(10)
A second controversy arose when the U.S. attorney's office in Miami dropped a criminal case against a former federal baggagescreener who was charged with stealing from passengers in November 2003. The problem with the decision of the JusticeDepartment accordingto a TSA spokeswoman, is that "future prosecutions of dishonest agency employees would be hamstrung by thesame dilemma thatled to the dismissal of the indictment." (12) Thepublic defender in the case suggested that "prosecutors could have drop[ped] the partof the conspiracy charge relating to the sensitive security information ... and [moved] forward with the other twounderlying offenses-- breaking into baggage and stealing their contents."
In November 2003, the U.S. attorney's office in Miami dropped a criminal case againstaformer federal baggage screener charged with stealing from a passenger's luggage. The case was dropped becauseprosecutors fearedthat sensitive security information (SSI) would have to be disclosed. At issue is the ability of the TransportationSecurityAdministration (TSA) to prosecute other dishonest agency employees in the future. Will the same dilemma that ledto the dismissalof this particular case occur again? In recent months, this and other important issues relating to SSI have beenraised. This reportprovides a brief background on SSI regulation, an overview of the current policy issues, and a description of thecriticism of, andsupport for, SSI policy. This report will be updated as events warrant.