Name:   MrHodja - Subject:   SAP's .......... from a former SAP manager Date:   3/17/2016 12:11:46 PM (updated 3/17/2016 12:18:29 PM)

Came back last day of Feb.  Their version of TSA is hyper about anything in your carry ons.  Took stuff from me I had been carrying on board in the US and back and forth to Italy, France, Spain and Portugal for probably 20 years.  After we passed through the security line (and TSA Pre-Check doesn't mean squat to them) my wife bought a plastic bottle of water....but there was another security screening at the gate and they took away the bottle of water she bought INSIDE THE SECURITY PERIMETER!

I will say two things regarding classification and protecting classified information.  First, the Governemnt IN GENERAL grossly over classifies information, and second, there are many individuals in Government who play fast and loose with rules for handling classified information.

When I was handling the secure voice communications program for the Air Force, we had a small section across the hall that nobody seemed to know what they did.  All I knew was when they said they needed something it became the AF's number one priority.  Only one outside of their group was briefed in their operation, and when they asked for something I simply asked him if it was a real requirement and if he said yes, it bypassed all other requirements.  While I could roughly estimate what I thought they might be doing by piecing together bits of information...locations, aircraft, and such I never knew for sure and don't until this day know what they were doing.  I do know that one day an Army 0-6 who hitched a ride in our car pool spit out what I assumed to be the name of the program, based on what he was talking about and the reaction of another in the car.  Also, in an open meeting one time an NSA rep casually used the top secret code word in open conversation.  I wasn't briefed at that point in time so didn't know if maybe it had been declassified, especially since Henry Kissinger was photographed at some international meeting thumbing through a folder with the TS code word written on the outside cover in bold letters.  I found out later it had not been declassified.