The busy Thanksgiving travel season has come and gone. Although the planned “Opt-Out Day” turned out to be a bust, fallout from the new TSA security measures for travelers continues to linger on.
Several weeks ago, the TSA thought it’d be a bright idea to quietly implement new full body scanning procedures at airport security checkpoints. But little did they know their choice to forgo advance notice and proper PR campaigns to an increasingly weary traveling public, would soon come back to haunt them.
Since 9/11, the TSA has had the traveling public in their back pocket. For almost 10 years, travelers have stood patiently in amazingly long security lines, and have been cooperative in adjusting to the now common practice of removing belts, emptying baby bottles, and taking off shoes. “After 9/11 people were scared and when people are scared they’ll do anything for someone who will make them less scared,” said Bruce Schneier, a Minneapolis based security expert. Whatever the TSA thought was best in the interest of safety, the flying public was ready, willing, and able to adhere to. But a few weeks ago that all changed!
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday, the TSA began forcing passengers to submit to a full body scan, which basically amounted to a virtual strip search and images of passengers in a naked state. Anyone not willing to allow a full body scan, was banished to an all hands on human-to-human pat down, which some say amounted to a sexual assault. Many passengers complained of open-handed groping of their breasts, buttocks, inner thighs, and male testicles. For anyone traveling with baggy clothing, the TSA even went so far as to stick their hands down passenger’s pants. And pilots were also forced to go through the security screenings, despite the fact they would have no need to carry weapons through a security checkpoint, only moments before being handed the controls of the biggest weapon of all — THE PLANE! Even young children were not exempt from the invasive screenings, with news cameras capturing adult TSA officials feeling up the inner thighs of 5 and 6 year olds.
These are the types of stories that has turned the tide against the TSA. A once supportive traveling public is now leery, unsupportive, and angry. TSA Chief John Pistole has somehow fooled himself into thinking it’s all OK and the hoopla will soon die down. But with the ever changing rules, the ever growing invasiveness, and a consistent feeling of lost dignity, this is doubtful. Just prior to Thanksgiving, Pistole made pilots exempt from the latest security procedures. But what about all those ordinary Americans who have suddenly been forced into a police state, and are now thought of as guilty until proven innocent?
I traveled on the National opt out day and went for the pat down instead of the scan machine. It was odd having a hand all the way up my thighs but I thought I was sending a message. Little did I know hardly nobody else opt out the day too. So I got a feel up for nothing. I think the safety checks are good for security but they also go too far for now. I hope President Obama steps in and takes it down a notch. It's never a good thing for the public to be against the TSA.