Journalist: TSA Agents Are Wearing Badges UPSIDE DOWN To Stay Anonymous

Writer threatened with arrest after asking for agent and supervisor’s names

Steve Watson
Infowars.com
Nov 19, 2012

A prominent talk radio host and author who has had previous run ins with the TSA noted Sunday that many TSA agents are wearing their identification badges upside down, making it more difficult for travelers and anyone attempting to film the agents to identify them ahead of the Infowars led Opt Out And Film Campaign this week.

Amy Alkon, who is regularly published in over 100 newspapers in North America, described a recent exchange she had with TSA agents at JFK airport, during which agents “groped” her extensively and then refused to identify themselves when asked for their names.

Alkon and her partner were flying home from New York after attending the National Book Awards when they encountered TSA agents at the security lines.

“…there was no reason whatsoever to search me — to grope my breasts, graze my vagina, or touch me or my possessions in any way. But all of that was done to me, and Gregg was groped as well.” Alkon writes.

In an email to TSA press liaison Nico Melendez, Alkon describes the incident in more detail:

As usual, I was pulled out for more screening. (It is odd that I, like many large-breasted women am always chosen — always by men at the metal detectors — to go for further screening. Every time I fly.)

The serious issue at hand here: The light-skinned black woman who screened me, last name “Moore,” was wearing her photo ID upside down so her first name could not be read. After she ran her hands, most disgustingly, all over my body, grazing my labia and touching my breasts and inside my turtleneck on my bare skin, I told her I needed her first name. She refused to give it to me.

Furthermore, when I went over to agent Moore’s supervisor, the supervisor, Mr. Grant, a light-skinned black man seated at a podium in the corner, also refused to give me his first name.

Alkon adds that TSA supervisor Roger Grant refused to provide a complaint form, then threatened to have her arrested if she did not cease asking for the agent’s first name.

“It seems to me that when a government worker is doing a contested activity like groping my body for “security” purposes, sans probable cause, or engaging in any search of me as a citizen, I am entitled to that person’s full name and badge number.” Alkon writes, demanding to know if the agent and the supervisor will be reprimanded.

“A good many TSA workers seem to wear their badges upside down — I suspect, so they cannot be identified on blogs…” the radio host notes. See below for the full text of Alkon’s email.

In 2011, the radio host was threatened with a defamation suit by TSA’s lawyers after she alleged that an agent at LAX physically penetrated her vagina with her hand four times during an aggressive patdown. Alkon described the incident as rape on her blog and identified the TSA agent in question. Her attempts to file charges of sexual assault were shot down.

Amy Alkon’s full email to the TSA:

SUBJECT: Nico, info needed for piece on TSA incident Nov 15 at JFK
Nico,
On Thursday, November 15, at around 2pm, I was going through Kennedy Airport, Terminal 2 (Delta), going to gate 27 for a Delta flight home to Los Angeles.

As usual, I was pulled out for more screening. (It is odd that I, like many large-breasted women am always chosen — always by men at the metal detectors — to go for further screening. Every time I fly.)

Of course, in this case, there was no reason to believe I was guilty of anything other than flying home to Los Angeles to feed my dog and go to bed.

The serious issue at hand here: The light-skinned black woman who screened me, last name “Moore,” was wearing her photo ID upside down so her first name could not be read. After she ran her hands, most disgustingly, all over my body, grazing my labia and touching my breasts and inside my turtleneck on my bare skin, I told her I needed her first name. She refused to give it to me.

It seems to me that when a government worker is doing a contested activity like groping my body for “security” purposes, sans probable cause, or engaging in any search of me as a citizen, I am entitled to that person’s full name and badge number. In fact, we should be entitled to any government worker’s full name when we have any dealing with them — as long as we are still a free country.

I am asking you to provide both the full name and badge number of agent Moore now for a piece I am writing about this event.
I also need to know if agents are required, for accountability to the public they are touching in their most private areas, to wear their identification so it is visible.

Does the public not have a right to know the name of the person they are being searched by, or have things become *that* Orwellian?

Furthermore, when I went over to agent Moore’s supervisor, the supervisor, Mr. Grant, a light-skinned black man seated at a podium in the corner, also refused to give me his first name.

I could read his name on his badge — Roger Grant — as his badge was not upside-down.

When I told TSA supervisor Roger Grant I needed the first name of the woman (Moore) who’d searched my body, he refused to give it to me and told me he would call the police on me. He said this in concert with telling me to leave. This was upsetting, frightening, and extremely intimidating.

Is this truly TSA procedure? That when a citizen asks the name of the person who searched them, they are denied the name and then threatened with arrest?
I want you to give me Roger Grant’s badge number, his job history with the TSA, and an explanation of whether his behavior of threatening me with arrest for asking for the name of the agent who searched me was in line with TSA procedure.

I asked Roger Grant for a complaint form and he refused to give me one. He said I could complain online

I want to know whether there will be any reprimand or punishment made of these two, and if not, why not.
I’d also like a complaint form since Grant refused to give me one.

Is this the America you want to live in?

Please answer all my questions in boldface, provide any additional information you might have that relates to this incident, and let me know when you can get back to me.

-Amy Alkon

Infowars is launching the national Opt Out and Film Week during Thanksgiving, November 19-26.Click here for more details or click here for the campaign’s Facebook page.

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Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.com, and Prisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.

This article was posted: Monday, November 19, 2012 at 7:38 am

Tags: tsa

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