Television reporter Justin Gray was stunned when he was stopped by a Transportation Safety Administration agent who didn’t know that the District of Columbia is in the United States, according to
central Florida's WFTV news.
During a security check at Orlando International Airport, the agent looked at Gray’s D.C. driver’s license and then asked to see his passport.
Gray, a Washington correspondent for WFTV, said that he didn’t have his passport and asked the agent why he needed it. The agent replied that he didn’t recognize the license, according to WFTV.
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The newsman then asked the agent if he knew what the District of Columbia is, and after a brief conversation Gray ascertained that the officer didn't know it’s the nation’s capital.
After Gray passed through security, he spoke to a TSA supervisor and expressed his concern about the caliber of TSA employees at the airport who are meant to ensure passengers’ safety.
While confirming that a D.C. license is an acceptable form of identification, a TSA spokesman said, "Officers are trained to identify fraudulent documents, which can potentially deter and detect individuals attempting to circumvent this layer of security."
But Douglas Kidd, of the National Association of Airline Passengers, told WFTV that the TSA’s problems are far greater than one agent’s need of a geography lesson.
"They simply have not been either applying or maintaining standards for good personnel," said Kidd. "It makes you wonder what's going on with their training and their policies."
The TSA has since shown copies of a D.C. license to its Orlando agents to prevent such an incident from happening again, WFTV said.
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