I was recently chosen by the US government to undergo extra searching and questioning before a flight. The ACLU has been less than helpful despite going through their website and filling out their form.
I want to know what the government has on me and why they denied me due process, presuming me to be a threat. I’ve checked the Homeland Security website along with the FBI website. One warning they both gave was the request has to be specific and reasonable rather than asking “GIMME ALL UR STUFF”.
Not knowing anything about the bureaucracy of the US government, which documents do I request?
As far as I know, this happens to many many people.
Did the government search you, or did airline personnel?
The government. TSA/Homeland Security/whatever they’re called. It was very disturbing, especially watching them act polite but that was only a veneer over their contempt. No one with the airlines searched me.
In my experience, about 10% of all people get the extra screening. It seems to be pretty random as to who it is. They often select people based on buying one way tickets, buying tickets the day before travelling or paying in cash, but AFAIK, there’s no mechanism for recording any extra data anywhere. What could they record anyway? They already have your datails in the computer system and nothing additional could be entered anyway. There’s nothing to worry about.
Even before 911 and the Patriot Acts etc, trying to get your own records thru a FOIA or Privacy Act request was a fine kettle of fish.
You have to make the request to the specific government agency and each seem to have slightly different requirements. A FOIA and Privacy Act overlap by the way, so you may have to make separate requests under each to get whatever you can.
It’s probably changed, but as I recall, getting one’s own CIA file had a mandatory waiting period of 52 months.
Perhaps an urban legend, but I’ve read that if you make a request and the agency doesn’t have a file on you, they then start one.
Any suggestions on what documents to request?
I am peeved, I was denied due process in the name of safety.
Obligatory, overused Ben Franklin quote here.
Nothing was ever said to me at the airport about this being completely random.
Go ahead and accuse me of wearing a tin foil hat but I want to exercise my rights as a citizen and see what is known or unknown by the other side. I’m just a dopey fat guy with a cat who happens to be close with a Muslim, a radical lefty and runs a website which is critical of the current administration. This was America last time I checked the news.
I didn’t mean to come across like this is the barbeque pit but it’s not in my nature to just roll over and play dead just because it might be random.
Based solely upon a TV report of a woman who had to strip in public for a full breast exam, there are random searchers and the screeners are prohibited from explaining why the search is being conducted.
It’s possible that you have the same name as somebody on their watch list. Some folks who were getting grilled every time they flew have found that nasty coincidence. Some of them got affidavits from police agencies proclaiming them clean.
If you still want to go the FOIA route, find a lawyer who has done it before. It’s a tricky process, frought with pitfalls.
The last time I flew, about 9 months ago, I too was selected to undergo extra screening and search. And I work for the Dept. of Homeland Security.
Eh, it happens. I wouldn’t sweat it.
Simple solution: stop flying. If enough people do, and the (few surviving) airlines discover why, you just might see a lessening of these searches.
Seriously, though, do a search here. These questions (finding my FBI file) have been asked before (including by me, I think). There are a ton of websites out there that will give you form letters, best procedures, and addresses for FBI offices, and you should be able to find the addresses for the appropriate CIA, DHS, TSA, and NSA offices, too. Be warned that it’s a PITA, and requires you sending individual notarized letters to every single regional office of the agency in question that MIGHT have some info. re: you. These people are not interested in helping you out, and won’t be breaking their backs to dig up useful info. for you.
And if your name somehow got on a DHS no-fly list, you’re F’d. Plain and simple. Look to Amtrak and Greyhound, because there’s no recourse, and no way to get your name off.
They searched Ted Kennedy, not to mention other government officials. Heck, they searched my grouchy, Republican-voting father-in-law. I suspect it wasn’t anything “personal.”