TSA Enhanced Pat Downs : The Screeners Point Of View
In the past few weeks since the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) implemented its new “enhanced” pat down procedures there has been considerable backlash from the traveling public. This backlash has been loud and angry … but what is not heard or seen in the media is the quiet resentment of this new policy within the TSA.
A few days ago I contacted 20 TSA Transportation Security Officers (TSO) to ask their opinions of the new “enhanced” pat downs. Of the 20 I reached out to, 17 responded. All 17 who responded are at airports where the new “enhanced” pat down is in place … and the responses were all the same, that front line TSOs do not like the new pat downs and that they do not want to perform them. I expected most to not like the pat downs … but what I didn’t expect was that all 17 mentioned their morale being broken down.
Each of the 17 TSA TSOs that responded to me detailed their personal discomfort in conducting the new pat downs, with more than one stating that it is likely they are more uncomfortable performing the pat down than passengers are receiving them.
Some comments from these TSOs include:
“It is not comfortable to come to work knowing full well that my hands will be feeling another man’s private parts, their butt, their inner thigh. Even worse is having to try and feel inside the flab rolls of obese passengers and we seem to get a lot of obese passengers!”
“Do you think I want to go to work and place my hands between women’s legs and touch their breasts for a few hours? For starters, I am attracted to men, not women and if I was attracted to women, it would not be the large number of passengers I handle daily that have a problem understanding what personal hygiene is.”
“Yesterday a passenger told me to keep my hands off his penis or he’d scream. Is this how a 40 year old man in business attire acts? He’ll scream? My 3 year old can get away with saying he’ll scream, but a 40 something business man? I am a professional doing my job, whether I agree with this current policy or not, I am doing my job. I do not want to be here all day touching penises.”
“Being a TSO means often being verbally abused, you let the comments roll off and check the next person, however when a woman refuses the scanner then comes to me and tells me that she feels like I am molesting her, that is beyond verbal abuse. I asked the woman if she thought I like touching other women all day and she told me that I probably did or I wouldn’t be with the TSA. I just want to tell these people that I feel disgusted feeling other peoples private parts, but I cannot because I am a professional.”
“I was asked by some guy if I got excited touching scrotums at the airport and if it gave me a power thrill. I felt like vomiting when he asked that. This is not a turn on for me to touch me it is in fact a huge turn off. There is a big difference between how I pat passengers down and a molester molesting people.”
Aside from the issue of TSA TSOs being required to physically touch passengers in places they do not want to be touching them during the ‘enhanced’ pat down, morale is decreasing for front line TSOs, due in part to an increase in verbal abuse. Each of the 17 TSOs who responded to me detailed a new level of verbal abuse they are experiencing at work.
The TSA has experienced a high level of turn over since its inception, however its turnover rate has decreased recently. With this decrease in morale, caused directly by a change in TSA policy, it is likely to begin experiencing a higher than average turn over again … which will further decrease the effectiveness of airport security.
Some comments from these 17 TSOs include:
“Molester, pervert, disgusting, an embarrassment, creep. These are all words I have heard today at work describing me, said in my presence as I patted passengers down. These comments are painful and demoralizing, one day is bad enough, but I have to come back tomorrow, the next day and the day after that to keep hearing these comments. If something doesn’t change in the next two weeks I don’t know how much longer I can withstand this taunting. I go home and I cry. I am serving my country, I should not have to go home and cry after a day of honorably serving my country.”
“I come to work to do my job. It is not up to me to decide policy, it is up to me to carry out my duties as dictated by the Transportation Security Administration. When a person stands in front of me and calls me a pervert or accuses me of molesting them it is disheartening. People fail to understand that neither of us are happy about the intrusive pat down I am carrying out. I am polite, I am professional and while someone may not like what I have to carry out, they came to me because they choose not to utilize the alternative and less invasive method of security at my airport.”
“I served a tour in Afghanistan followed by a tour in Iraq. I have been hardened by war and in the past week I am slowly being broken by the constant diatribe of hateful comments being lobbed at me. While many just see a uniform with gloves feeling them for concealed items I am a person, I am a person who has feelings. I am a person who has served this country. I am a person who wants to continue serving his country. The constant run of hateful comments while I perform my job will break me down faster and harder than anything I encountered while in combat in the Army.”
