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RELEASED OCTOBER 28, 2003

Heatwole: Hero, Criminal, or Scapegoat?

In case you haven't been following the news lately, Nathaniel Heatwole, a 20-year-old college student, is the scapegoat du jour for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the FBI, and just about anyone involved in or held accountable for airline security.

Turns out between February and September, Mr. Heatwole hid a variety of contraband in lavatories on at least two of Southwest Airlines' planes. The packages contained box cutters, modeling clay resembling plastic explosives inside of Play-Doh cans, matches, and liquid bleach in suntan lotion bottles, all items that are forbidden to be carried onto commercial airplanes. And all items that baggage screeners failed to detect on his person or in his baggage.

He then sent an email to the TSA Contact Center outlining exactly what he had done, where the contraband could be found and his reason for doing it, which was to expose weaknesses in the current security system. He even signed it complete with his name, email address, and telephone number. The worker at the contact center didn't deem the missive an "overt" threat upon its arrival September 15^th.

It wasn't until the wash rooms recently underwent maintenance that the items were discovered and turned over to Southwest, who then contacted the TSA. This must be when the TSA made the connection between the then five-week-old email from Heatwole and the recently discovered contraband. Maybe that's also when they decided the subject line reading "Information Regarding 6 Recent Security Breaches" was perhaps a bit "overt" after all.

The TSA then contacted the FBI, who charged Heatwole on October 20^th with a federal crime for taking a dangerous weapon aboard an aircraft. He now faces up to 10 years in prison for his efforts to attempt to make the system better.

I don't necessarily agree with the method Heatwole used to highlight flaws in airport security, but I definitely disagree with the charges and proposed penalties. In this case, the punishment doesn't fit the crime.

Following the story this week, there seems to be public consensus building in favor of Heatwole and his actions. Some elevate him to hero status while others, especially those involved with airport security, consider him nothing more than a criminal.

While the furor mounts, authorities, who are responsible for the prevention of this kind of act, are very busy deflecting blame and whining, instead of doing something to fix the problems that were so glaringly brought to light. Some examples:

The TSA Deputy Administrator, Stephen McHale said "Amateur testing of our [security] systems do not show us in any way our flaws."

Indeed.

TSA spokesperson Mark Hatfield said "The [contact] center fields about 5,700 complaints, queries, compliments and threats each day. Heatwole's email did not fall into the "overt" category because he never threatened to do harm."

Wah.

Other interesting facts that are receiving renewed attention because of Heatwole's actions:

Prior to October 20^th, the Homeland Security Department's inspector general and the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, reported significant weaknesses in testing and training TSA screeners.

The inspector general's investigators recently carried knives, a bomb and a gun through Boston Logan International Airport's security without detection.

It was reported the week before Heatwole was discovered that New York's airport screeners were fed answers to dumbed-down written tests as part of their on-going security training.

Post-Heatwole, a man was arrested in Chicago for carrying nunchucks (martial arts weapon) onto a flight in his violin case.

A man in Massachusetts wondered how the screeners missed three-inch bullets he had mistakenly packed in his suitcase and transported from Hawaii. There was a report of a passenger who made it aboard with her handgun and one about a woman who retrieved a five-inch paring knife from her bag and peeled an apple while in-flight.

There are plenty more stories that have surfaced of scandals, misappropriation of funds, and contracts awarded to the tune of $54 million without normal competitive bidding, but I see your eyes are glazing over, so I'll get to the point.

The TSA should be ashamed of itself for its gross mismanagement and even more so for its unwillingness to admit shortcomings. Instead, the TSA would rather make Heatwole a scapegoat and criminal and throw the maximum penalty at him.

I say instead of 10 years in prison, a punishment that's more befitting the crime for both be doled out: Order Mr. Heatwole to work directly for the TSA to help them close the gaps in their security procedures. After all, in light of all the wrong doing, working for the feds ought to be punishment enough.