fourth Amendment","Hugh Handeyside","James Linlor","Security Theater","Surveillance","troulemaker","TSA","watchlist","witness"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/","name":"TSA's Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don't Kowtow - James Bovard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/jpb-quote-graphic-on-tsa-from-tenth-amendment-centerSHRUNK-FOR-TWITTER.jpg","datePublished":"2019-02-12T17:33:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-19T19:58:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f"},"description":"TSA has a secret watchlist for travelers who fail to kowtow. How many other secret lists is TSA keeping to identify Americans who give it guff?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/jpb-quote-graphic-on-tsa-from-tenth-amendment-centerSHRUNK-FOR-TWITTER.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/jpb-quote-graphic-on-tsa-from-tenth-amendment-centerSHRUNK-FOR-TWITTER.jpg","width":725,"height":725},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/tsas-secret-watchlist-for-travelers-who-dont-kowtow\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TSA’s Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don’t Kowtow"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/","name":"James Bovard","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/79550830ad81c14be529a2c37469974f","name":"Jim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d95466cfd0934e38803c5035629df727ae4ec1f3f96c6883c05b5c52e2044505?s=96&d=mm&r=r","caption":"Jim"},"description":"Bovard's homepage is at http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com He can be contacted at jim@jimbovard.com James Bovard is the author of ten books. The Wall Street Journal called Bovard \"the roving inspector general of the modern state\" and Washington Post columnist George Will called him a \"one-man truth squad.\" His 1994 book, Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty, received the Free Press Association\u2019s Mencken Award as Book of the Year. His Terrorism & Tyranny won the Lysander Spooner \"Best Book on Liberty in 2003\" award. He received the Thomas Szasz Award for Civil Liberties work, awarded by the Center for Independent Thought and the Freedom Fund Award from the Firearms Civil Rights Defense Fund of the National Rifle Association. Bovard\u2019s writings have been publicly denounced by FBI director Louis Freeh, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the U.S. International Trade Commission, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as by many congressmen and other malcontents.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.jimbovard.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jim.bovard","https:\/\/x.com\/jimbovard"],"url":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13373"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13379,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13373\/revisions\/13379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}