“Do people know what a Nazi is? One can’t describe me as a Nazi because I am following a security procedure of designed to find prohibited items on a passenger’s body. A Nazi is someone with hatred and ignorance in their hearts, a person who carried out actions of execution and extermination of those based on their religion, origins or sexual preferences. I work to make travel safer, even if I do not agree with the current security procedures. Further more, I am Jewish and a TSA Transportation Security Officer, an American Patriot and to call me a Nazi is an offense beyond all other offenses.”
There are multiple sides to every story, and I think the point of view of those on the front lines of the TSA, those required to carry on the policy and procedures created by the TSA, are an import part of this story. I think those organizing efforts to change the TSA’s policy should also consider the impact to the TSA TSOs.
Rather than dehumanize the TSA TSOs, work with them, understand their views and opinions and work together to change the current TSA policies.
Happy Flying!
I’ll throw another +1 to the fact that “I’m just doing my job” is not an acceptable excuse. I will also continue to *verbally* abuse any TSA agent that *physically* abuses me. If they continue to dehumanize me, I will continue to dehumanize them. If they do not like being called perverts or child molesters then they should quit. Jobs are hard to come by? Not for me…but then again, I took my education seriously and learned a lot of highly marketable skills other than how to stroke a penis four times to make sure it’s not a bomb. I’m quite happy to know that what I and others are saying to the molesters is having an effect and that the passengers are not the only ones who have to deal with the emotional distress that comes with the new procedures.
These patdowns are not about protecting us from terrorism. The new patdowns *are* terrorism. There are innocent people who are now terrified to go through airport security.
Also…”Numerous independent physicists have shown the backscatter scanners to emit less radiation than passengers are exposed to while flying.”
Numerous independent physicists have also pointed out that while it is true that the total amount of radiation from the backscatter machines is less than what passengers are exposed to while flying, the backscatter machines *artificially focus the radiation at the topmost few layers of the skin*. In addition, the type of radiation created by the machines are of a different type than the radiation to which you are subjected during a flight. When you factor in those considerations the radiation exposure story becomes a lot different. Furthermore, the backscatter radiation is *in addition to*, not instead of, what you still get during a flight.
These procedures are simply absurbed. Who is runnning the TSA agency? Everything that is being done to the American public should be done to the powers that came up with this. pat down. I am sure they would not like it done to them. It is not a pat down, it is really in appropriate touching, better known as sexual assult. Police officers are highly trained professionals and they are not allowed to do pat downs the way the TSA agents are doing them. They could be faced with charges, or sued. Male officers are not allowed to pat down a female suspects, most times they call for a female officer to do it, and they do not grope and touch and massage the breast, and never, never, would their hands touch the genitalia. I heard a District Attorney from California say that in some states what the TSA agents are doing could be considered a crime from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Why can’t they send the TSA agents to a police training facility to get trained by professional law enforcement training officers. There is always a right way and a wrong way in doing something.
How long was the full body scanner tested on the adverse effects on humans? I would think that it is a high amount of radiation. Even in a medical facility when you have to get an X-ray you are given a protective covering for your reprocuction organs. It is scary, what’s going on in America today, especially when you have people in positions that don’t make the best decisions for all of Americans, and foriegners that travel into America.
They should ask the question would this policy be in line with Constitution, and if not go back to the drawing board and tweak it, and keep tweaking until they get it right.
I traveled on AmTrak, and while getting my tickets and waiting for the train, there where officers with dogs going through the entire train station. The dogs sniff around passengers, luggages, and trash cans. Dogs are trained to sniff out any odors that could possibly be drugs or a bomb.
Prevention is the motive, a better solution is out there, and they need to find it.
If you can’t store photos, how would TSA present evidence in court? What’s to stop a technician from using his iPhone to take photos of the scanner display?
