This sounds like a good idea. The Transportation Security Administration, in order to offset costs of airport security, is selling ads to Zappos.com, which is a online shoe site. But I think there should be some questions asked and answer. First, TSA has a $6.3 billion budget and presumably most of that comes from the taxpayer. It is not clear on their web site just how much. Is the goal of these adds for TSA to be essentially revenue neutral? Or is it simply to leverage their funding base to alow them to spend more money on non-security related functions? Moreover, it would seem the rules governing the selling of these ads should be posted on their web site, along with disclosure of all bids submitted and any potential conflicts of interest within the department. Do any of the high-level bureaucrats have a financial interest in Zappos.com?

If I search their web site for zappos.com, I find nothing, and that seems to be an unacceptable absence of transparency, especially since the program has been in place over six months.

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