“Have you ever in the past misused your access to databases that the government maintains, other than this one incident…?”
◼ TSA nominee (Erroll Southers) misled Congress about accessing confidential records
(Erroll Southers,) The White House nominee to lead the Transportation Security Administration gave Congress misleading information about incidents in which he inappropriately accessed a federal database, possibly in violation of privacy laws, documents obtained by The Washington Post show.
…It is a violation of the federal Privacy Act to access such information without proper cause. The law says that “any person who knowingly and willfully requests or obtains any record concerning an individual from an agency under false pretenses shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not more than $5,000.”…
Civil liberties specialists said that the misuse of databases has been common among law enforcement authorities for many years, despite an array of local, state and federal prohibitions intended to protect personal information. Studies have found that police at every level examine records of celebrities, women they have met and political rivals. Some federal authorities have been jailed for selling records to criminals.
…In questioning before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Southers has said he understands the need to balance security and privacy. Said (Susan Collins (Maine): “You have taken responsibility for your actions. You’ve acknowledged your mistake in the personal conversation that we had in my office. It is important that the public have confidence that government officials will not misuse the authority that they have.”
She added: “If you’re confirmed, you’re going to have the access to databases that have personal information on many, many individuals, such as through the secure flight program, and it’s going to be important for the public to have confidence that you would not, in any way, misuse your access to the personal information in those databases. So, let me first ask you: Have you ever in the past misused your access to databases that the government maintains, other than this one incident that led to this censure?”
“No, Senator, I have not,” Southers replied….
OTHER THAN THIS ONE INCIDENT?
If you had concerns about the Patriot Act, this Obama appointee/nominee should concern you – here you have a guy who ACTUALLY abused the power he had. This is the reason the Patriot Act was bad. It is ONLY as good as the people in charge. With an unscrupulous man in charge, all your fears will come true.
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Posted by Rose on January 2, 2010 10:50 am
» Filed Under Bald-face lies, Barack Obama, Congress, DHS, Democrats, DoJ, Government corruption, Government malfeasance/misfeasance, National Security, News, Politics As Usual, Senate, TSA
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7 Responses to ““Have you ever in the past misused your access to databases that the government maintains, other than this one incident…?””
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Syndicate Me
This guy has more problems than this I hope. Isn’t he wanting to unionize the TSA? Now that’s a bad idea. The issue about the police running tags or people without cause is not such a big issue. There are a whole lot bigger fish to fry out there. All cops, on occasion ran a good looking girl’s tag (or a good looking guy’s tag) or ran a vanity plate just to see if “Big’uns” belongs to man or a woman. In this case he supposedly checked up on his ex-wife’s boyfriend. Were there kids involved? Was he a piece of poop and the guy needed to know? If he did it once and that was it, move on. If you think the police are the only ones knowing everything about you, you are wrong. Private firms know a whole lot more than the police do.
Republicans are playing with this guy trying to find a reason to stop him because of his stances on unions and maybe some other issues. They should attack those, not this.
Yep. Everybody does it, it was just that one time, it was for his kids… awww, we can understand it, and we can brush it aside. Or you could. You have to make a decision. You’re about to put a man in charge of YOUR rights and YOUR privacy, and man who can punish YOU for transgressing even minor rules… who do you want that man to be? One who adheres to the rules and walks the walk – one who you can trust to do the right thing, or one who will bend the rules to suit himself (or someone else, who knows)?
We’ve seen alot of transgression in this area – the politically motivated investigations of Joe the Plumber for example. You know that people will abuse the rules. You take a chance with every hire, and every appointment.
Why would you stack the deck against the rules by appointing or hiring someone who has ALREADY PROVEN himself capable of breaking the rules?
Where are all the privacy advocates? Where are all the people who cared about potential abuses under the Patriot Act? Are they silent simply because a Democrat/leftist is in office? Would they be demonstrating in the streets if a Republican/right-winger was in office? It’s a pretty sorry state of affairs if they’ll sell your privacy down the river for partisan gain.
