Steven Aftergood
Secrecy News
Federation Of American Scientists

Last month, Helen Chenoweth-Hage attempted to board a United Airlines flight
from Boise to Reno when she was pulled aside by airline personnel for
additional screening, including a pat-down search for weapons or unauthorized
materials.

Chenoweth-Hage, an ultra-conservative former Congresswoman (R-ID), requested a
copy of the regulation that authorizes such pat-downs.

"She said she wanted to see the regulation that required the additional
procedure for secondary screening and she was told that she couldn't see it,"
local TSA security director Julian Gonzales told the Idaho Statesman
(10/10/04).

"She refused to go through additional screening [without seeing the
regulation], and she was not allowed to fly," he said. "It's pretty simple."

Chenoweth-Hage wasn't seeking disclosure of the internal criteria used for
screening passengers, only the legal authorization for passenger pat-downs. Why
couldn't they at least let her see that? asked Statesman commentator Dan
Popkey.

"Because we don't have to," Mr. Gonzales replied crisply.

"That is called 'sensitive security information.' She's not allowed to see it,
nor is anyone else," he said.

Thus, in a qualitatively new development in U.S. governance, Americans can now
be obligated to comply with legally-binding regulations that are unknown to
them, and that indeed they are forbidden to know.

This is not some dismal Eastern European allegory. It is part of a continuing
transformation of American government that is leaving it less open, less
accountable and less susceptible to rational deliberation as a vehicle for
change.