TSA silences critic

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Bruce Schneier is a security expert that I have cited before on the blog. For example, he is one of the participants in a debate now underway at the Economist regarding the efficacy of the TSA’s security procedures that I linked to below.

Schneier was scheduled to testify yesterday at a Congressional hearing on the TSA. But he was blocked from testifying at the request of the TSA.

On Friday, at the request of the TSA, I was removed from the witness list. The excuse was that I am involved in a lawsuit against the TSA, trying to get them to suspend their full-body scanner program. But it’s pretty clear that the TSA is afraid of public testimony on the topic, and especially of being challenged in front of Congress. They want to control the story, and it’s easier for them to do that if I’m not sitting next to them pointing out all the holes in their position. Unfortunately, the committee went along with them. (They tried to pull the same thing last year and it failed — video at the 10:50 mark.)

This is shameful. The purpose of a hearing is to learn. Not to censor.

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