SPOKANE, Wash. – The Transportation Security Administration has been criticized for long wait times at many airports.
KREM 2 On Your Side also encountered a long wait for information from the TSA.
On December 9, 2010, KREM 2 News’ Jane McCarthy completed what is called a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the TSA.
At the time, the goal was to make sure the TSA was hiring great people to handle safety and personal items.
KREM 2 News was looking for all investigative and incident reports involving wrongdoing by TSA employees both at Spokane and SeaTac International Airports, along with termination letters for TSA employees at the same locations from 2005 to present. Present, at the time, was 2010.
“It was such a timely topic then and it was so important to so many people because there was a general dissatisfaction and feeling by the agents and the agency as to how they were handling within the bounds of trying to maintain security but protecting people’s privacy, too,” said attorney Jennifer Gellner.
Over more than five years, the information request languished. At one time, the TSA cited a backlog but ensured the request was still in progress.
In July 2012, a year and seven months after the request, Paul from the TSA FOIA office called. He said the office was really focused on getting back on track and fulfilling a backlog of information requests. He also said the one Jane McCarthy filed should arrive soon.
Again, nothing for years.
In October 2010, an out of the blue email from Terri Miller, an Operations Manager at the TSA’s FOIA branch arrived.
Her email said, “In order to best utilize our limited resources, TSA has started to reach out to requesters whose requests have been in the backlog over 18 months to determine if they are still interested in pursuing their request.”
After confirming that KREM 2 still wanted the information, Miller said it would take another month.
Five and a half months after the last communication and five years, three months and 19 days after the initial request, a small packet of documents showed up.
Gellner is now the attorney in charge of the Federal Tax Clinic at Gonzaga University. They offer free legal help for low income tax payers, so Gellner routinely makes critical FOIA requests through the IRS.
“And our responses are typically anywhere within 30 days to a couple months. So, I have never experienced a FOIA request that took longer than six months,” said Gellner.
Back in 2010 when the request was made, the hope was the information would help inform viewers about the agents they trust when they travel.
There is no chance of that now. Not only do the documents appear incomplete, investigations into reports of theft back in 2007 and 2008 have little relevance now. info
