Breaking: Michael Yon Arrested At US Border For Not Reporting His Salary
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UPDATE: A spokesman from U.S. Customs and Border Protection says there are two sides to every story. Details after the jump.
Airport security is a big deal these days. But since when has reporting your income been a matter of national security?
Michael Yon is an ex-Green Beret turned war correspondent who’s spent much of the past four years covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His passport, therefore, is likely to have the kind of stamps that might make TSA agents think twice, especially in the wake of Christmas Day’s underpants bomber.
But according to Yon, it was his refusal to tell SeaTac officials how much money he made that apparently landed him in cuffs.
Yon says he was rescued from his “border bullies” by Port Authority police who advised the agents (still trying to confirm if that means TSA or Border Patrol) to let him go. And in a later Facebook post, Yon said that his treatment at SeaTac was the worst he’d ever received, a pretty strong statement from a guy who’s made his way through airports in Brunei, Kuwait and, of course, Afghanistan.
Daily Weekly has a call in to the Port Authority police spokesperson’s office and TSA’s regional office to confirm the incident. We’ll let you know what we find out.
UPDATE: Unfortunately for us, the government’s side isn’t going to be made public anytime soon.
“In any situation there’s two sides to the story,” says CBP spokesman Mike Milne. “You’ve heard one side, and we’re prohibited by the Privacy Act from telling our side.”
Although Milne wouldn’t provide any details, he did say that TSA had nothing to do with Yon’s arrest. (A fact that should have been obvious to me — when was the last time you saw a TSA agent wearing handcuffs? — but I didn’t want to assume anything since Yon hadn’t been specific.)
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