I am so sick of the chidlish way people are handling this. Name calling, self centeredness etc. I cant wait till Opt Out Day..I cant wait to see how many of you complainers are willing to PUT UP OR SHUT UP. When everyone is missing their flights, including you, because of your childish protest which apparently you expect TSA to open lines and wave everyone though, I cant wait to see how many of you really stand up for the crap coming out of your mouths.I really cant wait to see the news and hearing complainers yelled at by those who have no problem going through the line and getting scanned. I cant wait to see how many of you refuse to go through the line, refuse to be screened or hold up the line to slow things down.I for one hope they do it..Not only will they miss their flights due to stupidity but everyone else too and we will see how is a blow hard and who will smile in line and bitch when they get out.
Some day a terrorist is going to hide a bomb inside a rectum or vagina, which neither the x-rays nor the enhanced pat down is going to be able to detect. What then? Will the entire flying public be subjected to rectal exams or hard x-rays before getting on a plane? Why not do that now? We always react AFTER the terrorists try something new.
Honestly, for those who believe that TSOs deserve the treatment they’re receiving because they “chose this profession” that’s utterly ridiculous. These pat downs and screenings have not been in effect for long and more likely than not, these people have had their jobs for years before this procedure, possibly before 9/11 even. I highly doubt they took a job as a TSO because they’d be able to “molest” people a decade or so later.
It’s hard enough to find a job in this economy as is and these people are holding onto the job that they have. If you don’t irritate them, they can finish their job quickly and both of you can move on. Why waste your energy making an unnecessary scene? If you don’t make a big deal, you’ll forget about it within the week while you’re on your vacation.
The best (*most hypocritical) part is, if the TSA does remove these precautions and, God forbid, another attack or something of that nature happens, the same people who were so against the body screenings and pat downs will be the first to blame the TSA for lack of security.
Wow. So, they make rude comments of the bodies of the passengers — whose tax dollars are paying their wages, by the way — and this is supposed to make me feel sorry for them?
Well, let me give them the same exact cold comfort their bosses are shelling out to the flying public: If you don’t like the policies, then you don’t have to work for the TSA. Working for the TSA is not a Constitutionally-guarenteed right.
Calling their passengers fat and unclean is effectively dehumanizing them. If your goal here, Steven, was to garner some sympathy for these guys, EPIC FAIL.
Mr. Burns
You are so far off in never never land I can’t even begin to formulate a response to your comments; “most TSOs are sexual deviants, pedophiles, and child molesters” where in the hell did you get your information. And all you other idiots who keep complainng about the 4th amendment need to go back to basic US civics class. When a passenger enters the checkpoint they have given “implied consent” to a search. Even the 9th circuit court one of the most liberal in all our country has ruled time and time again that these searches are reasonable to ensure safety of the flying public.
Educate yourself or don’t fly: See definition
Implied consent is a form of consent which is not expressly granted by a person, but rather inferred from a person’s actions and the facts and circumstances of a particular situation (or in some cases, by a person’s silence or inaction).
The Fourth Amendment requires the government to respect “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons ․ and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. “A search or seizure is ordinarily unreasonable in the absence of individualized suspicion of wrongdoing. While such suspicion is not an ‘irreducible’ component of reasonableness, [the Supreme Court has] recognized only limited circumstances in which the usual rule does not apply.” City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32, 37, 121 S.Ct. 447, 148 L.Ed.2d 333 (2000) (citations omitted). However, “where the risk to public safety is substantial and real, blanket suspicionless searches calibrated to the risk may rank as ‘reasonable’-for example, searches now routine at airports and at entrances to courts and other official buildings.”
Vapor,
The TSA needs no evidence in court from the scanners. Any prohibited items would be found by a physical hand check after the scanner alarms. The evidence would then be collected, tagged and sent along. The scanner does not but alert a human than a hand check is needed.
Happy Flying!
-Fish
“My odds of dying from a terrorist attack are far less than those of getting cancer from the body scanner, even if I believe the TSA numbers (which I don’t).”
You’ve just replaced one hysterical fear for another. Do you really believe that the risk of DYING of cancer from the scanner (as opposed to, say, your dental X-rays) is high?
I am really disturbed at the hypocrisy and class snobbery against these agents.
I would bet that the majority of the people commenting here are desk drones for companies that commit evils on a daily basis. Like the TSA policy makers, you hide behind lowly line staff, and then talk high-and-mighty about making a principled stand.
