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The real crime won't get any time
Kenneth
Lamb
10/24/2003
Thomas DiBiagio, the US Attorney, swayed slightly from side to side as he huffed in righteous indignation: "This was not a prank, this is not poor judgment, this was a crime."
The only thing that wasn't clear from his shrill sound-bite on camera was who, exactly, was the criminal? The 20-year old college student Mr. DiBiagio had charged with carrying box cutters onto a couple of airplanes flying out of some East Coast airports, which just showed how poor-ous the security is at the airports, or the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), which looks like those at the top should do some time for reckless endangerment of the flying public.
We found out just how insecure the so-called security agency is when they decided to charge Nathaniel Heatwole of Damascus, Md., with bringing lethal weapons on-board the airliners.
Mr. Heatwole's only intent - unorthodox, and perhaps even ham-handily carried out to be sure - was to demonstrate just how dangerous it still is to fly the illusionary "friendly skies." That's your life we're talking about that's still in jeopardy.
Had Mr. Heatwole been part of a plot to actually do something lethal, then the TSA would be justified in filing charges. But unfortunately for the bureaucrats, they made fools of themselves by filing charges against a man who never had any criminal intent.
While Washington quacks about beefing up our Homeland Security, and tens of millions go down the drain of government mismanagement, Mr. Heatwole's tactic did an unquestionably fine job of focusing attention on the lax security we still suffer.
Just how incompetent is the TSA? Journalist Susan Singer-Bart of the Montgomery County (MD) Gazette details what happened (http://www.gazette.net/200343/damascus/news/183655-1.html):
"Heatwole sent authorities an e-mail message more than a month ago stating he had carried box cutters, matches, bleach and clay shaped to look like explosives onto six airplanes between February and September, according to a court affidavit filed by the FBI. All of the items are prohibited.
"Maintenance workers found the first package of items in three Ziplock bags in a Southwest Airlines airplane lavatory Thursday along with a note saying the items had been brought on the plane in Raleigh, N.C. on Sept. 12.
"Later Thursday, a second package was found on another Southwest plane. This package had a note saying the items were carried on the plane in Baltimore Sept. 14.
"On Friday, the Transportation Security Agency gave the FBI the items and an e-mail note Heatwole sent to the agency Sept. 15 describing six security breaches at the two airports since February. The notes said the items had been carried onto the planes on Heatwole's person or in his carry-on bags. The note included Heatwole's e-mail address and telephone number."
How bad is the TSA looking on this deal? Let me count the ways:
First, Mr. Heatwole actually got by the screening metal detectors and x-ray machines with the same implements used by the 9/11 hijackers. Someone in the TSA needs to be jailed for criminal negligence.
Then, he planted them in the lavatories. And there they sat for up to months without being discovered. Maybe it's time to file charges against the people at the airlines as accessories with the TSA. (Or perhaps the FAA should just shut down the planes for grossly unsanitary conditions - didn't anyone clean out the lavatories during that time?)
Finally, the part that really embarrasses the TSA is the fact that Mr. Heatwole wrote an email to them telling the TSA what he had done, spelled out his real name, told them how to get in touch with him, and even provided his email address and phone number to hasten the communication.
And why does this last part look especially bad for the TSA? Because the email sat - unread and unanswered - for 4 weeks at the TSA.
But in true bureaucratic fashion, it's not the incompetents at the TSA who will go to jail for endangering us with their incompetence. No, the US Attorney will instead make Mr. Heatwole the target of criminal prosecution.
Lawyers tell me Mr. DiBiagio may have compounded the embarrassment by filing charges. One of the elements the US Attorney will have to prove is "criminal intent." The defense will argue Mr. Heatwole was performing a public service by alerting authorities to their own ineffective system. And the truth of the matter is, he did perform a public service.
Back in "the olden days" of American justice, juries could tell prosecutors where to get off through a technique called "jury nullification." If the jury felt the prosecutor, or the law, shouldn't incarcerate people, the jury would refuse to convict just because it wanted to send a message to government to back off. But then, that's back when juries used to be a final check and balance against government power.
But your friends and neighbors in the legal profession took that prerogative away from jurors. They destroyed jury nullification. It's not too hard to imagine the same super-sized egos that sit 6-feet above everyone else, and still insist on being treated like European royalty by making the courtroom's participants rise when they enter, would find it totally unacceptable to think "We, the People" should retain the final sovereignty in deciding what constitutes a crime.
So instead of being able to convince a jury he did nothing worth jail time, Mr. Heatwole will instead find himself looking up at a judge looking down on him. Perhaps the judge will see that Mr. Heatwole's technique for bringing the country back to reality when it comes to airport safety was not criminal, just embarrassing to the TSA.
And that is the real reason Mr. Heatwole is being charged. In fact, it is the only reason.
So while Mr. DiBiagio is whining about Mr. Heatwole, don't expect anyone at the TSA to be looking up at a judge to defend themselves for their mismanagement of your safety.
Now that's the real crime that should get some time.
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Kenneth E. Lamb
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