“Are we going to start detaining every tourist who takes pictures of a bridge, or the Statue of Liberty, or the Washington Monument, or any other national landmark that happens to be both a tourist attraction and a potential terrorism target. Has legislation been passed that makes photography of landscapes or landmarks an offense that is probable cause for detention?”
No, but if the cops can run our information when they pull us over for whatever, they can check and see if a guy they’ve detained is on the terrorist watch list. Certainly, letting him go and THEN checking seems like seeing if the barn door is closed after you’ve noticed you have no animals left.
They didn't detain him and let him go. They asked him a few questions. The article (what bare little there is of it) specifically stated that they asked him questions but didn't detain him.