I’m just serving my country. I don’t decide the policy. I’m a professional doing my job.
Does ANYONE feel sorry for these self-deluded, servile little drones?
The best part was definitely the “Do people know what a Nazi is?”
Yeah, spineless collaborators just doing their jobs.
I am baffled by those of you who do not see the wrong in the policy of the TSA .
It is an infringment of my rights and yours
Options are
1 to be radiated
2 to be invasively searched
3 fine and possible criminal charges
Should I choose to be radiated if it is unclear, I still face an invasive search. If I am required to fly for my job I have no choice I am extorted to submit to this personal invasion.
As many have said the advice I should quit my job that requires travel is the same as advising tso to quit thiers. A job that requires travel is not infringing on anyone’s personal liberties where as tso’s job does this is difference.
Yes I do understand the economic situation and have been in same situation. It is often difficult to do the right thing to stand up for your rights. It is difficult to walk away from a job you need, but that does not excuse your supporting something that is so clearly wrong. I have done it, it was difficult and It was hard on me but now I have clear conscience I do not go home crying anymore.
No I do not condone taunts to the TSO but I can understand the complaints as long as its not verbally abusive they need to stomach what is said people do still have a right to grievances. No one is rushing to defend the telemarketers and sales people on the end of verbally abusive tyrades. It has been shown that the tsa is on the whole ineffectual, so protecting my safety, they most definitely are not. It is not helped on the whole tso’s attitudes are disrespectful. I have personally had encounters with TSO they are often rude and inconsiderate bordering on out and out hateful.
The reason people are comparing tsa to nazi and abusers is because the parrellel is there. Yes the atrocities by nazis were horrid and Yes sexual abuse is despicable. Rights abuses often start small same as any other abuse. As soon as the victim becomes acclimated to one abuse another will be added.
Rights are yours and mine and we should fight to keep them not give them away for the illusion of safety. Stop giving away your rights. The problem with US these days is no one stands for anything. We are all hoping someone else with stand for us, but when they do often times they are shouted down.
Change doesnt happen overnight it is made little by little, turn the tide push back now while you can. if you do not push to keep your rights they will disappear.
Fact: All of the potential bombing threats originated outside the US
Fact: The majority of foreign airports do not follow the TSA’s screening procedures.
Fact: Statistically insignificant probability of a threat coming from a DC to Boston commuter flight.
1 alysha – you are black therefore side wiht the low paid screeners
2 we do not agree – they write THEIR laws in such a way they can claim IMPLIED CONSENT
3 get a clue B
the COURT can not assert something is reasonable, they can only assert if
it is constitutional!
that makes it a fact of law, their opinion on reasonableness is an OPINION!
Hey, Barbara….these “desk drones” don’t grab someones privates. Are you wanting to do this? Do you think it’s right just because of some arbitrary rule?
Come on by sometime baby. I won’t fly. You can just come on by and play with my cock anytime. I’ll even let you “pat me down” while wearing your cute little blue uniform.
You little whore you.
an OPT out is no different than TSA agents standing around drinking coffee while only 1 line is running ,slowing down all the passengers
not flying anywhere wednesday/ to join – buy full fare ticket , participate, and then go home and get your money back!
to 712 Barbara- and all like her. and the TSA Goons
Your insight is moronic…we are not desk drones. As a professional flyer I travel from east to west coast and back weekly, am on more planes in one week that you have flown in five years. You are clueless. As for what others like me bring to the economy and the country-you dont hold a candle. I have been to Iraq 3 times for the country-and we dont even search CONVICTED TERRORISTS like this- they have rights when captured moron-even on a battlefield.
Money where my mouth is: Instead of flying Southwest -the 1 hour and ten minute flight from San Diego to Sacramento for Thanksgiving, I just drove 480 miles and it took me 9 hours- thats how much I believe in what TSA is doing is wrong. I opted Out one day early.
Why dont you go to the airport and have your grandchild -a toddler- xrayed and felt up by a TSA goon. Once you have to explain to the little one that the TSA agent is bad, and the only reason they were allowed to touch them was that you were there, and that under no circumstances are they ever to allow anyone to touch them without Mommy of Daddy there , then you can have an opinion, until then FO-keep your liberal trype to yourself you NAZI supporter. You really need to read your German history.
