Michael Yon has an excellent piece called Border Bullies about a female friend of his, a Thai woman, who was excessively bullied — and then some — by Homeland Security officials at the airport in Minneapolis.

Yon, who just returned "from Afghanistan and Iraq on a trip with U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates," writes of that his friend's experience illustrates how misguided DHS is at airports. Since when is a female Thai banker carrying a ten-year visa, a national security threat? Nevertheless, she was hauled off into a back room and her personal emails were read by DHS. She missed two flights. 

Of his friend's airport ordeal, Yon writes: "I can assure you that we can do better. We do not have to violate human rights and insult our closest allies to maintain our security." 

Our Homeland Security was focusing on a 40-year-old Thai bank officer while there are real bad guys out there. Thailand and the United States have had good relations for 175 years, and Thailand is one of the few countries in the world that is proud to say they are friends of the United States.  

Yon explains one of the absurdities evident in so many DHS folks today: badge equals authority but does not equal personal integrity. The DHS officer who bullied his friend, a man named Officer Knapp, would not give Yon his first name, during a later telephone conversation about the incident. 

When I discovered that she had missed her flight, after about 24 hours of travel thus far, I called immigration at Minneapolis and asked to speak with Officer Knapp.  Knapp got on the phone, but this time it was me questioning him.  Knapp told me it was legal to read e-mails.  I asked for his first name, but he was afraid to give his first name, which was rather strange for someone working within the confines of an airport where everyone has been searched for weapons.  Where I work, in a war zone, soldiers give their first and last names and face Taliban and al Qaeda heads up, man to man.  I write about al Qaeda, Taliban and other terrorist groups who kill thousands of people.  My name is Michael Yon.  My first name is Michael.  Mr. Knapp hides behind a badge bullying a woman whose only activities are Yoga, reading, travel, and telling me what is healthy and unhealthy to eat.  Knapp is a face of Homeland Security.  How many other officers at Homeland Security bully 90-pound women, but are afraid to give their own names? 

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