Political activist detained by TSA for carrying cash

April 2, 1:46 PMCivil Liberties ExaminerJ.D. Tuccille

Previous Next

31 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Civil Liberties Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Steve Bierfeldt

The show-me state made the news recently when the Missouri Information Analysis Center, a state-federal law-enforcement partnership, released an inflammatory report alleging that libertarians, constitutionalists, supporters of Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and other people skeptical of powerful government should be considered as potential terrorists-in-the-making. The controversial document has since been withdrawn, but you have to wonder when a twenty-something official with Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty gets rousted by TSA agents in the St. Louis airport for carrying ... cash.

Steve Bierfeldt, Director of Development for the organization, kept his cool during the encounter. We know that because he activated the recording function on his cell phone and captured almost all of the incident for posterity. The TSA agents harangued him for asking what his legal rights were while he was questioned in a detention room. They accused him of behaving "like a child" when he simply wanted to know whether he was legally compelled to answer certain questions.

The apparent cause of the encounter was Bierfeldt's possession of roughly $4,700 in cash, the take from sales of books, T-shirts and merchandise at a regional conference in the city.

Is it any of the TSA's business that Bierfeldt was carrying cash? (What? Was he going to pummel the stewardess with a roll of twenties?)

And it's revealing that the agents were apparently offended that their detainee politely inquired into his own rights instead of instantly submitting.

Andrew Napolitano at Fox News has part of the recording along with some background information.

By the way, I'll lay odds that the comments in the ear of the TSA types by the supposed undercover FBI agent who intervened to release Bierfeldt included the words, "Just how stupid are you?"

email J.D.: civilliberties (at) tuccille.com