The Transportation Security Administration is under fire from its inspector general for pushing back against revelations the watchdog made about information technology systems.
“Over-classification is the enemy of good government,” said John Roth, the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general, in a statement released on Friday.
The dispute was sparked by a report released by Roth’s office earlier this month, investigating the security of TSA IT systems at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Before its publication, TSA officials classified some of the IG’s findings, citing Sensitive Security Information (SSI). The move forced the watchdog to redact a number of findings in the final, public report.
“SSI markings should be used only to protect transportation security, rather than, as I fear occurred here, to allow government program officials to conceal negative information within a report,” said Roth.
In the final report, portions of sections pertaining to “physical security,”–specifically access to “TSA sensitive equipment”–were blacked out. The same was done for the part of the investigation that detailed security vulnerabilities on TSA servers at the airport.
According to Roth, information withheld in the report was contained in previous, publicly released IG reports, and “posed no threat to transportation security.”
Roth also took with issue with TSA’s delay in reviewing the report before it’s release. The draft version was completed last July and handed over to TSA for their review. Although the agency was supposed to complete its consideration within 30 days, it waited until November to return the report with new redactions.
Inquiries by the inspector general regarding the SSI determinations were also not answered in a timely manner.
“Our mission is to inform the public, Congress, and the DHS leadership about fraud, waste, and mismanagement in DHS programs and operations,” Roth said in his statement on Friday. “Issuing full reports without redactions is key to accomplishing that mission.”
He said that he lodged two formal challenges against the TSA Administrator’s redactions, and is awaiting a determination.
Read the original IG report here, and Roth’s statement challenging the redactions here.
On Wednesday, as The Sentinel reported, the TSA use of SSI designations featured in a Supreme Court ruling. The high court, in a 7-2 vote, concluded that exemptions to the Whistleblower Protection Act may only be determined by Congress.
