As the first day of the holiday travel season began amid the uproar over new TSA security check procedures, polls seem to say that Americans are OK with the full-body scanners in Airports, no so much with the enhanced pat-down procedures.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans support the new full-body security-screening machines at the country's airports, as most say they put higher priority on combating terrorism than protecting personal privacy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
But half of all those polled say enhanced pat-down searches go too far.
TSA (Transportation Security Administration) is a department under Homeland Security. Read TSA administrator John Pistole's statement here:
//www.tsa.gov/press/happenings/112110_right_balance.shtm
Blog here what you think. Plus, if you t
ravel this Thanksgiving weekend by air, or have relatives that do, share any experiences here. This situation is yet another example of the President's administration having the responsibility of many, many things in this country. This week, the Obama Administration was both blasted by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal//thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/130265-jindal-blasts-obama-administration-calls-tsa-searches-excessive?page=2 and in two separate letters to the TSA, Congress began using its oversight function:
//www.congress.org/news/2010/11/22/house_challenges_tsa_pat_downs
And of course, SNL had its take last weekend.
11 comments:
I believe that these new screening procedures are totally justified. John Pistole has stated that he ordered production on the machines be ramped up and to have them in airports faster after multiple undercover agents were able to move mock bomb supplies through security without issue. This was no fault of TSA agents considering they followed all protocols to a T. There is simply no choice but to increase security, I now will fly safe.
I totally agree with Troy. Now I know that some people might be uncomfortable with getting patted down; honestly I wouldn't particularly enjoy it myself. But I think the people who commented on the one article saying that preventing the "groping" of women and children is more important than national security are being incredibly immature and simple-minded. The process of the pat-down is first of all optional- you get it if you say no to a full body scanner. Secondly, I disagree with someone who thinks it is more important to neglect searching "unlikely" threats just to prevent discomfort than to check everyone to catch the potential death of thousands. Obviously, the general trend of people who have plotted large scale terrorist attacks on the U.S. is that they have been Muslim men. But to profile search Muslims and skip white people, kids, old ladies or young, attractive women is like only investigating black men for a robbery or a rape charge. Not only is that an unfair stereotype to innocents who happen to fit the bill, it is extraordinarily limiting to the search itself and the chance of an attack succeeding is much higher. I firmly believe that if a profiling system was used that avoided kids or women, a terrorist organization would plant a bomb on a woman or a child. Frankly, no one particularly enjoys a full body pat down at the airport when they just want to go home for the holidays. But as long as there are punishments for security workers who abuse the system, then I think the process can be perfectly respectful to all those who submit to a full search and still provide substantial security to our country.
I disagree. I think these new screening procedures are pointless and if anything reinforce the idea that the terrorists have frightened America enough to force it to compromise basic values - the right to privacy and the protection of basic human dignity - in order to protect against terror. Indeed, terrorism works not only because it kills vast numbers of people without just cause, it also spreads terror, enough to make a country compromise on its principles and become more closed and cynical. Also, these new measures do little to truly protect our country. If our intelligence community has fallen so far behind that we are unable to apprehend terrorists until the reach airport security, then perhaps we need to focus on revamping our intelligence networks instead of tightening airport surveillance and subjecting thousands of passengers to violating and inefficient scans that do little to protect us.
Anagha, you said the point of terrorism is not just to kill people in great numbers, but to spread fear within a country. You said that allowing these procedures in airport security to exist is basically admitting defeat to the terrorists, since it's "abandoning our principles." How can you argue that it is better to let people die in terror attacks because that way, we still "beat" the terrorists. There is a difference between being a strong, brave nation that is willing to fight terror and being a stupid, stubborn nation that unnecessarily sticks its neck out. You said that we should instead focus on increasing intelligence and catching terrorists before such plots can even get this close. I totally agree. But in the meantime, is it really wise to allow such plots to slip through and kill thousands? Ideally, yes, we will reach the point where our intelligence can root out terrorists early on. But we aren't at that point yet. I also find it rather interesting that you promote increased surveillance and intelligence networkds. I get the feeling that you might not be so keen on the idea if you found out that in order to catch terrorists early, you might have to sacrifice some other personal liberties regarding your privacy...
Their is no question that America's intelligence is lacking. But Anagha said that we should be able to apprehend terrorists before they reach the airport. Although a good idea, it will be impossible to carry out. You can only target people who leave paper trails. Smart people don't leave paper trails. Plus many bombs and other hazardous devices can be manufactured using simple household items, and we can't possibly arrest everybody who purchases these legitimate items. It is also impossible to truly always stay a step ahead. Just look at the kids in this school who hack the computer system, and go around fire walls on a daily basis. Why? because they are smarter than the teachers and administrators who are supposed to be securing the system. Terrorism is the same, they are smarter than us, and in order to out smart them we have to take away every imaginable chance for them to carry out their malicous tasks.
