BackPackAdam alerts us to the news that a pilot in California is being disciplined by the TSA because he dared to film a video highlighting problems with security at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The pilot himself was a Flight Deck Officer (FDO) and authorized to carry a gun on board of flights... but within days of him posting the videos to YouTube, he was met by four federal air marshals and two sheriff's deputies at his house, who ordered him to hand over his gun and to hand over his state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon. He has since been informed that the TSA is reviewing his situation for possible disciplinary measures.

The whole thing is pretty ridiculous. All he was doing was highlighting problems with the system (specifically pointing out how pilots have to go through the full security procedure -- even though he's allowed to carry a gun and a weird axe thing onboard, while ground crew can get through security with just the swipe of a card). The guy was highlighting flaws in the system -- classic whistleblowing, but rather than fix the system, the message from the TSA is clear: if you point out flaws in our system, we'll take it out on you. It's classic shoot-the-messenger behavior. The guy says he doesn't regret what he did, but does seem a bit surprised that rather than responding to the problems, the feds seem to be coming after him.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201012 ... orts.shtml

The West is in bad need of whistleblowing laws (and rules/regs around it)...

I am with you on this. The TSA are going after the wrong people. They need to change procedures. Though I can see why they reacted this way. Though if he had warned them, and they failed to act then the TSA should be ashamed of themselves.