Recently, two pilots for ABX (better known as Airborne Express) were investigated by the FBI and placed on the TSA's federal terrorism roster known as the "selectee list."
No charges against them were filed.
This action was as a result of suspicion that they -- get this -- mailed feces to company executives and signed them up for fake magazine subscriptions. How on Earth does that kind of stupid juvenile prank qualify as terrorism, you may ask. According to the Dayton Daily News, "sending biohazardous material through the mail is a federal crime under domestic terrorism statutes, FBI spokesman Michael Brooks said."
The pilots were apparently cleared of suspicion a few days later. However, there is some mystery concerning how they got on the TSA's list in the first place.
More on the flip.
Here is the
notice of their being cleared, apparently a union press release (emphasis added):
ABX Pilots Cleared
August 19, 2005: 5:51 p.m. EST
WILMINGTON, Ohio (PRNewswire) - WILMINGTON, Ohio, Aug. 19 PRNewswire -- Three pilots represented by Teamsters Local 1224 will be returned to active duty after being informed by the FBI that they are no longer "subjects of an investigation" related to the mailing of unsolicited items to ABX Air, Inc. executives.
"We are obviously very pleased by the FBI's decision," said Lynne Nowel, Local 1224 General Counsel. "However, we are puzzled and outraged by a fundamentally flawed system that forced these outstanding airmen to be removed from their jobs for an indefinite period of time while the FBI conducted its investigation. It's a mystery why these airmen were singled out."
In mid-July, the crewmembers were placed on the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) "Selectee List" after the executives received unsolicited items -- i.e., magazine subscriptions and feces -- in the mail. While on the TSA's list, the crewmembers were prohibited from performing flight duties.
The pilots' exemplary records -- two are former United States Air Force pilots granted high-level security clearances; the other has transported Secret Service agents and serves as a Federal Aviation Administration check airman -- make the TSA's list questionable and raise questions about the investigation's source. The FBI confirms only that the airmen were initially placed on the list as a result of an "independent investigation" conducted by someone other than the FBI. Company officials would not confirm the extent of their involvement in the investigation.
"How our pilots were ever associated with this type of behavior is beyond belief," said Capt. Rob Boyd, Local 1224 President. "Furthermore, we would unequivocally oppose this type of behavior and would be shocked to learn that any union member would engage in such reprehensible actions." Boyd added that Local 1224's Executive Board holds its membership to the highest levels of professionalism.
Teamsters Local 1224 is an affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and represents more than 700 crewmembers employed by Wilmington- based ABX Air.
Teamsters Local 1224
If the FBI's federal investigation of this ridiculous incident didn't result in these men's names getting on the federal terrorist watchlist, then exactly how did that happen? There is more to this than meets the eye. Were those names placed on a federal list by a nongovernmental entity or a recommendation from same? If so, who initiated the listing of their names on a federal terrorist watchlist, and on what authority?
Do airline executives (for even small freight airlines) have the authority to list people with the TSA as potential terrorists?
{I blogged this on my own site, but I believe the follow-up deserves a wider audience due to the implications of the method of one's name landing on the terrorist watchlist. I searched for this and didn't find it, so if it's been diaried already, my apologies.}