TSA’s Profiling of Ethnic Groups Puts Public at Greater Risk

The post TSA’s Profiling of Ethnic Groups Puts Public at Greater Risk appeared first on WhoWhatWhy.

A senior TSA manager at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who has become a whistleblower talks to WhoWhatWhy’s Jeff Schechtman about the scandalous corruption within the agency, and the retaliation that follows attempts to improve the situation.

Andrew Rhoades is an Assistant Federal Security Director at the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport. Rhoades is in charge of mission support and logistics.

He refused when he was pressured by his supervisor to profile Somali-American Imams and community members who visited his office.

His refusal set off a chain of events that included his filing reports through the TSA chain of command and the Department of Homeland Security, and finally testifying before Congress.

It has been over two years, and still no one has responded to his reports. On the other hand, the TSA wasted no time in subjecting him to reprisals.

Rhoades also discusses the toxic culture and poor morale within the agency. It’s a place, he says, that allows and even condones sexual harassment among managers, and engages in waste, abuse, and fraud.

If you’ve ever stood in line at TSA security, this is a must listen. 

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Full Text Transcript:

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Jeff Schechtman: Welcome to Radio WhoWhatWhy, I’m Jeff Schechtman.

The recent attempts by the Trump administration to put in place a travel ban, while far more extreme, only reflects a more formal attempt to do what some elements in the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA have already been doing in a different fashion. Our guest today, Andrew Rhoades, an Assistant Federal Security Director for the TSA at the Minneapolis Airport, says he was told to profile Somalis and other community members in Minnesota. His opposition to that and his response to that has put in place a series of reprisals against him that has resulted in his testimony before Congress, and to begin to call public attention, and awareness to, some of the unsavory practices and toxic environment of the Transportation Security Administration. Andrew Rhoades is a former army ranger who joined the TSA after 9/11. And it is my pleasure to welcome Andrew Rhoades to Radio WhoWhatWhy. Andrew thanks so much for joining us.

Andrew Rhoades: Thank you sir for having me.

Jeff: Tell us a little about how you wound up at TSA and why you joined originally.

Andrew: Well, that’s a good question. First of all, I was in the military and I exited because at the time my wife and I, in the eight years that we’ve been together, we’ve seen each other less than three. And so we were thinking about starting a family and it was a very tough decision for me, so I exited the military and decided to go into business. I worked at Kraft Foods in Tarrytown, New York. When 9/11 happened, and I was proximately maybe 18 months removed from this military service when 9/11 happened, and I felt the need to somehow serve my country back. So I joined the Department of Homeland Security, or at the time it was actually the TSA, to help protect our transportation systems.

Jeff: And when you went there, what kind of job did you have originally, and talk a little bit about your career there.

Andrew: I originally what was called the Assistant Federal Security Director for Screening at the Minneapolis St. Paul Airport, a very challenging, very rewarding job. I federalize the MSP Airport in October, about 2003 I believe it was, and just had a magnificent time. It was again very challenging, very stressful, but a lot of camaraderie, a lot of trust, because we were working long hours. I held several positions within the TSA. I was what’s called an Area Staff Director for 119 airports in 13 states in the upper Midwest area. And professionally speaking, the most rewarding position, or at least assignment for me, was when the TSA sent me to the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. It was a one-year Masters degree. I was still being paid of the TSA. And I went to Washington, DC at Fort McNair, studied national security strategy and the resourcing component. And I was very fortunate, very humble to have been selected, and then I came back to Minneapolis and I’ve been here ever since.

Jeff: And one of the important things in looking at the arc of your career there, is that you had been rewarded more or less every step of the way. You had gotten great performance reports and were moving up the ladder.

Andrew: That’s true for a brief while. I was promoted actually to the SES ranks and I was in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Las Vegas airport, but then I returned home based upon some family priorities. And you know truth be told, I was a little bit of a workaholic, and I needed to focus back on my family, so I returned to Minnesota. But yes, I was rewarded if you will. I’ve gotten great assignments, saw a lot of responsibility at work with magnificent people, and from that aspect, I feel grateful.

Jeff: And talk a little bit about what happened when this whole issue of profiling came up. Tell our listeners a little bit how it came up and what the reaction was.

Andrew: Well, the incident actually occurred on April 8, 2016. It was part of my performance review and it was written inside my performance review that my supervisor wanted me to send the names of all the Somali visitors that would visit me at the off airport location – that’s kind of important for your listeners to understand – and send their names to what’s called our field intelligence officer. And so I wasn’t asked to do this for, by any Anglo-Saxon Protestant folks. I wasn’t asked to do this for any Jewish residents or Jewish people that might come to our offices, and so I thought it was very strong… I felt very strongly that this is profiling. So what I did was I reached out to the St. Paul police chief a guy by the name of Thomas Smith and I showed him my actual performance evaluation. I sent it to him and I said this is what was sent, and he immediately said: “That’s wrong. We don’t, we, the St. Paul Police Department, we don’t even take the names of Somali personnel against any lists or intelligence activities, or anti-gang-related criminal units.”

Like any other person, if they come to see me they’re a permanent… I mean they’re a citizen or someone of this country that might solicit my help I just… the ironic factor is I’ve been working with the Somali community for the past 10 years to help them with travel redress. So if someone were to exhibit or to experience some problems and they wanted to let’s say… my name is Andrew N. Rhoades, which is correct, that’s my real name. And let’s say there’s an Andrew B. Rhoades who is a terrorist or someone that’s on a watch list. Well, if I only input Andrew Rhoades when I make my reservation, there could be misunderstanding, and the reservation system might think I’m the Andrew B. Rhoades, as opposed to the Andrew N. Rhoades. Well, I’m oversimplifying, but a lot of times people of Somali descent may have very similar names. Instead of Mohamud, Mohamed. Just that slight different change in spelling they could easily wind up of a mistaken identity. 

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