Washington - The US government said Wednesday it has taken personnel action against transport security employees and consultants who made top secret information about safety screening available online. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Congress that the slip posed no threat to travellers, but added that the department had "already initiated personnel actions against the individuals involved in that," CNN reported.
At issue is a manual for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that outlined screening procedures for law enforcement officers, diplomats, prisoners, federal air marshals and others. It also gave details on the limitations of X-ray machines and metal detectors.
According to the Washington Post, which broke the story, the manual was mistakenly made available online several months ago as part of a contract solicitation. Certain passages were to have been blacked out, but computer users were able to copy and paste the blacked-out words into a new document or an email, where they became legible, the Post reported.
The TSA was created after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to tighten up the screening of air travellers, who are now subjected to thorough searches of their baggage, their shoes and sometimes their person.
Passengers may no longer carry nail files, small scissors, water or other liquids, etc, on board. Small amounts of creams and toiletries are allowed.
The Post quoted a former official from TSA, Stewart Baker, as saying the availability of the manual was a serious breach that "increases the risk that terrorists will find a way through the defence."
TSA said the posted manual, dated May 2008, was never implemented and has gone through revisions since then.
Earlier this month, a US government report showed that 30 per cent of TSA inspections of air cargo over a nine-month period in 2008 turned up security violations, Bloomberg news reported.
Richard Skinner, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general, wrote that air cargo was "vulnerable to the introduction of explosives and other destructive items before it is loaded onto planes, potentially creating risks for the traveling public."
Skinner's auditors gained access to air cargo at one warehouse through an unmanned door with a defective lock, and were able to enter multiple storage rooms including one with cargo that had been screened and was ready to be shipped in a passenger plane.
An estimated 5.4 million kilogrammes of cargo is loaded on passenger planes daily, Skinner's report said.
