Close Reed: Am I Legaly Required to Answer? Options

[Hartmann]

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/news...-to-answer.html

Libertarians can be fun, and the case of Bierfeldt v. Napolitano, filed yesterday, has many appealing aspects. First, the premise: a Ron Paul
operative teams up with the A.C.L.U. to challenge the practices of the Transportation Security Administration. Second, the action: Steven Bierfeldt, after passing through an X-ray checkpoint with a metal box containing $4700 from the sale of T-shirts and literature at a Ron Paul-related event, is taken to a small room by T.S.A. agents who want to know who he works for, the source of the money, where he’s “from originally,” and, generally, what he’s all about. (It is, by the way, perfectly legal to carry that amount of money on a domestic flight.)

Third, and perhaps best of all, the soundtrack: Bierfeldt, who is twenty-five, recorded his half-hour detention on his iPhone. The A.C.L.U. has posted the audio. We get to hear Bierfeldt repeatedly, politely, and sensibly asking, “Am I legally required to answer that question?”—and never getting a real reply.

One wonders if the T.S.A. agents even know the answer, or care. (See Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic for a look at the T.S.A.’s cracker-jack training.) Instead, they berate Bierfeldt, say “It’s not a question of the law,” “You’re acting like a child,” “Are you from this planet?” (Ron Paul himself has probably heard that one before), “You want to play smartass? I’m not going to play your ....ing games,” and—always a classic—“You’re suspicious to me.” What’s suspicious is what any of this has to do with keeping terrorists off planes. Did the agents think that Bierfeldt would bring his flight down by throwing dollar bills into the air and then waltzing into the cockpit as the passengers and crew scrambled for them? (Given what we’ve learned since the crash in Buffalo about how little pilots for regional airlines are actually paid, that just might work.)...

I hate the T.S.A. and think the organization is a waste of my tax dollars, so I'm happy to see someone attempt to expose them for what they are.