TSA launches leak investigation

(CNN) -- Federal officers charged with keeping terrorists off planes are now searching their own ranks for staff who told CNN that few flights were protected by air marshals.
Iraq war veteran Jeff Denning says a TSA investigator called him trying to find out if he spoke to CNN.

Iraq war veteran Jeff Denning says a TSA investigator called him trying to find out if he spoke to CNN.

The Transportation Security Administration rejected as a "myth" CNN's report that less than 1 percent of the nation's daily flights carry armed federal air marshals. Now the agency is conducting an investigation into who talked to CNN and who encouraged other agents to do the same.

A spokesman for the TSA confirmed the investigation.

Spokesman Christopher White said a TSA investigator is looking into the "possible unauthorized release of sensitive and classified information to the news media by covered parties."

"As part of this ongoing investigation, several individuals, both current and former employees, have been contacted as is typical in any investigation," he said in an e-mail to CNN.

CNN spoke to more than a dozen current and former air marshals, pilots and federal law enforcement officials for the report, which aired in March on "Anderson Cooper 360º." Repeatedly, the sources told CNN that as few as 280 of an estimated 28,000 daily flights had armed federal air marshals aboard. That amounts to less than 1 percent.

"That number is absolutely wrong," said Kip Hawley, the head of the agency.

He was speaking earlier this year before Congress, which held hearings into the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS) in the wake of CNN's reporting.

CNN learned of the TSA investigation from a former federal air marshal and Iraq war veteran, Jeff Denning. He was not connected to the original story.

Denning said he was called by TSA investigator Greg Neiderer a few days after he came back from the front lines of Iraq.

Denning said Neiderer grilled him on an e-mail he received on his personal account while he was in Iraq.

The e-mail discussed plans to expose corruption in the air marshal service. The e-mail encouraged recipients to contact CNN correspondent Drew Griffin if they had information about the hiring of airport screeners as air marshals, the elimination of mandatory psychiatric tests for new hires and managers lying to Congress. Read the e-mail »

CNN only recently received a copy of the e-mail. CNN did not have it when the report aired in March.

Denning said he forwarded the e-mail to current and former air marshals.

Denning said Neiderer wanted to know who sent him the e-mail.

Nothing in the e-mail contained sensitive security information, Denning said, nor did it encourage anyone to disclose information that could endanger the public.

"I was petrified," Denning said of Neiderer's phone call, explaining how he contacted CNN full of dismay that the TSA was harassing him and his family to find out which of his former colleagues had talked to the media.

"In Iraq, there were a lot of dangerous things, but never have I been so scared [as] when the federal government called me on my home phone and said I want to know about your personal e-mail account and what you have been sending."

TSA's Hawley refused repeated requests to be interviewed by CNN. Neiderer did not return repeated calls or e-mails.

In an e-mail, TSA spokesman White confirmed Neiderer's involvement, but denied that the TSA or the Federal Air Marshal Service had accessed anyone's private e-mail accounts, via subpoena or otherwise.

However, he added that "all e-mails sent to government employees on a government system are always eligible to be read and reviewed as is outlined on every computer in TSA, including the FAMS."

White did not say how much the investigation is costing taxpayers or how long it would last.

With a few phone calls, CNN was able to find the author of the original e-mail.

The author is an air marshal who asked that his identity be concealed for fear of retribution by the TSA.

The marshal said he sent the e-mail because for six years, his colleagues have been trying to alert Congress about continuing problems in the air marshal service. Many have left, he said, because of low morale and complaints about management.

A May 2008 report from the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General said that the agency "currently experiences a 17% voluntary attrition rate and low employee morale."

"Congress doesn't want to hear it," the marshal said. "They stick their heads in the sand. We tell them about the corruption. We give them examples and proof and I think they are scared of what they see. And they don't want to deal with it."

The marshal said he had done nothing wrong by sending an e-mail.

"The only thing in my e-mail was my telling these other air marshals that CNN was willing to expose the corruption in the federal air marshal services and Mr. Griffin's e-mail address," he said.

