Re: US capitol not in US, according to TSA

["Blanchard, Michael (InfoSec)" <michael.blanchard () emc com>]

Sorry, this guy is supposedly a trained professional....  he's not "most people" he should have known that DC issues 
their own license...

 At the very least, this "trained professional" did question a license he didn't recognize, so at least he was 
following protocol...  I'll give him credit for that at least...

Michael P. Blanchard
Principal Security Engineer, CISSP, GCIH, CCSA-NGX, MCSE
Cyber Security Services
EMC ² Corporation
32 Coslin Drive
Southboro, MA 01772


-----Original Message-----
From: funsec [mailto:funsec-bounces () linuxbox org] On Behalf Of Bill Terwilliger
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2014 12:57 AM
To: Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu
Cc: funsec () linuxbox org; rmslade () shaw ca
Subject: Re: [funsec] US capitol not in US, according to TSA

The guy reporting this is the same guy trying to make a big deal about it.  He has a vested interest in making the guy 
sound as dumb as possible otherwise he has no story.  The reporter is the only "source" in the report and there is no 
direct evidence that the TSA agent didn't know the capital of the united states.  All that is clear is that he didn't 
recognize the District of Columbia's drivers license as being valid.

I just typed "is washing" into google and the top auto complete options are:

- is washington dc a state
- is washington dc a city
- is washington dc in maryland
- is washington dc in virgina
- is washington a state

Clearly the TSA guard isn't the only one confused by the confusing status of DC.  It seems reasonable to me for someone 
to think that DC might not have its own license.  Admittedly, I knew that they did but that is only because I heard 
about DC's crazy voting status and did research.  Otherwise I probably wouldn't have known either and I bet that most 
Americans don't know for certain that DC has their own drivers license.

-bill

On Jul 17, 2014, at 11:47 PM, Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu wrote:

> On Thu, 17 Jul 2014 23:23:37 -0400, Bill Terwilliger said:
>
> > The comment about smart people being involved is a bit presumptive.
> > Geography knowledge may or may not be an indicator of intelligence but I
> > somehow doubt that lack of it is an indicator of stupidity.
>
> OK. I admit *I* don't know what a DC driver's license looks like either.
>
> But give me a *break*:
>
>  When Gray handed the man his driver's license the agent demanded to see Gray's
>  passport.
>  Gray told the agent he wasn't carrying his passport and asked why he needed it.
>  The agent said he didn't recognize the license.
>  Gray said he asked the agent if he knew what the District of Columbia is, and
>  after a brief conversation Gray realized the man did not know.
>
> OK?  The TSA guy *did not understand that DC is part of the US*.
>
> Which means the TSA's vetting process for employees is so weak that they'll
> hire *people who don't know where the fuck the capital of their own country is*.
>
> Now think *real* hard - would *you* hire a security guard who didn't even
> understand that Washington DC is our nation's capital?


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