Owe money to the IRS? Having trouble making your mortgage payments? Ever been sued or been arrested?
Soon, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will know the answers to these questions before you pass through security, and they might affect whether you are cleared for travel.
In a recently published article,ย theย New York Timesย reported:
The Transportation Security Administration is expanding its screening of passengers before they arrive at the airport by searching a wide array of government and private databases that can include records like car registrations and employment information.
The complete list of sources of personal data reviewed by the TSA also includes:
โชprivate employment information
โชvehicle registrations
โชtravel history
โชproperty ownership records
โชphysical characteristics
โชtax identification numbers
โชpast travel itineraries
โชlaw enforcement information
โชโintelligenceโ information
โชpassport numbers
โชfrequent flier information
โชother โidentifiersโ linked to DHS databases
What does all of this have to do with โnational security?โ Theย New York Timesย writes that the โthe agency says that the goal is to streamline the security procedures for millions of passengers who pose no risk.โ
The TSA released the documents detailing the depth of this screening, but has refused to comment publicly.
Speaking under condition of anonymity, a TSA official told theย New York Timesย โthe main goal of the program was to identify low-risk travelers for lighter screening at airport security checkpoints, adapting methods similar to those used to flag suspicious people entering the United States.โ
If the traveler is a member of an airlineโs frequent flier program, the airline will be required to share the personโs travel history with the TSA.
Apparently, the protection of the โhomelandโ is not the true purpose of the intrusion; rather it is to persuade travelers to register with theย TSAโs โPreCheckโ program.
By enrolling in โPreCheck,โ a person becomes a โtrusted traveler.โ In order to apply for โPreCheck,โ a traveler must submit their biometric fingerprint for registration with an FBI database, submit to a criminal background check, and pay an $85 fee to the TSA for a five-year PreCheck membership.ย One story on โPreCheckโย claims that the TSA may receive as much as $255 million from such fees in 2013.
Constitutionalists will readily recognize the โPreCheckโ program for what it is: a means whereby the federal government not only violates the civil liberties protected by the Fourth Amendment, but that converts a right into a privilege, one revocable at the will of an unelected, unaccountable, unconstitutional agency of the federal behemoth.
The key violation of theย Fourth Amendmentย is obvious. Everyone, regardless of probable cause or reasonable suspicion, is considered a suspect. This is contrary to the Fourth Amendment, which states that the right of the people โto be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.โ
When questioned about the provenance of such a power, the TSA points to theย Federal Registerย and regulations that have been enacted after the period of public comment has closed.
There is a fundamental problem with this explanation, however. Nothing in theย Federal Register, no regulation promulgated under the color of law by the enormous federal bureaucracy, can have any legal effect if it violates the supreme law of the land โ the Constitution.
The same holds true, in fact, for acts of Congress and orders issued by the president. Not one of them has any legal efficacy if it is contrary to the few and defined powers granted to the federal government in the Constitution.
Another unacceptable aspect of this massive intrusion into the personal lives of Americans is the universe of organizations that will have access to the data. As reported by theย New York Times:
Much of this personal data is widely shared within the Department of Homeland Security and with other government agencies. Privacy notices for these databases note that the information may be shared with federal, state and local authorities; foreign governments; law enforcement and intelligence agencies โ and in some cases, private companies for purposes unrelated to security or travel.
The federal government is not content to expose the private information of Americans within its own circle, but will now pass that data around to all those who could make use of it, including private companies for โpurposes unrelated to security or travel.”
โThe average person doesnโt understand how much intelligence-driven matching is going on and how this could be accessed for other purposes,โ said Khaliah Barnes, a lawyer with the Electronic Privacy Information Center, as quoted in theย New York Timesarticle. โThereโs no meaningful oversight, transparency or accountability.โ
The solution lies with Congress. Congress created this monster, and it has the means to kill it. Although there have been a couple of attempts to curtail the creature, they have been thwarted by bipartisan support for perpetuating TSAโs authority as a means of โprotecting the homeland.โ
National security is a curtain behind which a cabal of wizards is making our civil liberties disappear.
The only true protection for our national security is by strictly adhering to the Constitution and the timeless principles of liberty that it enshrines. Any step away from that sure footing, and we edge ever closer to a precipice at the bottom of which is found the rubble of the republics of the past.
Each of these formerly free societies eventually devolved into totalitarian regimes where rights were the exclusive inventory of the state, to give and take according to its whim.
There is hope, however, for the United States to avoid falling off that historic cliff.
Any day, one of the 435 members of Congress could introduce a bill defunding the TSA and repealing the relevant provisions of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act that established the TSA.
Americans who are tired of the pat-downs, the unconscionable treatment of the young, old, infirm, and disabled at the hands of TSA agents, and the revelation that now any and all personal information will be collected and passed around must contact their representatives and demand that a stop be put to this abuse and that the TSA monster be put down.
- In Memory of a Man Long Forgotten - December 8, 2021
- License Plate Scanners: Surveillance on Your Smartphone - October 12, 2020
- Museums, Libraries, and Public TV Receive Half a Billion in Bailout From Senate - March 27, 2020