The complaints about the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's new security screening procedures have jumped dramatically over the past week as more American travellers feel frustrated — and violated — by full body scanners and more invasive physical pat-downs at the nation's airports.
Photograph by: Getty Images, Postmedia News
WASHINGTON — A breast cancer survivor who was asked to remove her prosthesis for inspection. A woman who was "lifted off my heels" by an airport security screener during a groin search. Another woman who says she endured a "criminal sexual assault" by an officer who placed a hand inside her underwear.
The complaints about the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's new security screening procedures have jumped dramatically over the past week as more American travellers feel frustrated — and violated — by full body scanners and more invasive physical pat-downs at the nation's airports.
But even as the U.S. heads into its busiest air travel period of the year — the annual Thanksgiving rush — the Obama administration on Friday said it has no plans to modify the security policy to mollify angry flyers.
"What we're trying to do is address the latest intelligence about the threats we have, coupled with the privacy issues that people are rightfully concerned about," John Pistole, the TSA administrator, said in a televised interview.
Later Friday, Pistole made a small concession — to airline pilots who have balked at undergoing the body scans and pat downs.
"Allowing these uniformed pilots, whose identity has been verified, to go through expedited screening at the checkpoint just makes for smart security and an efficient use of our resources," Pistole said in a statement.
"Obviously, the bottom line is trying to ensure that everybody that gets on every flight can be assured with high confidence that everybody else on that flight has been properly screened."
Added Vice-President Joe Biden: "I think it's a necessary policy. I think it will have the effect of saving lives, intercepting explosives."
The TSA is bracing for the annual surge of Thanksgiving holiday air travel that, beginning this weekend, will see 1.3 million to 2.5 million people go through security screening every day through Nov. 28.
But the delays and long airport security lines that typify Thanksgiving travel threaten to be even worse now that TSA critics have designated Nov. 24 as National Opt-Out Day. Travellers who have privacy or safety concerns about "naked" X-ray body scanners, used at about 70 U.S. airports, are being urged to opt out of the screening next Wednesday.
The one thing that might derail the planned U.S. protest against full body scanners? Many travellers are even more offended by the "enhanced" pat-down procedure they must undergo if they refuse to be scanned.
Under the new policy, which was introduced three weeks ago, TSA officers use a "hand-sliding motion" along a traveller's thighs, groin, shoulder and chest areas. The officers alternate between using the palm of their hand on some body parts and the back of their hand on more sensitive areas.
Mathieu Larocque, a spokesman for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, said Friday the agency cannot detail specific pat-down procedures authorized in Canada "for security reasons." But Larocque said Canada's procedures are not identical to those used by the TSA and have not recently changed.
Since the enhanced pat-down procedure was introduced in the U.S., more than 2,000 travellers have filed complaints with the American Civil Liberties Union about searches they considered inappropriate.
In Grand Rapids, Mich., traveller Ella Swift was reduced to tears by a TSA agent after a pat-down — which was conducted, the officer said, because she was wearing a skirt.
"The female officer ran her hand up the inside of my leg to my groin and she did it so hard and so rough she lifted me off my heels," Swift told local media. "I think I yelped. I was in pain for about an hour afterwards."
In St. Louis, businesswoman Penny Moroney said she was patted down aggressively when metal in her two artificial knees set off the airport's metal detector. Moroney told KMOV TV the female TSA officer touched her breast, patted her genitals and "inserted her hands between my underwear and my skin."
Outside of airport security lines, "if a person touched me like that without my permission, it would be considered criminal sexual assault," Moroney said.
Some TSA complaints predate the new policy.
Cathy Bossi, a breast cancer survivor who works as a flight attendant with U.S. Airways, said she was selected for additional screening in August after her prosthesis showed up during a full-body scan at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.
A female TSA agent "put her full hand on my breast and said, 'What is this?' " Bossi told a local TV station. "And I said, 'It's my prosthesis because I've had breast cancer.' And she said, 'Well, you'll need to show me that.' "
Ron Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas, introduced legislation this week that he says would authorize the arrest of TSA agents whose searches cross the line.
"We have read the stories of Americans being subjected to humiliating body imaging machines and/or forced to have the most intimate parts of their bodies poked and fondled," Paul said.
"My legislation is simple. It establishes that airport security screeners are not immune from any U.S. law regarding physical contact with another person, making images of another person, or causing physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on another person."
The U.S. has been steadily tightening security measures at airports since Uman Farouk Abdulmutallab was accused of trying to ignite explosive hidden in his underwear on a flight over Detroit last Christmas Day.
The new tactics may soon be challenged in court.
The TSA and Department of Homeland Security were hit with lawsuits this week — one by two airline pilots and another by the Electronic Information Privacy Center — contending that the full body scanners and security procedures violate travellers' constitutional rights protecting against unreasonable search and seizure.
Pistole, the TSA administrator, acknowledged "it is a challenge" to carry out the new pat-down searches without violating a traveller's privacy."
