Discrimination Illustrates Security Theater

Last month, ProPublica asked anyone who has had their hair searched by TSA to contact them. The results of that have now been published, confirming that the body scanners find anomalies in certain hairstyles, which happen to also be more prevalent for black women. Not surprisingly, black women repeatedly get singled out for further scrutiny.

A telling quote from a TSA official inadvertently admits that naked scanners are not effective at finding actual terrorists (the purported purpose of TSA) :
"'With black females, the scanner alarms more because they have thicker hair; many times they have braids or dreadlocks,' said a TSA officer who works at an airport in Texas and asked not to be named. 'Maybe, down the line, they will be redesigning the technology, so it can tell apart what’s a real threat and what is not. But, for now, we officers have to do what the machine can’t.' [Emphases added]

You got that? The naked scanners - which violate basic rights to personal privacy and bodily integrity, and apparently discriminate against trans-individuals, black women, and (I would surmise) several other groups of marginalized people - can NOT DISTINGUISH between a real threat and something that is NOT a real threat.

Throwback: The story behind Thousands Standing Around

I recently came across this old story about the heroic TSA agent (now ex-TSA agent) who was behind the Thousands Standing Around whistleblowing blog. It's a good read, and quite revealing. 

Congressional Fear

I recently took my children to Washington, D.C. to see some sights and visit old friends. Since I won't consent to a naked scan or physical body search, we took a cross-country train ride. Among our planned activities were tours of the White House and Capitol, arranged through my congressman's office. My daughter and I were especially looking forward to seeing "where the people argue" (her words; I told her it would be more like boring speeches and procedures than arguing).

As we stood in line for the White House security, I noticed an upcoming checkpoint area where I couldn't see what the procedure was. I had a moment of concern as the thought crossed my mind that there might be a body scanner. As I turned the corner, my concerns drained away: No scanner! Security was tight (and the line was long), but the Secret Service Agents were very friendly and the mood was relaxed. We enjoyed our self-guided tour, stopped off for some hot cocoa and hot coffee, and grabbed an Uber to the Capitol.

Once through the standard security at the Capitol (metal detectors and bag scanners), we met some staffers in Devin Nunes' office. An intern, named Chris, was our tour guide and took us on an in-depth and interesting tour. After visiting all the other areas of the Capitol, we handed over our phones (thanks to C-Span) and we proceeded to the House Gallery. Following Chris, we wound our way around. We turned a corner and Chris said, "It's time to take everything out of our pockets." I started to rummage, but noticed: a Millimeter Body Scanner.

I hesitated for a moment. I thought about the 4-day train ride we had just completed for the express purpose of protecting our dignity. And here I was, only a couple of yards away from the device I spend so much time, energy, and money avoiding. The moment passed, and the calm and clarity of what must happen next came over me. I bent over next to my daughter and said, "I'm really sorry, but we're not going to go see the people argue. This machine here is one of the ones that they have at the airport that I've told you about. Do you understand?"

To say the least, she was mad (at me) and very disappointed. I am thankful and proud that she behaved relatively well given that she's only eight and we had been talking about and planning for this visit to the gallery for weeks.

I, too, was very disappointed. I still am, and, upon further reflection, I am also very disheartened. (More on that later.)

Next, I turned to Chris and said, calmly, "Chris, we're not going to do this." I'm sure he was taken by complete surprise. He asked if I would prefer a pat-down, and I, of course, declined. He began to put his belt back on, etc ... when the security guard told him to step forward into the scanner. Chris said we had changed our mind. I let Chris do all the talking, and he seemed prepared to do so as our tour guide.

Can you guess what came next? The security guard said we could not leave the area without getting scanned. He wasn't wearing a blue shirt, but he sure acted like a caricature of a TSA worker. Chris responded with what seemed like disbelief to me. He said, "We're not going in. Can't we just turn around and go back the way we came?"

At this point, I was feeling quite anxious. What was happening was precisely the reason that I don't fly. Friends have told me that my chance of getting scanned or patted down is very slim and they can't understand why I won't even try. This was why. I was being told that I was not allowed to change my mind. The only choices now were to be virtually disrobed or to be physically felt-up. And this would happen to my children, too. The week before, our (female) pediatric nurse had been very deliberate in giving my daughter as much privacy as possible during her annual physical exam. We tell our children at these Dr. visits that not just anybody can look at, let alone touch, their private parts. I do not believe that the government employee with a power-trip qualifies.

