Alaskan teleconference

I came across this letter to the editor for an Alaskan newspaper:

As someone who feels the Transportation Security Administration’s pre-flight security screenings through the use of full- body scanners (these take an X-ray and produce a detailed photo of your naked body) and the invasive “pat down” searches (which are performed if one refuses to go through a full body scan rather than a metal detector) are unacceptable, I would like to alert others in the Fairbanks community to the opportunity to be part of a national push to change TSA’s methods of ensuring travel safety.

At 9 a.m. Friday at the Legislative Information Office, Room 308, 1292 Sadler Way, Rep. Sharon Cissna, will hold another telecommunications meeting of the Alaskans Freedom To Travel USA group. For more information, call LIO at 452-4448, or email Repre sentative_Sharon_Cissna@legis.state.ak.us. Additionally, the websites http://freedomtotravelusa.org and http://akhealthcaucus.org are two sites that have information concerning TSA and travel.

According to testimony at recent congressional hearings,

82 percent of Alaska communities use air as a means of getting elsewhere on the globe. It is imperative that TSA readdress the use of body scanners and pat downs as effective techniques, especially when considering privacy and health issues. TSA has already requested funding to put scanners in all U.S. airports.

Please consider joining me at the next teleconference.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - TSA techniques