In light of new reports alleging that the TSA is creating a watch list of individuals who criticized the agency as a form of collective punishment, it’s revealing to note that CNN journalist Drew Griffin was also put on a TSA watch list immediately after he filed reports critical of the organization back in 2008.As we highlighted earlier this week, a reported TSA memo was circulated at the height of last month’s opt out controversy which “officially addresses those who are opposed to, or engaged in the disruption of the implementation of the enhanced airport screening procedures as ‘domestic extremists’.”

In response to the story, former Congressman Bob Barr filed a Freedom of Information Act request which demanded to know if the TSA had categorized those leading the charge against invasive security measures, namely Matt Drudge, Alex Jones, and John Tyner, via the websites drudgereport.com and prisonplanet.com, as “domestic extremists”.

There can be no doubt whatsoever that Homeland Security has engaged in political witch hunts against Americans critical of big government. Earlier this year, Big Sis was caught spying on Tea Party groups as well as State Representative Daryl Metcalfe.

The TSA itself has also listed journalists critical of its policies as potential terrorists, ostensibly as a punishment and a warning to other reporters that if they broadcast anything negative about the agency then they will be bracketed together with Al-Qaeda members and be forced to endure copious amounts of hassle and harassment every time they wish to fly.

Shortly after he began a series of investigative reports that were critical of the TSA in May 2008, CNN journalist Drew Griffin was placed on a watch list that at the time had swelled to over a million names. TSA claimed that he was unfortunate enough to share the name with another Drew Griffin who had been legitimately placed on the list, but then denied that he was on the list altogether and blamed the airlines. The airlines responded by saying they were merely following a list provided to them by the TSA.

“Coincidentally, this all began in May, shortly after I began a series of investigative reports critical of the TSA,” said Griffin. “Eleven flights now since May 19. On different airlines, my name pops up forcing me to go to the counter, show my identification, sometimes the agent has to make a call before I get my ticket,” Griffin reported. “What does the TSA say? Nothing, at least nothing on camera. Over the phone a public affairs worker told me again I’m not on the watch list, and don’t even think that someone in the TSA or anyone else is trying to get even.”

Given the fact that the TSA has made a habit out of deceiving the American people and spinning the truth about airport security, the notion that Griffin was deliberately targeted by the TSA as a punishment for his critical reports about the agency is almost a given.

The fact that the TSA curtailed its so-called ‘imperative’ security measures for several days around Thanksgiving as a political ploy to deflate the opt out day protest shows that the agency will go to any lengths to deflect criticism.

The TSA has now announced that it will check the name of every traveler against a government watch list 72 hours before they fly, greasing the skids for “domestic extremists” who exercise their first amendment right to speak out against the TSA to be harassed and hindered.

Former Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff was later confronted on the Griffin case by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. Chertoff parroted the TSA line in claiming that Griffin merely had the same name as another suspected terrorist.

The outcome of Bob Barr’s FOIA request is eagerly awaited as it will give an insight into how the TSA responded internally to the national outrage surrounding body scanners and pat downs, while also giving an indication as to whether people like Matt Drudge and Alex Jones were placed on a watch list for having the temerity to stand up to children being sexually molested by low-paid thugs in uniforms.

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We were on the Watch List for a while in 2005 - 2006. Every time my wife and I wanted to fly somewhere we couldn't be checked-in until the clerk made a mysterious phone call and waited five minutes for a response. Our crime? We had flown in June 2004 when they selected test subjects for the list.

I sent the TSA a politely worded, very pissed-off letter with copies of our birth certificates, passports, military papers and security clearances. The harassment stopped.

Now I'm feeling rather neglected that I'm not on the list again. I have been hard at work mocking the imbecile in the white house, the hag at TSA and the witch in the state department along with all the other useless consumers of money and oxygen in Washington.

Matt Drudge and Alex Jones made the Watch List, John Tyner, and now Drew Griffin. I will admit that they have bigger operations than mine, and maybe most of their stuff is original work, not stolen from someone else, but we small operators deserve to be recognized too.

I keep sending my best work to the appropriate government agencies, ICE, TSA, DHS, Whitehouse.gov, depending on who was the target of the page. Do you know those assholes don't even reply with an acknowledgement?

Truth is, I suspect by now they think that on top of being a rightwing extremist domestic terrorist, that I'm also an unpredictable loony. (There is another psychological warfare lesson, free of charge.) So I'm probably already on the Watch List. That could be good or bad the next time I go to an airport. If I have time, I could use that to play a championship game of mind-fuck with the TSA morons.

But the next time I ever go near an airport might be to head for a family funeral in Massachusetts, in which case, I will be under some stress and not in the mood to put up with any bullshit. Things could go very badly for the TSA and for me. It will be in all the newspapers.