TSA Defends Airport Security Measures to Search Toddlers
Filed under: In The News
Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee member Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. shows a picture he says is of a young girl being searched by the TSA. Credit: Jacquelyn Martin
Why?
You know terrorists. They hate our freedoms. She probably secretly despises us for our ability to see R-rated movies and stay up past 9 p.m.
We can't take any chances. Despite public concerns about privacy and propriety, we must thoroughly search her body before she gets on an airplane.
We dare not exclude little girls, old people and other extremely unlikely terrorism suspects from often invasive body searches, Transportation Safety Administration officials warn. At the very least, the real terrorists might see a weak link in our system and start strapping bombs to children and old ladies.
"It's not beyond Al Qaeda to use kids," the Christian Science Monitor quotes Bob Orr, CBS News' national security correspondent.
But, must we subject the very young and the very old to cavity searches? Not everyone is convinced.
A video of TSA officials patting down a 95-year-old woman has some people wondering whether or not airport security has gone too far.
TSA officials stand by their procedures. "We have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined that our officers acted professionally and according to proper procedure," reads a formal statement from the agency.
The Christian Scienc! e Monito r reports critics are not satisfied. They argue that "freedom fondles" can be traumatic for people who have experienced sexual abuse.
TSA officials tell the paper they're doing their best to be discreet. New scanners and pat-downs procedures where unveiled in November, and since then, TSA officials have made a few revisions to their policies affecting kids under 12.
Kids get "modified" pat-downs and are not searched as frequently.
Fred Cate, a professor at the Indiana University Maurer School of Law, wrote an open letter to Congress last year, calling the new screening policies "security theater."
"It looks like the agency is doing something, but it accomplishes nothing," the Christian Science Monitor quotes from the letter.
The paper reports only 3 percent of airline passengers get patted down. These are generally people who cannot be screened by imaging machines because they are unable to stand upright long enough or because they have a prosthetic or other medical device the machines can't interpret.
"Targeting travelers with medical devices seems especially cruel," Cate writes in his letter.
"It is a fine way to greet a veteran who has lost a limb in the service of his or her country or a cancer survivor who has fought a long and disabling war to say, 'We appreciate your sacrifice, and now we are going to delay and embarrass you every time you fly.' "
The problem is, TSA Administrator John Pistole tells the Christian Science Monitor, you can't trust anyone.
"I hope no grandmother would ever be a suicide bomber, but there have been two 64-year-olds who have committed suicide attacks," he tells the paper. "Where do you draw the line?"
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Comments