TSA nominee misled Congress about accessing confidential records

[bijou]

The White House nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration gave Congress misleading information about incidents in which he inappropriately accessed a federal database, possibly in violation of privacy laws, documents obtained by The Washington Post show.


The disclosure comes as pressure builds from Democrats on Capitol Hill for quick January confirmation of Erroll Southers, whose nomination has been held up by GOP opponents. In the aftermath of an attempted airline bombing on Christmas Day, calls have intensified for lawmakers to install permanent leadership at the TSA, a critical agency in enforcing airline security.

Southers, a former FBI agent, has described inconsistencies in his accounts to Congress as "inadvertent" and the result of poor memory of an incident that dates back 20 years. He said in a Nov. 20 letter to key senators obtained by The Post that he had accepted full responsibility long ago for a "grave error in judgment" in accessing confidential criminal records about his then-estranged wife's new boyfriend.

His letter to Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate homeland security committee, and Susan Collins (Maine), the ranking Republican on the panel, attempts to correct statements about the episode that were made in a sworn affidavit on Oct. 22 and have been reported.
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Southers did not respond to a request for an interview.

'A serious error'

Southers's admission that he was involved in a questionable use of law enforcement background data has been a source of concern among civil libertarians, who believe the TSA performs a delicate balancing act in tapping into passenger information to find terrorists while also protecting citizens' privacy.

...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123102257.html?hpid=topnews

De Mint was right to be concerned it seems.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Reminiscent of Obama's Cory Voorhis fiasco.

[DefiantSix]

Reminiscent of Obama's Cory Voorhis fiasco.

Yes.  Yes it is.

[SVPete]

Weren't some libs/progs trying to blame Sen. DeMint's objection to this nomination for the failed Christmas bombing? Now The WashPost is shooting down that narrative (which is bogus for anachronistic reasons). Are the MSM getting a bit in disarray and wandering away from the D plantation-narrative occasionally?

[bijou]

Weren't some libs/progs trying to blame Sen. DeMint's objection to this nomination for the failed Christmas bombing? Now The WashPost is shooting down that narrative (which is bogus for anachronistic reasons). Are the MSM getting a bit in disarray and wandering away from the D plantation-narrative occasionally?

Obama's in Hawaii and while the cat's away the mice will play.

[SVPete]

I wonder if they've checked this character's tax records yet, After all, Obama has this plan for catching tax cheats: first he appoints them to a position requiring Senate confirmation; then ...

[thundley4]

Weren't some libs/progs trying to blame Sen. DeMint's objection to this nomination for the failed Christmas bombing? Now The WashPost is shooting down that narrative (which is bogus for anachronistic reasons). Are the MSM getting a bit in disarray and wandering away from the D plantation-narrative occasionally?

The Dimrats haven't even mentioned bringing him to a vote yet.

[SVPete]

That's the anachronistic reason that the blame-the-Rs narrative is bogus. He was nominated in September. If the post is so critical generally and to the prevention of this case specifically, why did Obama wait ~8 months to nominate this dude?

[thundley4]

That's the anachronistic reason that blame-the-Rs narrative is bogus. He was nominated in September. If the post is so critical generally and to the prevention of this case specifically, why did Obama wait ~8 months to nominate this dude?

You have to remember one thing.  Dimrats don't believe in preventing terrorism, they believe in prosecuting the crime after the fact. Having a head of the TSA was not important until after something happened.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

The WH is defending...which, if history is a guide, he's about to go under the bus.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100101/D9CUQQB01.html

The part that is really distressing is he broke the law because he was being a jealous stalker against his estranged wife.

He's barely fit to have a badge let alone run the TSA.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Another second-class integrity-challenged nominee whose principal virtue *cough* is his race.

[DefiantSix]

Another second-class integrity-challenged nominee whose principal virtue *cough* is his race.

And his committment to "bring it home" for Øbama's union buddies.

[JohnnyReb]

Another second-class integrity-challenged nominee whose principal virtue *cough* is his race.

Be careful now....you're about to describe what's wrong with a lot of southern counties.