Wow, a totalitarian apologist blog! Who would have thought.
GET THIS STRAIGHT: The loss of liberty is incremental and the Nazis and the communists didn’t start killing people on day one. They PROGRESSED to that.
Every knuckle dragging pervert who works for TSA does so by choice. They are all just as gulity as Napolitano. “I was just doing my job” was not an excuse at Nuremberg and it’s not an excuse now.
BTW, while these scum bags feel up little kids and get off on the naked pictures, 80% of the baggage in the cargo hold goes unckecked. This is not about “security” and never was. It’s about tyranny and getting people to accept it.
I have no sympathy for the TSA workers. The ones I have seen are mostly a gang of rude power-tripping bums. Of course this is just a reflection of the government they work for. I say opt out and bring the naked scans and the obscene groping to a halt. Otherwise, I am sure it will continue to get even worse. Personally, I have stopped flying altogether until we have airport security with common sense built in.
@673 Stephen Carpenter
Hi there,
wow, there is a lot of activity on this forum hey?
I agree, if a full cavity-search-naked-in-public ragime was imposed, I wouldn’t complain either, I just wouldn’t go.
I think the airlines would complain though, right? Because they wouldn’t be able to get antyone to fly.
These security measures are not imposed on the “people”, they are imposed on the airline. Are they complaining? Not really, not as much as some people would have it. Why? Because, in the bigger picture, not many people care enough about the new security measures not to fly, the “people” just arn’t that bothered, the recent failure of “opt-out day” and other boycotts would seem to demonstrate this.
And yes, there are people that would use “security” to justify anything. But as it seems popular to hold the exact letter of the constitution as gospel, it seems weird that there are so many calls of “violation of rights” etc when the letter of the constitution is not being broken as long as terms such as “reasonable” and “justified” can be defined at any chosen time or place.
As for humiliation? If I see someone getting a pat down, standing there, srms out, not making a fuss – I see someone who bears inconvenience and discomfort with dignity and tolerance.
When I see someone making a song and dance, refusing to be searched, or allowing the search but still complaining like theres no tomorrow – then I see someone who lacks self-control, self-awareness, dignity, empathy and respect.
Humiliation is largely in your control at all times.
Interesting debate this, I hope nobody takes my remarks as inflamatory.
I choose to ignore all the shouts of “peadophile” and “Nazi” because those are called by people who can’t string two words of an argument together without forgetting what their point was in the first place.
@714 philip
Whilst I may not agree with everything you say or the tone used, I am curious as to the actual differences that you percieve between the treatment of a prisoner-of-war and someone in line at airport security?
it’s interesting to read these blogs and articles. what stands out is that all the TSOs claim to be professionals only doing their jobs. for me as a european being a professional includes not only doing what i am told to do but also using my brain and think about what i am doing. don’t these professionals have a personal ethic they apply? if the vast majority of the TSOs is opposed to that practice, shouldn’t they just stop doing it? for me one thing is for sure: as soon as my personal ethics and my company’s ethics are not combinable anymore, i leave.
btw, after evaluating all the cost, the loss of freedom, the panic and of course all the dead, be ensured, we have already lost. maye we should just stop and get back to normal after all…
Oh, those poor TSA agents who are so terrible morally broken and only do their job. Why don’t they look for another one? Why does any proud American do a job, where he has to molest children men or women? Their Job? You got the same argument from the employees at Ausschwitz.
THey know, it is wrong what they are doing? Then they have to step down without any further discussion.
Might be frequent flyers like me ( 200 k miles plus p.a. ) should start funding a fond for former TSA agents who step down by moral reasons.
Say what you will, but the TSO’s out there demonstrate an attitude of superiority, dominion, and power. They do so because wearing the badge is the only way many of them can validate their pathetic, uneducated lives.
they don’t enjoy being on the giving end, we don’t enjoy being on the receiving end, and it does no good.
But someone sure made out with a boatload of cash in the last 2 years for those scanners and the lobbying that put em’ in our airports.
TSA wouldn’t be having such a hard time had they not already proven that their people are thieves, molesters, liars, and abusers of power.
