> The IG found that the search was based on a tip by an airline employee who passed on the names of passengers who had purchased flights 48 hours before departure. That employee was being paid by the DEA a percentage of the cash seized, the IG found, and had received tens of thousands of dollars over several years. That arrangement is problematic, investigators concluded.

How come this is not a fireable offense in any company? This person is leaking a customer's PII to a third party (DEA, in this case). It doesn't really matter if it's to a government official, unless there was a warrant and the airline's Legal council involved.

Am I missing anything? This feels outrageous that airlines are letting this happen. Is there a law that allows employees to break any company's policies under the guise of "suspicion of a crime being committed, even without a warrant"?

And it's even worse that the "profits" are being shared with said employee, and this is not seen as bribery and corruption.

Presumably the airline is unaware of the practice by employees. How would they know? Not like the the employee or DEA is going to make them aware and confidential informants aren’t named in court documents.