Jokes in Security: More than Poor Judgment?

In airports and especially on airplanes, it is unacceptable to even utter the word “bomb.” Ever since 9/11, airport security has been heightened to extreme levels. Recently, a bomb was nearly set off on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, which raised the terror threat and raised the intensity of airport security. Humor is the last thing to be expected at an airport security gate at such a time.

On January 5^th, 2010, a 22-year old college student, Rebecca Soloman, was going through airport security. She was incredibly nervous, because her destination was the same as the terrorist who had recently tried to activate a bomb in an airplane bathroom. As she was passing through the security gate, a TSA worker motioned her towards him and held up a small bag full of white powder. He claimed to have gotten the bag from her carry-on, yet she knew she had never seen it in her life. She immediately began going through scenarios in her head that involved terrorists using her to sneak drugs on board, or framing her for a crime they were responsible for. As she tried to explain herself, holding back tears and trying to figure out where this bag might have come from, the man began to smile. He told her he was “just kidding,” and that he had snuck the bag of powder into her carry-on himself. Rebecca was extremely upset and shocked that someone, let alone a TSA worker, would joke about such a serious issue. She described it as a “violation,” and her opinion was clearly shared; the worker was soon after fired. The man clearly made a very poor choice, but people question if this occurrence was simply a joke in poor taste, or if it was more than that.

Do you believe this worker who showed extremely poor judgment deserves to be taken to court for the distress he caused on Rebecca? Is it worth it because of how serious security has been in the past month?

Here are three articles that cover the news story:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20100121_Daniel_Rubin__It_was_no_joke_at_security_gate.html

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/No-Joke-TSA-Uses-Gag-Drugs-at-Security-Gate-82389097.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583739,00.html

Here is a video of the story as shown on FOX:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3ngVCp85MQ