White House defends its TSA nominee
“Southers has never tried to hide this incident and has expressed that these were errors he made in judgment that he deeply regretted and an error that he made in an account of events that happened over 20 years ago,” said Nick Shapiro, a White House spokesman traveling with Obama on vacation in Hawaii.
“Southers’ nomination has not been held up over this as he has been entrusted with significant and increasing responsibilities in the area of homeland security over the years since, but he is being held up by Sen. (Jim) DeMint over a political issue.”
Interesting that they turn that exact same reasoning to their benefit, to gloss over the transgression, and ignore the issue at stake.
Rose,
Yes, everybody does it. As I was trying to point out it is part of the imperfection of humans. If you think you can find anyone perfect, without ever bending a rule, to lead you, then you need to get a grip. I’m not supporting the guy. What I’m saying is this is petty compared to some of the other issues, and as usual the Republicans hang their hats on this and NOT on the real problems.
Jeez. What kind of threshold do you have? If the candidate lied once in college is he disqualified? Or dated a couple of women at one time, even though he had a girlfriend? Or how about didn’t tip enough and violated the fifteen percent rule. Or maybe ran a toll booth by accident in 1992.
People are people and all of the cops in the world are just that- people. In your world I guess the Navy Seals who lived their lives serving and protecting should be jailed and ruined if they did in fact hit the terrorist in the mouth- one time. A violation is a violation and God know we don’t want that kind of action associated with people as dangerous as soldiers!!!
Sounds silly doesn’t it. Here’s a question. – And remember, I’m not protecting this guy, anybody Obama likes is probably no good on many different levels.- If you heard a good cop you knew who saved a life or risked his did in fact hit a bad guy out of anger, or did run a tag of a woman that took his breath away, would you fire him? Would you think less of him? Or would you realize that cops are people and people are imperfect. You have to look at the overall picture.
As for you concerns about his desire to maybe pry into your life, again I say argue THAT! Don’t use a twenty year old personal issue. See if he did that on a regular basis to regular citizens, THAT IS WHAT IS DANGEROUS!!! I know, I lived the life for twenty years. It’s the guy who will trade you for his career. It’s the guy who would follow orders blindly, regardless of the law. It’s the guy who doesn’t see a citizen as a human being, and thinks only of himself- which is a description of Obama.
As usual, what upsets me is that the Republicans are afraid of telling the truth and are hoping to find a hot button issue to make people reject the candidate. If this guy makes them nervous, really nervous, tell us what it is. Is it the unionization? Has he written memos showing his leftist agenda? Is he a good soldier willing to follow Obama’s crew (Rahm, Soros, Axelrod, Jarret) blindly? If he is, then say so. Trust me, America is at the point where the days of Obama snowing them is over. They’ll get it.
If you want perfection in anyone in government forget it. You won’t find perfection in your schools, job, church or neighborhood. It doesn’t exist. What you need to look for in a man or woman in charge of your life is a good heart and a good conscience. For all we know, and again I’m not supporting this guy, he sounds like a leftist bureaucrat, the guy was worried about his ex. Like I said, were their kids involved? Heck, I’d run some scumbag if he were around my kids. If he was a real bad guy he’d find himself taking tickets from my buddies until he decided to more along. Is it right? If it saves my children from a beating or being exposed to drugs, or even worse like death, then oh well, you got me.
Rose, if you were my friend and came to me because your daughter was interested in some strange boy and asked if I would check him out, I would, for you. A violation? Of what? A rule? In exchange for saving the daughter of a friend? I’ll take the bargain.
The difference is degree. A good man with a good heart and a good conscience will not abuse (i.e. injure) any good citizen with his powers. That is the line you don’t cross. That is what you must seek when you examine this guy. Is he a harmless bureaucrat or is he driven by an anti-American agenda like Hansen or Emmanuel? If you shoot your best shot at something so weak you lose your credibility when you find this guy is really a bad guy.