My adrenaline was pumping as I prepared to stand my ground. Scenarios started to flash through my mind's eye. What was I prepared to do? I didn't really come to any conclusion, but I was readying myself for a difficult time.

I noticed that a police officer-looking individual appeared. Both he and the security guards were too far away for me to read their badges. I purposefully did not move an inch closer to the checkpoint, so I can only make a guess that the "officer" was from a different agency than the "guard." In any case, he clearly outranked the power-tripping guard. Chris repeated his request to go back without being scanned. The officer listened, then gave us instructions to turn around and go back the way we came. My heartrate immediately returned to normal.

I am now convinced that naked scanners are here to stay. If politicians are using them for their own security, they have no sympathy for the cause of freedom. This illustrates to me, more clearly than ever before, the disdain that elected officials have for the public. What do they care if our dignity is stripped in airports when they insist on stripping it in what is supposed to be their public meetings?

Going to the gallery while Congress was in session was going to be such a terrific hands-on civics lesson for my 2nd grader. Instead, we both got a completely different kind of civics lesson. 

P. S. I would not be surprised if the officer's cool head prevailed in part due to my demographic (white mother with 2 small children). I would guess that - given the recent shootings and the fear of terrorism - a white or Middle-Eastern man travelling alone would have been treated with more suspicion.

P. P. S. On what I ought to have done if they did not let us turn back: I think I should have clearly stated that I did not consent to the search. For the sake of my kids still having a mom around for the rest of the day, I should have refused the scanner and proceeded with the pat-down under protest. I would have tried my utmost to keep the kids out of the screening, but allowed the scanner if pressed, as it would be less traumatic for them. Regardless, thinking through this all makes my stomach turn.

UPDATE:
I meant to post this link long ago. These scanners were moved to the House Gallery less than 2 months before our visit.

Double-speak: When "surrendered" means "stolen"

A friend writes:

I was flying from SBA [Santa Barbara airport] to SFO [San Francisco airport].  I only had carry on since I was just going away for 2 nights to a friend's.  I absentmindedly packed my full size (5.2oz) Tom's toothpaste instead of a smaller tube because I had run out of the small tubes and I didn't think the 3oz liquid rule applied to toothpaste any longer.  

I have TSA pre-check, but - for some reason I haven't quite cleared up - United isn't recognizing me as that so my boarding pass didn't have it noted that way and I had to go through the song and dance of taking my shoes off, and going through the scanner. At SBA they require you to remove your liquids from your suitcase when putting luggage through the x-ray no matter who you are.  As a side note, if I had gone to the ticket counter to insist on Pre-check on my boarding pass (because SBA is so small) the only change would be that I could leave my shoes on and I would go through the old school metal detector.   

After I passed through the full body scanner and was waiting for my luggage and bags to come through they pulled my bag of toiletries aside and said the toothpaste violated the 3 oz rule.  I right away said, "Since when is toothpaste liquid? And, by the way, I've gotten that size tube through in the past."  (I may have fibbed there; not quite sure to be honest.)  They then said I could check my luggage if I like.  At this point who wants to get dressed again to then go downstairs, check in a bag (which is going to add 30 minutes to my trip by waiting for it on a carousel in SFO), then come back up to then just get undressed again and go through security again?  In hindsight I should have said OK, then just went back to my car to put my toothpaste in and still done carry-on.  But, I get so annoyed I can't think straight.  

So, after refusing and saying no, the TSA agent advised that I was surrendering my toothpaste.  That is when I lost my cool.  Hell no! I'm not surrendering anything.  I then accused her of stealing my toothpaste and she said, again: no, she was not; that I was surrendering.  I then decided to school her on the difference of surrendering (doing something voluntarily in my book at that point) vs the TSA taking my toothpaste without me agreeing to it (stealing).  I then grabbed my stuff in a huff and went over to a bench to put everything back on and back together.  Then to the bar to have a stiff drink.  

I just want to pause here and look at a couple things.

TSA policy on children

Someone I trust kindly let me know that it appears that the TSA is no longer putting children through naked scanners, and, furthermore, that parents get whatever screening the children get (that would be: no naked scanners). I decided I should investigate.