"But when it comes down to the pat-down, actually a very small number and small percentage of people will actually receive that pat-down if they opt out of the advanced-imaging technology," Pistole told CBS.
There are currently 36 full body scanners installed at Canadian airports; the federal government ordered 44 in total following last year's failed Christmas Day terror attack.
The complaints about the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's new security screening procedures have jumped dramatically over the past week as more American travellers feel frustrated — and violated — by full body scanners and more invasive physical pat-downs at the nation's airports.
But even as the U.S. heads into its busiest air travel period of the year — the annual Thanksgiving rush — the Obama administration on Friday said it has no plans to modify the security policy to mollify angry flyers.
"What we're trying to do is address the latest intelligence about the threats we have, coupled with the privacy issues that people are rightfully concerned about," John Pistole, the TSA administrator, said in a televised interview.
Later Friday, Pistole made a small concession — to airline pilots who have balked at undergoing the body scans and pat downs.
"Allowing these uniformed pilots, whose identity has been verified, to go through expedited screening at the checkpoint just makes for smart security and an efficient use of our resources," Pistole said in a statement.
"Obviously, the bottom line is trying to ensure that everybody that gets on every flight can be assured with high confidence that everybody else on that flight has been properly screened."
Added Vice-President Joe Biden: "I think it's a necessary policy. I think it will have the effect of saving lives, intercepting explosives."
The TSA is bracing for the annual surge of Thanksgiving holiday air travel that, beginning this weekend, will see 1.3 million to 2.5 million people go through security screening every day through Nov. 28.
But the delays and long airport security lines that typify Thanksgiving travel threaten to be even worse now that TSA critics have designated Nov. 24 as National Opt-Out Day. Travellers who have privacy or safety concerns about "naked" X-ray body scanners, used at about 70 U.S. airports, are being urged to opt out of the screening next Wednesday.
The one thing that might derail the planned U.S. protest against full body scanners? Many travellers are even more offended by the "enhanced" pat-down procedure they must undergo if they refuse to be scanned.
Under the new policy, which was introduced three weeks ago, TSA officers use a "hand-sliding motion" along a traveller's thighs, groin, shoulder and chest areas. The officers alternate between using the palm of their hand on some body parts and the back of their hand on more sensitive areas.
Mathieu Larocque, a spokesman for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, said Friday the agency cannot detail specific pat-down procedures authorized in Canada "for security reasons." But Larocque said Canada's procedures are not identical to those used by the TSA and have not recently changed.
Since the enhanced pat-down procedure was introduced in the U.S., more than 2,000 travellers have filed complaints with the American Civil Liberties Union about searches they considered inappropriate.
In Grand Rapids, Mich., traveller Ella Swift was reduced to tears by a TSA agent after a pat-down — which was conducted, the officer said, because she was wearing a skirt.
"The female officer ran her hand up the inside of my leg to my groin and she did it so hard and so rough she lifted me off my heels," Swift told local media. "I think I yelped. I was in pain for about an hour afterwards."
In St. Louis, businesswoman Penny Moroney said she was patted down aggressively when metal in her two artificial knees set off the airport's metal detector. Moroney told KMOV TV the female TSA officer touched her breast, patted her genitals and "inserted her hands between my underwear and my skin."
Outside of airport security lines, "if a person touched me like that without my permission, it would be considered criminal sexual assault," Moroney said.
Some TSA complaints predate the new policy.
Cathy Bossi, a breast cancer survivor who works as a flight attendant with U.S. Airways, said she was selected for additional screening in August after her prosthesis showed up during a full-body scan at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.
A female TSA agent "put her full hand on my breast and said, 'What is this?' " Bossi told a local TV station. "And I said, 'It's my prosthesis because I've had breast cancer.' And she said, 'Well, you'll need to show me that.' "
Ron Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas, introduced legislation this week that he says would authorize the arrest of TSA agents whose searches cross the line.
"We have read the stories of Americans being subjected to humiliating body imaging machines and/or forced to have the most intimate parts of their bodies poked and fondled," Paul said.
"My legislation is simple. It establishes that airport security screeners are not immune from any U.S. law regarding physical contact with another person, making images of another person, or causing physical harm through the use of radiation-emitting machinery on another person."
The U.S. has been steadily tightening security measures at airports since Uman Farouk Abdulmutallab was accused of trying to ignite explosive hidden in his underwear on a flight over Detroit last Christmas Day.
The new tactics may soon be challenged in court.
The TSA and Department of Homeland Security were hit with lawsuits this week — one by two airline pilots and another by the Electronic Information Privacy Center — contending that the full body scanners and security procedures violate travellers' constitutional rights protecting against unreasonable search and seizure.
Pistole, the TSA administrator, acknowledged "it is a challenge" to carry out the new pat-down searches without violating a traveller's privacy."
"But when it comes down to the pat-down, actually a very small number and small percentage of people will actually receive that pat-down if they opt out of the advanced-imaging technology," Pistole told CBS.
There are currently 36 full body scanners installed at Canadian airports; the federal government ordered 44 in total following last year's failed Christmas Day terror attack.
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