Really? No Foolin'?

Faced with intense grilling before a Congressional committee, on Wednesday agency administrator Kip Hawley said officials with the Transportation Security Administration did not mean to give airport screeners a heads-up to covert tests earlier this year.

Hawley asserted the April 28, 2006 email -- sent by an agency employee to airport security officials -- was meant to warn screeners of the possibility al-Qaeda or other terror operatives could pose as transportation officials... and not to tip screeners off to government personnel posing as potential terror suspects, reports The Associated Press.

"Knowledgeably tipping off covert testing is wrong," Hawley told lawmakers, hastily adding that wasn't what happened earlier this year. "There was no intent to tip off. There was no cheating."

The incident is now under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security.

As ANN reported, an email sent from the account of the assistant administrator of the TSA's Office of Security Operations, Mike Restovich, warned "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.

The email also described a couple who were testing security. The woman was white but has "an oriental woman's picture" on her identification card, the message 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.

Hawley told lawmakers while the email was sent in Restovich's name, he wasn't the one who sent it; furthermore, Hawley asserts, FAA and DOT officials don't conduct undercover tests -- the TSA does, along with the Government Accountability Office and the Homeland Security inspector general's office.

Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, noted Hawley's statements Wednesday marked the first time the TSA chief admitted the email had been sent in the first place.

"I think some of this is clearly a breach of what I would consider TSA policy," said Thompson (D-MS). "When errors like this occur, I think Kip Hawley has to be forthright and take appropriate actions."

Hawley said the suspect email was recalled 13 minutes after... someone... sent it, although that couldn't be confirmed through the email list given to lawmakers, which did not list the message recall.

In the spirit of forthrightness, Hawley said he couldn't answer further questions on the matter... as the agency's hard drives and backups related to the incident are now in the hands of the TSA inspector general.

FMI: www.tsa.gov