"That's not sensitive security information. That's freedom of speech."

He said he sent another e-mail urging air marshals to contact members of Congress investigating the air marshal service.

Meanwhile, the air marshal service is undergoing a management change.

Shortly after CNN aired its first report, director Dana Brown announced plans to retire. He has since decided to stay with the air marshals in a newly created position of Integrity Officer.

His successor is Robert Bray, current deputy director, who, like Brown and Neiderer, is a former Secret Service employee.

According to the TSA, Brown's job is to ensure that "disciplinary measures and other personnel actions are administered uniformly throughout the organization."
advertisement

Former air marshal Denning said he thinks the TSA should spend its time tracking down terrorists instead of former employees' e-mails.

"If they want to tap into someone's personal e-mail because they were going to destroy the Pentagon or kill the president, I could see reasons for contacting someone," Denning said. "But they're contacting me on my personal e-mail that I apparently forwarded to someone else's personal e-mail account. It's outlandish."

_________________________________________________________________________

AGAIN, OUR GOVERNMENT FAILS TO PROVIDE SUPPORT AND SAFETY FOR US. THEN HAS THE NERVE TO TRY TO COVER IT UP. NOW, WE GOT PEOPLE TELLING THE WORLD JUST HOW UNPROTECTED WE ARE. WAY TO GO. JUST OPEN THE DOOR AND INVITE THEM IN.

Man who killed burglary suspects cleared

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) -- A Texas man who shot and killed two men he suspected of burglarizing his neighbor's home was cleared in the shootings Monday by a grand jury.
Joe Horn shot and killed two men last November after he saw them crawl out a neighbor's window.

Joe Horn shot and killed two men last November after he saw them crawl out a neighbor's window.

Joe Horn, 61, shot the two men in November after he saw them crawling out the windows of a neighbor's house in the Houston suburb of Pasadena.

Horn called 911 and told the dispatcher he had a shotgun and was going to kill the men. The dispatcher pleaded with him not to go outside, but Horn confronted the men with a 12-gauge shotgun and shot both in the back.

"The message we're trying to send today is the criminal justice system works," Harris County District Attorney Kenneth Magidson said.

Horn's attorney, Tom Lambright, has said his client believed the two men had broken into his neighbor's home and that he shot them only when they came into his yard and threatened him.

The two Horn suspected of committing burglary, Hernando Riascos Torres, 38, and Diego Ortiz, 30, were unemployed illegal immigrants from Colombia. Torres was deported to Colombia in 1999 after a 1994 cocaine-related conviction.

The episode touched off protests from civil rights activists who said the shooting was racially motivated and that Horn took the law into his own hands. Horn's supporters defended his actions, saying he was protecting himself and being a good neighbor to a homeowner who was out of town.

"I understand the concerns of some in the community regarding Mr. Horn's conduct," Magidson said. "The use of deadly force is carefully limited in Texas law to certain circumstances ... In this case, however, the grand jury concluded that Mr. Horn's use of deadly force did not rise to a criminal offense."

Lambright did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment from The Associated Press.

Texas law allows people to use deadly force to protect themselves if it is reasonable to believe they are in mortal danger. In limited circumstances, people also can use deadly force to protect a neighbor's property; for example, if a homeowner asks a neighbor to watch over his property while he's out of town.

It's not clear whether the neighbor whose home was burglarized asked Horn to watch over his house.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I got nothing against those who protect themselves and their property. I even applaud those who care enough to watch out for their neighbors. But, am I the only one who caught this "Horn called 911 and told the dispatcher he had a shotgun and was going to kill the men. The dispatcher pleaded with him not to go outside, but Horn confronted the men with a 12-gauge shotgun and shot both in the back.". So, he premeditated 2 murders, AND shot the men in the back. Now I ask you: how threatening are 2 men who have their backs to you? And the law let it slide? Only in Texas. 2 things come out of Texas. I will let you draw your own conclusions.