Whatever they get, bottom or top…it’s well deserved.
PLEASE GOD ALLOW THE US “TSA” TO SCREEN AS THEY SEE FIT TO KEEP OUR PLANES SAFE FROM THE BAD PEOPLE OUT TO GET US EVER SINGLE DAY. YOU PEOPLE ARE A DISGRACE TO HUMANS AND ARE PATHETIC AS HUMANS. YOUR RIGHTS CAN BE MUCH BETTER IF YOU MOVE TO AFGAN. TAKE YOUR WORTHLESS KIDS WITH YOU, AS I AM SURE THEY ARE WORTHLESS SINCE YOU RAISED THEM. AND I AM SURE YOU ARE A WORTHLESS SINGLE AMERICAN CITIZEN.
GOD PLEASE BLESS THE PEOPLE THAT DIED IN 9/11 AND THANK YOU GOD FOR G.W. BUSH AT THE TIME OF THIS DISASTER.
YOU PEOPLE WOULD NOT BE COMPLAINING LIKE A BUNCH OF SISSY AMERICANS IF YOU HAD LOST SOMEONE IN 9/11. YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT YOUR SELFS. ONLY CONCERNED WHEN IT IS YOUR FAMILY THAT DIED IN A VIOLENT EXPLOSION AT 30FEET. OR WHEN YOU KID DIES. YOU ONLY CARE ABOUT ONE THING….YOU YOUR FAMILY…GOOGLE 9/11, 9/11 PEOPLE THAT DIED, 9/11 PEOPLE THAT WERE AFFECTED. PLEASE CONTACT ME AT GJOLLEY@HOTMAIL.COM AND I WILL SEND YOU SOMETHING HUMBLING.
4 PEOPLE DIED HERE TODAY WHERE I WORK, YOU DON’T CARE, ONLY IF IT IS YOUR FAMILY. NEWS………………….YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY HUMAN. LOVE EVERYONE. TREAT EVERYONE LIKE YOUR FAMILY.
JOHNNY NOX
Nick,
I assume you meant me when you referred to an “Alysha.” I’d like to point out that your assumption that I “am black and therefore side wiht the low paid screeners” is incorrect. I am not black, but regardless my race has nothing to do with my views anyway. Secondly, thanks for your literacy in your comments. I’m quite proud to know that some people against this know how to pull off a successful rebuttal in a debate.
—–
I am not for these policies and screenings. No, I do not think it is right. I do think that blindly jumping to the conclusion that everyone is out to molest you is ridiculous, yes. Just get it over with and move on, you’ll be fine if you don’t make a huge deal out of it. Or perhaps my Generation Y conclusions are too easy.
As long as we continue to destroy lives and murder people in other countries to access their resources, we will be subject to hatred and “terrorism”.
We have nobody to blame but ourselves for electing these sorry excuses for human beings to elected offices.
I just came back from overseas and Fish, you know the procedures there.
I didn’t take off my shoes
I didn’t get padded down
I only walked thru a metal detector
However, when I was in the waiting room for my airline in Frankfurt, I noticed, lots of police with dogs. When we checked in we were asked this.
Hello Mam, you are checking in to Atlanta, ah did you have a nice trip. Where you here on vacation, great.. Did you buy anything of value? Make sure to keep that on you in person. Are you bringing back any food, except the items you bought at custom?
She basically interogated me while I was checking in. She was nice, polite and later when we walked to the Gate my hubby said to me, you know we were just interogated. But it was ok, we were on vacation.
How about something like that? Do a bit of interogating/asking questions when you check in..
There has to be a different way. My parents are coming to visit me next year. My dad has a pacemaker, I am worried that when he flies back home he will be padded down. He is also a Concentration Camp Survivor. Last time he came to America he was fingerprinted (yup!).
There are better ways. Or we can just follow the money.. How gets the money for those mashines?
Angel,
At FRA I have been questioned about my travel more than once. Looking at my Passport at the gate asking me why I am flying to Incheon via Philadelphia, FRA and HKG, etc. Looking at more of my passport, asking about work, family, etc.
It is a better system.
Happy Flying!
