Norton Talks D.C. Equality with TSA Administrator
The Transportation Security Administration appears to have set the record straight when it comes to driver’s licenses issued in Washington, D.C.
That’s the impression Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., had after a Friday phone call with TSA Administrator John S. Pistole.
“I applaud TSA for taking corrective action following the questioning of the right of a resident of the nation’s capital to board an airplane,” said Norton said in a statement, referring to a Presidents Day incident at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport.
An Arizona TSA agent questioned D.C. resident Ashley Brandt about her license as she waited in an airport security line to board a flight home after a trip to the Grand Canyon State. Brandt was eventually allowed to board the plane, after the agent consulted a supervisor.
Norton spoke to Pistole one day after mailing him a letter requesting that the TSA take steps to ensure all its employees be informed in their training that ID documents issued by the District of Columbia must be treated the same as state-issued IDs.
Norton, a longtime member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, learned that the TSA issued a communication to all its screening personnel in the wake of the highly publicized incident. The memo drove home the fact that D.C.-issued licenses are a valid form of ID.
Additionally, Pistole told Norton that the agency plans to hold a call with TSA federal security directors around the nation on the issue. Though she is reassured by Pistole’s actions,
Norton isn’t quite ready to put the issue to rest. She wants the incident to inform “not just TSA, but the entire nation of D.C.’s ongoing struggle for equality.”