I have to agree with Anagha. The point of "comfort" is not at question. Getting patted down is not causing discomfort, but it is an invasion of personal boundaries and a violation of privacy. I agree that it is optional and only required if they refuse the scanner, but still, the "enhanced" pat downs are an invasion of personal space. I know I wouldn't want someone feeling me up or even getting that close to me.
Terrorists are not formed because they just hate America or any other country, they are formed because of governments such as the U.S. government that are soo paranoid that they invade people's privacy. The duty of the government is to protect and serve it's people. What kind of a government is it, when the people themselves hate and are afraid of the government that they pay to hold up.
Having first hand experience on the case, while I was at the airport during summer, I did not object to going through the full body scanner and yet, I was told I needed to be patted down as well. I cooperated but I still found it unfair that I was required to go through both procedures. I cannot say it was complete racial profiling but if it helps make everyone feel more secure, I don't totally object to it. However, I do think that if a large group of terrorists truly want to attack America, they will find other ways to make it happen. They would not simply keep weapons on them and allow themselves to be easily caught. If they really want it to happen, they will go to extreme measures to do so. I do see how these safety measures are helpful, but only to a certain extent.
I agree with Anagha. These policies are futile in their attempts to keep our airports and airplanes safe.
Let's look at Israel. They have not had a terrorist attack involving their airports and airlines in about 30 years. Would anyone like to take a guess why? It's because they profile, but not racially. They profile based on suspicious behavior and information based on intelligence. That's what I think we should do, instead of wasting our time with useless, politically correct procedures that we see now. From what I have heard, the scanners are not even able to pick up plastic explosives. And what happens when a terrorist decides to hide an explosive or weapon in a bodily cavity?? Is the TSA going to start cavity searches? I would only assume so, since the TSA officials have made a breast cancer survivor remove her prosthetic breast and groped a woman because her sanitary towel showed up in the screening.
The infamous Underwear Bomber was the young man indoctrinated by Anwar al-Awlaki, the same man who radicalized Nidal Malik Hasan, the Ft. Hood shooter. The father of the would-be-underwear bomber, noticing his radical change and talk, visited the U.S. Embassy and gave them intelligence on his son and what he was planning to do. Despite this information, the young terrorist was able to get a visa to enter the United States. On Christmas Day, traveling ALONE with a ONE WAY Ticket he bought in CASH and WITHOUT a Passport, he boarded a plane and attempted to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear. Let me remind you he is Nigerian. Racial profiling wouldn't have caught him, but profiling based on suspicious behavior definitely would have. And even though multiple "red flags" popped up, he still managed to get on a plane for the U.S. This is a good illustration of how incompetence in connecting the dots and making sense of information put those people on the plane in immediate danger, not to mention those who would have been effected by the plane coming down out of the sky. It is this type of negligence that makes me doubt the effectiveness of the new body scanners that can't even pick up the type of explosives the Underwear Bomber tried to detonate.
To me, these new procedures are violating our Fourth Amendment rights. The Fourth Amendment reads: "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." We have a right to expect that we are not going to be unreasonably searched and our property seizured, especially without probable cause. The TSA officials do NOT have the right to scan nude pictures of fliers and/or pat them down (especially in the genital area). I don't understand how people can be okay with some of these things. Sure, I would be okay going through a metal detector, but I really hate these new policies and would normally opt out of these procedures, but the oppressive threat of getting fined or going to jail prevents me from doing so. Sorry, I didn't know I was living in the Soviet Union. According to Napolitano and Pistole, anyone who buys a plane ticket is now a suspected terrorist and therefore they have probable cause. WHAT NONSENSE!!Are three year old children suspected terrorists because their parents bought a ticket for them to fly? What about Catholic Nuns, old women, people with disabilities, the rape survivor who became distressed by the pat-down and remarked she felt like she was being assaulted, or the bladder cancer survivor who was soaked in urine because his urostomy bag seal broken during a pat-down? These people, along with the average American Citizen, don't fit the profile of a terrorist. If it's safety we want, lets secure our borders instead of violating the fourth amendment right of America's Citizens.
I personally have no problem with these new procedures. I have heard many people say that they full body scanners are revealing or intrusive. The fact is that the images that are taken from the scanners are nothing special. They are vague outlines of the person who is in the scanner. So it really just looks like the person is wearing a skin-tight full body suit.
I agree with this new security system. It think safety for the country is much more important than violation of personal privacy. We must all understand that terrorism is at large, and people can hide weapons or anything else that is dangerous anywhere, especially the places that are not usually checked. Therefore, we must all cooperate. Also, people have the choice of being taken behind a curtain if they need more privacy, so there should be no problem with this system.
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