Wandering Aramean has details of the TSA’s bone-headed move to put their Screening Management Standard Operating Procedure document on the internet.

Every page contains a “SENSITIVE SECURITY INFORMATION WARNING” and while they’d redacted parts of the document, they just put black boxes on top of text — the actual text is still underneath in the .pdf.

Once you’ve downloaded the PDF you’ll see the black boxes. Simply highlight the text (start above and drag down to below the redaction area) so that you’re selecting all of the stuff in the “redacted” area. Copy the selection and paste it into the word processing client of your choice.

(I’d link to the document directly, but the gestapo might track me down. Wandering Aramean included a link, so visit his site, he deserves the traffic in any case!)

What kind of stuff will you find inside?

Want to know which twelve passports will instantly get you shunted over for secondary screening, simply by showing them to the ID-checking agent? Check out Section 2A-2 (C) (1) (b) (iv). Want to know the procedure for CIA-escorted passengers to be processed through the checkpoint? That’s in the document, too. Details on the calibration process of the metal detectors is in there. So is the procedure for screening foreign dignitaries.

Chalk this one up, perhaps, as a victory towards transparency and accountability at the TSA? A little sunlight on “security theathre” can’t be a bad thing.