Travel writer subpoenaed after publishing TSA security directive

The author of a popular syndicated travel column was subpoenaed by the Department of Homeland Security after publishing a new security directive issued after the recent attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight into Detroit on Christmas Day.

The Transportation Security Administration sent an agent to the house of Christopher Elliott to deliver a subpoena demanding “[a]ll documents, emails, and/or faxsimile transmissions (sic) in your control possession or control concerning your receipt of TSA Security Directive 1544-09-06 dated December 25, 2009,” Uptake’s Travel Industry blog reports. Elliott, the reader advocate at National Geographic Traveler and contributor to MSNBC.com and The Washington Post, had published the full text of the new directive on his blog earlier this week.

Elliott has not said how he will respond to the subpoena, which he believes is an attempt to uncover who gave him the directive, except that he plans on talking to his attorney.