-Fish
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
-Ben Franklin
I’ve been flying on average one round trip per month for the past three years. My experience with TSA inspectors is that they are typically rude, overbearing, unprofessional and lack the necessary training and accountability for their roles. Occasionally, they may act semi-courteous to passengers, but not often.
High turnover and relatively low pay of TSOs may be part of the cause of a lack of training and professionalism. We can blame the Bush administration and Republicans for TSA not being part of a union with collective bargining rights when it was first established (remember former senator Max Clellan?). However, that is not the problem of passengers attempting to use an airline for travel.
Most business travelers don’t really want to be leaving their family for the “pleasure” of spending some amount of days in a ratty hotel in a strange city probably dealing with people they don’t necessarily like. They do it because it pays the rent. If they think they can get a better job by not traveling so often, they’d take it. As a navy veteran who did serve our country honorably for 22+ years, I suggest TSOs consider changing jobs if they can’t handle their duties.
Bottom line: The risk of an airplane crashing due to maintenance (caused by airlines cutting corners) or FAA controller mistakes is far greater that from terrorist attacks. In fact, the last three airline terrorist attempts were not thwarted by TSA agents. This new grope-or-porn policy has to go away.
If someone actually REALLY cared to, read the 4th Amendment, part of our Bill of Rights,
FOURTH AMENDMENT [U.S. Constitution]
‘The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.’
This is definitely NOT PROBABLE CAUSE, and should not constitute a warranted search for hidden weapon search, for none of us are known felons to the TSA because they have no wanted poster in their possession at the departure gates. They are profiling the wrong people since 09/11/2001 and they know it.
I wonder if Janet Napolitano undergoes the same searches as Joe the Plumber does when he flies? I for one would LOVE to see her on CBS UNDERCOVER BOSS as a TSA agent at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport or JFK International one Sunday evening just for laughs “touching some junk”!
At Gj,
None of us are opposing these measures in an attempt to maintain privacy over security. The fact remains that these scanners and pat-downs do not protect us. I believe an Israeli has already proven that by smuggling enough explosive through one of these machines (this did not occur in the U.S.) to take down a 747. These machines and pat down methods would not have caught the “underwear bomber” – even if he would have been chosen for a secondary search with these new methods, he and his powder explosive would have traveled right through. We don’t know the risks associated with the scanners, the pat-downs are a gross violation of our 4th amendment rights and neither are effective. Neither method has the ability to detect liquid, powder or plastic explosives. It’s awful for those of us who just want to get from point a to point b and still allows terrorists to get on the plane with the necessary ammo to take the plane down. Unless some extremest plans to take down a plane with tweezers or nail clippers, I don’t think the TSA has managed to stop any major threats. This new process adds nothing but outrageous expense to taxpayers and heartache for the entry level TSA employees and travelers alike.
The government should just do away with the TSA and see how long it takes for a plane to go down in the United States.
Then we’ll see how much we truly missed our pat downs and body scanners. What if it was your husband/wife/child on the plane that went down?
FedUp
November 24th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
The government should just do away with the TSA and see how long it takes for a plane to go down in the United States.
Then we’ll see how much we truly missed our pat downs and body scanners. What if it was your husband/wife/child on the plane that went down?
So Mr./Mrs. FedUp if you’re so worried that if TSA were gone tomorrow a plane would go down instantly, how many terrorists has TSA caught in the US since they were created? I won’t hold my breath for an answer.
Two things certain in life death and taxes. People die. Yeah, it is tragic, but it happens. If I lost a family member to a terrorist attack, I’d be pissed, but I’d never say violating American’s rights to create a “safe” atmosphere is the solution. If I was offered a choice between unscreened flights, and TSA screened flights, my choice would be unscreened everytime.
TSA backs down- reports coming into http://www.drudgereport.com shows that TSA did not operate scanners today-TSA psychological operations at full force. The TSO’s are still scum bags.
TSA is feeding news organizations info stating that there are no “opt outs”. There were plenty-the people didnt fly AND you cant opt out from a scan if they are not doing them.
The TSA scum bags are running for cover. and once the new congress is sworn in, there is no where to hide!
I would fly a unchecked plane any day-no TSA TSO services needed here!