US Department of Justice suspends controversial airport search program after investigation

From the article:

Earlier this year, David (who wanted his identity concealed because his employer does business with the government) said no to a “consensual search” at the boarding gate for a flight from the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport to New York City.

David had seen the Atlanta News First Investigates report that suggested asking agents, “Am I free to go?,” or “Am I being detained?,” when confronted at airport boarding gates. David said he refused to give consent because of what he saw in the Atlanta News First Investigates YouTube video.

A DEA task force officer said David was free to go, but agents would detain his bag. David asked multiple times if he was being detained, and then walked on the plane with his backpack.

DEA Task Force Officer Nicholas Nimeskern followed David onto the plane and removed his bag without a warrant or probable cause. “So I pulled out my phone and started recording him,” David said. On the video, the officer can be heard saying, “I don’t care about your consent stuff,” when David repeatedly denied the agent’s requests to search his bag.

Nothing was found inside, but David missed his flight.

...

The Justice Department Inspector General reopened a decades-long investigation of the Operation Jetway program after seeing David’s video, which was first published by the non-profit Institute for Justice.

“Without the subject, the individual, thinking to immediately use their cell phone to record the event,” said Inspector General Michael Horowitz, “in fact, we clearly wouldn’t have known about it because absent that video, there was no record of the incident.”