The TSA has 43,000 employees. One of them leaked a pre-Christmas internal memo to me. In it, the author — who appears to be TSA Chief Kip Hawley — reveals how upset he is with the recent Associated Press poll, one which says the TSA is as unpopular with Americans as the IRS. The author likens the Associated Press to the Grinch.

The memo refers to Americans as "disgruntled passengers" and "amateur security experts." And the TSA wonders why the flying public dislikes this agency so much? It's exactly this kind of arrogance that makes the TSA so unpopular. Leadership is supposed to start at the top. If you think of the people you're appointed to serve as nothing more than disgruntled amateurs, chances are they're not going to like or trust you very much.  

It's also interesting that the memo's author and his boss "Secretary Chertoff" express frustration that the public didn't fall for the agency's propaganda piece which aired on Good Morning America on December 21. In this piece, "Inside TSA's Secret Command Center," the TSA invited cameras into its "secret location." (One which I've written about previously and, in my forthcoming book, interviewed on-duty individuals for. If that makes this place secret, then we're all in trouble). Americans didn't fall for the Good Morning America piece because Americans understand the difference between propaganda and news.

But what's most interesting about the memo is the "suspicious incident" that's discussed, one that apparently took place at the Detroit airport. "A checked baggage TSO [Transportation Security Officer] in Detroit identified a truly suspicious item and the situation was immediately contained and resolved with the FBI, CBP, ICE, and TSA working together," the memo reveals. Bomb experts were involved.

Why wasn't Good Morning America invited to report on that?

For as long as the TSA refuses to tell the truth about what's really going on in airports and on airplanes, the flying public will refuse to trust the TSA. And that's going to continue to be revealed in the public's opinion. 

Date:          December 21, 2007

To:             All TSA Employees

Subject:        100.0 - Message from Leadership Regarding AP Poll

The Grinch must have gotten loose a little early this year.

In a poll reported by the AP, they showed us down at the bottom of the
public's satisfaction, hanging in there with FEMA and the IRS. The AP
further reported on some of the complaints we get at our Contact Center,
quoted a few disgruntled passengers, amateur security experts, and
wrapped a headline around it to greet the millions of travelers flying
home this weekend. Kind of sounds like Thanksgiving.

This morning, my first meeting was with Secretary Chertoff.  As soon as
he sat down, he expressed his frustration that today, the anniversary of
the attack on Pan Am 103 and the height of the holiday travel season,
the news coverage is an undeserved poke in the eye given the great work
again over Thanksgiving.  (Ironically the day also started with a great
piece on Good Morning America, live from the TSOC. www.tsa.gov )

Skip ahead to my last meeting of today, a TSOC bridge call about a
suspicious incident in Detroit this evening. We had a TSAR in Europe
(who had been up all last night on another matter), FAMs, bomb experts,
our FSD in Detroit, and high level people from around the Department and
TSA. A checked baggage TSO in Detroit identified a truly suspicious item
and the situation was immediately contained and resolved with the FBI,
CBP, ICE, and TSA working together. Not a ripple for the flying public.
No poll numbers on that.

This does not compute: we're in a high threat environment, the peak
travel season, consistent good flow at our checkpoints, and doing the
tough job of security on the ground and in the air, around the world –
but the news reports on an impromptu popularity poll in which we appear
to be unloved. Huh?

Fortunately, people who live for poll ratings don't work for TSA.

(Photos by David L. Ryan from Boston.com)

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