In the wake of public outcry against the Transportation Security Administration for serving civil subpoenas on two bloggers, the government agency has canceled the legal action and apologized for the strong-arm tactics agents used.

Travel writer and photographer Steven Frischling, who was served with a subpoena by two TSA agents on Tuesday, told Threat Level that he received a phone call Thursday evening from John Drennan, deputy chief counsel for enforcement at TSA, telling him the administration was withdrawing its subpoena.

TSA Special Agent John Enright, left, speaks to Steven Frischling outside the blogger's home in Niantic, Connecticut, after returning Frischling's laptop Wednesday.

Photo: Thomas Cain/Wired.com

Frischling was told the TSA would no longer be pursuing the investigation into how he received a security directive that he published on his personal blog, Flying with Fish, on Dec. 27.

The administration told the Associated Press that its investigation was “nearing a successful conclusion and the subpoenas are no longer in effect.”

Frischling, who writes another blog for KLM Dutch Royal Airlines, says Drennan apologized to him when he learned that the two TSA agents who visited him had threatened to get him fired from his KLM contract if he didn’t provide them with information about an anonymous source who sent him the security directive.

“He was a bit taken aback when I was telling him about the heavy tactics that they were going to use to sever my contract with KLM,” Frischling says.

Drennan also promised to make sure the administration resolved issues that Frischling has been having with his laptop ever since the agents seized it to image the hard drive.

Frischling says the laptop was returned to him with “tons and tons of bad sectors” and a corrupt operating system. The audio on his computer has also stopped working, and a red light glows from the audio jack.

“I can essentially use the computer, but I don’t know for how long,” he says. “Whoever did this thing, did it fast and dirty and not to my benefit.”

A second blogger who was also served a subpoena on Tuesday, Christopher Elliott, was also told his subpoena was being withdrawn. Elliott had refused to cooperate with the agent who served him the subpoena and had indicated to the TSA that he would be challenging the subpoena in federal court next week.

The TSA issued its security directive after a would-be terrorist tried to ignite a bomb on an airplane on Dec. 25. The directive, sent to airports and airlines around the world, temporarily revised screening procedures and put new restrictions on passengers in the wake of the attempt by the so-called underwear bomber.

The document, which was not classified, was posted by numerous bloggers. Information from it was also published on some airline websites.

Frischling said the two agents who visited him arrived around 7 p.m. Tuesday, were armed and threatened him with a criminal search warrant if he didn’t provide the name of his source. They also indicated they could get him designated a security risk, which would make it difficult for him to travel and do his job.

“They came to the door and immediately were asking, ‘Who gave you this document?, Why did you publish the document?’ and ‘I don’t think you know how much trouble you’re in.’ It was very much a hardball tactic,” he told Threat Level.

The agents searched through Frischling’s BlackBerry and iPhone and questioned him about a number of phone numbers and messages in the devices.

The agents then tried to image his hard drive, but were unable to do so.

Frischling said the keyboard on his laptop was no longer working after the agents tried to copy his files. The agents left, but returned Wednesday morning and, with Frischling’s consent, seized his laptop, which they returned that afternoon after copying his hard drive. Frischling has experienced a number of problems with the computer since then.

www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/12/tsa-withdraws-subpoenas/