Rep. Norton Urges TSA to Take Corrective Action After DC License Rejected to Board Plane

Photo by PoPville flickr user zoeicaimages

From a press release:

“Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today wrote a letter to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) following an incident in which D.C. resident Ashley Brandt was initially prevented from boarding a flight because a TSA agent wrongfully believed that a District of Columbia-issued license was an invalid form of identification. The letter requests that TSA Administrator John Pistole ensure that all TSA employees are informed now and in their training that official identification issued by D.C. must be treated the same as state-issued identification, and to remind them that D.C. residents are American citizens and deserve to be treated as such. The letter urges the same for residents of the five U.S. territories.

Norton, in her letter, wrote, “I have since called Ms. Brandt to apologize that a U.S. government employee would question the right of a resident of the nation’s capital to board an airplane… This incident involving Ms. Brandt was so bizarre and ludicrous that it has captured press attention and reflects poorly on the management of TSA.”

Norton’s statement on the incident, released yesterday, is online, here.

And don’t forget the problems with the temporary paper licenses too…