Language

Virtue, Liberty and Independence

Submitted September 24, 2006 - 10:24 pm by Bill Conroy
It’s worth noting again these facts from the story above:
McLaughlin is a law enforcement officer. And he is not just any cop. He is employed as a narcotic agent assigned to the “Intelligence Unit” of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.

… McLaughlin’s attorneys confirmed he did, in fact, file a FOIA request, and included his law enforcement credentials with the filing, in an effort to get to the bottom of why his name appears on the [TSA] Watch List.

TSA’s response to McLaughlin’s FOIA:

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) can neither confirm or deny whether an individual is on a Federal Watch List, because this information is derived from classified and sensitive law enforcement and intelligence information. This protects the operational counterterrorism and intelligence collection objectives of the Federal government, as well as the personal safety of those involved in counterterrorism investigations. Federal Watch Lists remain effective tools in the government’s counterterrorism and transportation security efforts because their contents are not disclosed.

Now square TSA’s explanation with the fact that as an agent with the Intelligence Unit of the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, McLaughlin has primary jurisdiction in the state of Pennsylvania for investigating "Weapons of Mass Destruction."

From the Pennsylvania state statutes, Title 18:

2716. Weapons of mass destruction

… (g) Enforcement.--

(1) In addition to the authority conferred upon the Attorney General under sections 205 and 206 of the act of October 15, 1980 (P.L. 950, No. 164), [FN1] known as the Commonwealth Attorneys Act, the Attorney General has the authority to investigate and to institute criminal proceedings for a violation of this section committed:

(i) anywhere in this Commonwealth;

(ii) in different counties;  or

(iii) in this Commonwealth and another jurisdiction.

Now, how does this ridiculous contradiction (the fact that agent McLaughlin is on a terrorism watch list) help protect “the operational counterterrorism and intelligence collection objectives of the Federal government, as well as the personal safety of those involved in counterterrorism investigations?”

Well, I guess the residents of Pennsylvania can still take comfort in their state motto: Virtue, Liberty and Independence — even if the federal government chooses to treat the state’s law enforcement officers with a disrespect that threatens all three.

Reply

Our Policy on Comment Submissions: Co-publishers of Narco News (which includes The Narcosphere and The Field) may post comments without moderation. All co-publishers comment under their real name, have contributed resources or volunteer labor to this project, have filled out this application and agreed to some simple guidelines about commenting.

Narco News has recently opened its comments section for submissions to moderated comments (that’s this box, here) by everybody else. More than 95 percent of all submitted comments are typically approved, because they are on-topic, coherent, don’t spread false claims or rumors, don’t gratuitously insult other commenters, and don’t engage in commerce, spam or otherwise hijack the thread. Narco News reserves the right to reject any comment for any reason, so, especially if you choose to comment anonymously, the burden is on you to make your comment interesting and relevant. That said, as you can see, hundreds of comments are approved each week here. Good luck in your comment submission!

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Web page addresses and e-mail addresses turn into links automatically.

More information about formatting options

User login