Security Tipped Off To Be Aware Of False ID

The Transportation Security Administration revealed its undercover operatives by alerting screeners via e-mail with descriptions of its agents during security exercise, according to the Associated Press.

TSA routinely runs covert tests at airports to ensure security measures are in place and sufficient to stop a terrorist from bringing something dangerous onto an airplane. Alerting screeners when the undercover officer is coming through and what the person looks like would defeat testing security measures designed to test security.

That’s exactly what happened on April 28, 2006, according to an e-mail from a TSA official who oversees security operations.

In the e-mail to more than a dozen recipients, including airport security staff, the TSA official warned that "several airport authorities and airport police departments have recently received informal notice" of security testing being carried out by the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Mike Restovich, who sent the message is the assistant administrator of TSA's Office of Security Operations, relayed an alert that described a couple who were testing security.

The woman was white but has "an oriental woman's picture" on her identification card, it stated. "They will print a boarding pass from a flight, change the date, get through security (if not noticed) and try to board a flight and place a bag in the overhead."

"Alert your security line vendors to be aware of subtle alterations to date info," the e-mail advised.

The TSA inspector general is investigating the incident, and the agency would not discuss details of the case because it's part of an ongoing investigation.

"We are confident in the overall integrity of the program. Tip-offs are not a systemic problem because we do so much testing," said TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe.

Lawmakers are asking for more details about the incident as well.

"Any effort to undermine the integrity of covert testing of TSA's screening checkpoints is unacceptable," Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-MS, wrote in a letter Thursday to TSA Administrator Kip Hawley. Thompson chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.

FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.faa.gov