NEWARK, N.J. — The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has decided to fire a screener at New Jersey’s Newark Airport who found a sex toy in the baggage of a transatlantic traveler — then advised her in writing what to do with it.
“[The] TSA has completed its investigation of this matter, and has initiated action to remove the individual from federal service,” a spokesman wrote late Thursday on The TSA Blog. “Like all federal employees, this transportation security officer is entitled to due process and the protections embodied in the Privacy Act.”
Until the process is complete, the worker “will not perform any screening duties,” the spokesman added.
The incident came to light when lawyer and blogger Jill Filipovic wrote on Twitter that a screener had noticed the sex toy inside her luggage when she was traveling to Dublin and scrawled, “Get your freak on girl” in black ink on a TSA notice.
“Just unpacked my suitcase and found this note from TSA,” the New York resident tweeted Monday, linking to a photograph. “Guess they discovered a ‘personal item’ in my bag. Wow.”
Filipovic initially wrote on the Feministe blog that the message was “wildly inappropriate,” but that she “died laughing” about it in her hotel room.
In an email to FOXNews.com later, Filipovic wrote she was transitioning to being “pretty disturbed” by the note, adding that TSA agents are given a lot of authority with little oversight.
But on hearing the news that the screener had been suspended, Filipovic blogged, “I get no satisfaction in hearing that someone may be in danger of losing their job over this.” She also said she hoped the TSA would look at the wider issue of “intrusions on our civil liberties.”
Filipovic had traveled to Ireland to speak at Trinity College Dublin about feminism, sexual assault and abortion rights.