The mystery deepens. I just got this from a reader who

identifies himself as a ticket agent. He asked that his name, airline and

city not be publicized:

Have you ever checked in at the airport and ever got the dread SSSS on your boarding pass? That of course will direct you to secondary screening. Now for most people that’s a “random” thing. I have checked many of the rich and famous and of course many of the poor and obscure. I have seen a retired astronaut as well as Sir Richard Branson get the SSSS on the boarding pass I handed to them. They were the “randoms”. However there is one other condition that will guarantee SSSS on the boarding pass. That is that the traveler presents identification from a state sponsor of terrorism. Syria and Iran among others appear on that FAA list. There is an entry I can make that will guarantee the SSSS. For passengers that have state sponsor of terrorism identification I am required to make this entry. Needless to say to Syrian passports are very,very rare but I have seen them along with the others on the list. So anybody presenting a Syrian passport checking in with **** Airlines would have to get SSSS on their boarding pass and get the secondary screening. This is an FAA requirement and failure to do so is considered a security violation. So everyone of those “Syrians” if that is indeed what they were should have had secondary and there is no PC way or not for that to have not occurred. Even if they did not check in with same agent they would still wind up in secondary all 14 of them. A group of “musicians” with a lot bags and equipment would have to see an agent.

What do you guys make of this?