BOSTON -- A TSA employee at Logan International Airport is facing statutory rape charges Tuesday. Sean Shanahan was arrested by police in Winthrop. Officials say he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl at his home during school vacation week. Shanahan allegedly sent her sexually explicit text messages. TSA officials said Shanahan is no longer working at the airport.He is said to have sent a text message to his wife, asking her to get rid of his computer.
I am sympathetic to the TSA, who appear to have done their due diligence (two background checks). There's a post up on their blog about how they deal with serious criminal allegations against one of their employees. It's pretty reasonable.
But.
While it's true to say that pedophiles can work anywhere, the TSA is not your typical place. Now that there are the see-you-nekkid scanner machines that do in fact allow images to be stored and transmitted over the network, the TSA is "an attractive nuisance". It can be expected to attract pedophiles, more than (say) McDonalds.
I'd be 100% in agreement with the TSA's "it could happen anywhere" position if they weren't running those scanners.
http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2010/03/backscatter-advanced-imaging-technology.html
ReplyDeleteThis recent posting by the TSA blog team says no to images being stored on the machines.
Eben
Eben, I posted on this a bit ago. You need to read the fine print; it's not that the machines can't store and transmit images. It's that they .
ReplyDeletehttp://borepatch.blogspot.com/2010/01/so-airport-scanners-can-store-and.html
Of course they can store images, and do. I'd bet on it.
ReplyDeleteBecause if there is an incident involving contraband on an aircraft, they are going to want to go back to the scans and see what they missed. Think of it like a log file.
Also another little side-bit. I forget what book I read it in but it got me to look a differently at the infidelities of Billy Clinton and JFK. Overall if I hire you as President, I really don't care how much of an asshole you are if you do a good job, likewise I don't care if you're my best friend, a shitty prez is a shitty prez.
ReplyDeleteThat being said neither Jack nor Bill was looking to get caught. What if *insert enemy here* acquired proof of infidelity BEFORE the US press did? Could our President be willing to sell secrets to keep photos of his donger off the front page?
If a TSA agent is a pedo, who's to say that they can't be blackmailed to stay out of prison?
Just food for thought.