Unfortunately, despite my friend's personal experience and stories (like this one) with similar anecdotes, it is not official TSA policy to keep kids out of naked scanners:

If your child is able to remain standing in the required position for 5 seconds, he or she may be screened through the advanced imaging technology. If a child 12 and under goes through the machine and alarms, they have an opportunity to go through again or the TSA officer may use other procedures to resolve the alarm to reduce the need for a pat-down.

You may not be screened by this technology when carrying an infant or child.

(You may recall that they changed policies for the under-12 set 4 years ago due to bad publicity, including a "modified" pat-down and the above-stated ability to go through the scanner a second time.)

It may very well be unofficial policy to put kids through metal detectors with their parents, and - just to keep us on our toes - they won't acknowledge it. But, it may also just be at the discretion of the supervisor(s) at a given airport.

For a large hub, with several security lanes - some with and some without naked scanners - it is probably quite easy to pick and choose who goes where. The randomized PreCheck may also increase odds if airlines can get families onto the list ad hoc. I do wonder what experiences are like at small airports with a single security lane (such as my hometown airport). What have you experienced firsthand while travelling with children?

Testimonial: TSA mistreats remains...again!

This was on the flyertalk.com forum:

...Despite being shown the two Certificates, the TSA operative took the box, broke its seal and tipped the contents on to a metal table. Some of the ashes fell onto the floor. The TSAO then took a sample away for testing. He repeated this twice. He grinned at the passenger's obvious distress. A supervisor was called: he, too, thought that the situation was amusing. Both refused to give their names. The passenger (who is not able to stand for longer than about a minute) was also forced to undergo a thorough pat-down....

Bureaucrats like control and power

Lisa Simeone does a great job of analyzing this abuse at the hands of the TSA.

More TSA harassment

Here is a story about a young woman whose rights were violated when the TSA rifled through her wallet. When they found her fake IDs (for getting into bars, not countries), they threw their weight around.

Celebrity detained, keychain confiscated

Read the story of this menace to society that the TSA saved us from!

Link the whistleblower story

This is amazing, but I don't have time to comment on it further. I figure, at the very least, I should post the link to the Politico essay from the TSA whistleblower, Jason Harrington.

Flying while individualistic and brown

This is an almost unbelievable account of a young man being held extra-legally for the crime of flying alone while brown during a religious holiday and deviating ever-so-slightly from the herd (ie, "opting out" of the naked scanner).  It it's unclear which aspect(s) of his transgression played the biggest role in his 4 hour interrogation by no fewer than 4 different government bureaucracies and as well as an airline.

Obviously, if you have nothing to hide (which apparently now includes your medical history) you still have much to fear, particularly at an airport.

"Surrendering" your belongings

My husband had a round-trip flight recently. In his backpack, along with his laptop, he accidentally left a Leatherman. This had been a gift and was personalized with his full name. He believed that he had it in his car, and when it went through security on the first leg of his trip without tripping an alarm, he was none the wiser. He stayed for a week in the Philadelphia area, and still did not notice this knife and tool combo in his bag.

Of course, as luck would have it, his Leatherman was discovered by the TSA at the Philadelphia airport on his return trip. It was confiscated, but in TSA speak: "surrendered." It sounds more voluntary and less totalitarian that way.

After he got home with no further incidents (I guess he is just an innocent citizen and not a threat to national security, after all), he called the TSA to find out how he could receive his property. It does have his name on it (and a somewhat unique name at that as out last name is not very common) so it should be easy to track down. He was told that he had "surrendered" it and that it was now the property of the TSA.

For the sake of the person who gave my husband the Leatherman, I want to assure everyone that my husband liked it very much and did not re-gift it to the TSA, despite what the TSA says.

Back to his conversation with the TSA: My husband asked what had happened to his property and was told by the person he was speaking to (if automatons can be called people) that they "did not have the authority" to tell him where it was. Apparently, my husband's coerced gift to the feds is now a state secret (now do you see why they should free Bradley Manning?).

Googling the subject later, my husband suspects that the property is turned over to the city of Philadelphia and, if valuable,  auctioned. I told him he ought to call Philly PD and report his Leatherman stolen, last seen at the airport.