But look closely. They’re nowhere near an airport. In fact, if you’ve ever been to Washington, then you’ll recognize the area just outside a Metro station near a congressional office building.
This is just one the images the TSA didn’t want you to see last week.
How do I know? Because when I asked the agency assigned to protect America’s transportation systems about the picture, its response was “off the record” – meaning that I’m not allowed to tell you what it said.
But a legislative assistant who works in a nearby office building filled in the details.
“The two agents were at the Capitol South Metro Station roughly between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. Thursday evening,” he says. “They had a white table set up inside the station and were randomly inspecting purses and bags. There were also a few officers as you can see standing next to the dark blue van in the picture that were 10 yards or so past the table, standing watch.”
I was able to independently confirm that the TSA agents were there and that they were working. But beyond that, not much.
The fact that TSA operates outside of airports may come as a surprise to some Americans. The agency’s so-called Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response teams work mostly in mass transit in big metropolitan areas, but not exclusively. They’ve been seen at ballgames, truckstops and even reportedly got themselves banned from Amtrak stations for a short while.
But why were agents at the capitol? Maybe it had something to do with the presence of a group called Freedom to Travel USA?