That’s my concern about this.
Oh and one more thing. I spent the last year of my duty attached to an intel unit. You have no idea how much they already know- long before Bush, long before Obama. Heck, every time you swipe your debit card somebody somewhere tracks your purchases, your expenditures, your tendencies. You drive through a toll booth and it’s recorded. Your cell can be tracked simply by you leaving it on. (Yes, I was shocked to.) Not to mention a private person can put a snooper on your computer and track every thing you type, where you go and every file that is there. It’s mind blowing. The first time I realized this was when the CEO from Sun Systems made the statement- “We know everything about you. Get over it.” This was about ten years ago.
If they know, then somebody in the government can know, with a keystroke, and you’ll never be the wiser. The issue here is how they use it. Will they consider the purchase of ammunition a possible tag for a domestic terrorist? Or the fact you visited this site? It’s not the information, that we can’t stop, it’s the implementation of that information or how it is perceived.
Want to do something scary? Figure out how many times your website or your computer got pinged by a .gov server. Even if you have never visited a .gov site.
You’ll go back to writing notes in disappearing ink.
I’ll bet you’ll see monster under the bed.
I think we basically agree. In the hands of a good man, a little breach can be a great thing – in his case, might have saved his kids. Who knows.
The thing is – what we can’t be guaranteed, and thus have to guard against – is what happens when he ISN’T a good man? What happens when he uses it for partisan political purposes? That’s why I brought in the Patriot Act. Not related necessarily, but one that can be a great thing if they are going after real terrorists, but can become very dangerous in the wrong hands.
And given, sadly, Obama’s propensity for picking the worst kinds of friends as well as tax cheats and activist fringe for his appointments, given Napolitano’s and Pelosi’s declarations that we, the people are the enemy, just for asking questions, I think there is real cause for concern and hyper vigilance here.
If this is Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon looking out for the people it’s one thing (good intentions) – if it is a guy who would stoop to going after Joe the Plumber (sinister partisan intentions) – it’s another thing entirely.
Rose,
Agreed. Frankly when I was on the inside I felt a little creepy being able to know what I wanted when I wanted. That was because I knew if I could do it at a local level, the Feds were probably lightyears ahead of us.
As far as guarding against a bad man in a bad place, just ask your friends who voted for Obama, as many of my young co-workers did, “how’s that working out for you.” Experience, often a bad one, is the best teacher. If we get past this as a nation, I doubt we’ll be jumping back into to this particular pond any time soon.
Then get ready. Stay vigilant. Depend on no one else for your own protection and survival and if the federal government shows up at your front door saying all they want is to help remember this- They don’t.
Be safe
In theory we will get past this as a nation. Our system was designed to work, with a system of checks and balances put in place to ensure against dictatorial power.
It worries me to see the balance disrupted with Congress and the Senate losing sight of their role and acting as an activist arm of the Obama administration. Passing bills without reading them, without knowing what they are voting for, buying into the hype, and electing to act for the Party and not the People is not healthy for our government or our long term survival. They have abdicated their role as statesmen.
And with Obama’s crew, we have already seen countless examples of their willingness to use the system for their own ends. From the uncovering of Obama’s opponent’s private divorce records, to Joe the plumber to turn-in-your-neighbor-to-whitehouse.gov, to Napolitano’s report naming veterans and conservatives as enemies of the state… there is alot to watch out for. Including affirming tax cheats and the like to sensitive high positions.
We are at a tipping point. Walking a razor thin tightwire. We may survive this. But if we tip the wrong way, and fall for propaganda, and let the stormtroopers carry the day, even in the name of security, we are in for a world of hurt.
It can get ugly real fast. Let’s hope the system works.
It is a violation of the 1974 Privacy Act for the Federal government to make any changes that may affect the privacy rights of US citizens without inform them.
Looks like nobody plans on informing us, so this is a clear violation of Federal Law.