You can do better than this, Rep Chaffetz

If a parent currently refuses to allow their child to be patted down by a stranger in uniform that happens to have a job at an airport checkpoint, they may be arrested or fined, or - at the very least - will miss their flight. It doesn't appear that this changes with Rep Chaffetz's new bill. However, this bill would address a concern that he has based on what happened to his own daughter: she was patted down without his wife (who was traveling with their daughter) knowing where she was. (Here's the full text of the proposed legislation.)

Moral of the story: if you have children and don't want to have them confused or worse by an invasive custody search: Don't fly!

Stay calm. They are working on a solution. Stay calm.

That's the sense I get reading this oatmeal-ly op-ed in the NY Times. The author quickly summarizes the last 6 months of bad TSA publicity. Then she provides her relative's story:

One of my relatives, a distinguished federal official, recently sent a letter of complaint to the T.S.A. about her experience submitting to a body search at Washington’s Reagan airport after the scanner reflected the shadow of the ostomy bag she wears on her abdomen.

Fearing that would happen, she had printed out the notification card on the T.S.A. Web site, as she wrote, “so as to discreetly inform the T.S.A. agent of my medical condition. The agent would not even look at the card. ... The screening agent then did a hand search of my groin, breasts, under the waistband of my slacks and around my ostomy bag. ... Does having an ileostomy now make you a terrorist suspect?”

She has been rethinking how long she wants to work for the government in a job that requires a lot of air travel and says she would consider joining a class-action lawsuit against the T.S.A.

Colorado man claims he was 'sexually assaulted' by airport security

A frequent flier is speaking out against what he says was a uniquely intrusive pat-down. He's had them before, but this time he said he felt assaulted.

Incompetence rewarded

No surprise here, but following up on my letter to Jason Chaffetz last week, I see a report that in the 6-month budget extension (in which $38 billion was "cut"), there is:

a TSA funding increase of $42 million, with a specific provision for hiring 3,800 screeners to operate full-body scanners.

This article specifically discusses Newark airport, which has had relapses as well as theft issues. So it makes sense that they will get a piece of this pie for more training in how to be an effective pornographer and molester.

TSA policy towards children

It's important to remember that last week's viral video of a 6-year old getting searched at the airport was not an anomaly. It just happened to be caught on tape.

Searching children in this manner is standard policy. The TSA has said so itself, issuing statements after the video was released that all appropriate procedures were followed. Another mother has come forward to say that the same thing happened to her 8-year old son. She only got still pictures, not a video.

After the uproar in late 2010 about child pat-downs when a couple of other videos went viral (showing a boy having to remove his shirt and a girl screaming in protest at her search), TSA assured us that they would modify their policy towards children under 13 (although why 13 years old was a magic number was never explained). They may well have modified their child version of the custody search... I didn't see the full on jab of the genitals that we've read so much about. But what is left is disturbing, nonetheless.

So now the TSA is promising to continue to review and revise their "cookie cutter" procedures (their words).

It will appease us until the next video surfaces. And it shows how important it is for everyone to document these abuses.

A request for those who haven't sworn off flying: Some parents may submissively allow their children to be molested - if you won't intervene, at least continue to expose this absurdity. Bring a video camera or prepare your smartphone for video when you fly. Before or after you pass through security, be alert for the opportunity to be a documentarian of our police state. And share your video on YouTube, Facebook, etc... (and send me the link!).

Complainer = Terrorist

If you think I'm kidding, this is according to the TSA's own documents. And here's a testamonial for a little added evidence.

Gate-rape as described by a rape survivor

This article mis-states a couple of things, but the author's testamonial to a custody search (aka pat-down) that left her in tears is an important story. An excerpt:

I'm not sure when I started to shake. I explained I wasn't comfortable being touched. The man laughed. I said in a smaller voice than normal, "I don't want you to touch me." The woman said she would be the one touching. She told me to extend my arms. She inspected my hair and neck first.

I started to cry.

I wanted so much to be brave. I was told I could be escorted out of the airport. "I live in Alaska," I said. Like that would explain something. As though he would know that flying isn't optional for us and shoo me though.

They seemed angry at me. The search continued. My shoulders. My arms. My back.

"Put your hands out, ma'am."

They were over my face, and I was sobbing.

Read more

Rape is about power, not just sex. TSA agents may or may not be sexually perverted, but they are certainly on a power trip when they conduct these searches.

Shocking: Government courts agree with government

I've repeatedly been skeptical about going the legal route on the TSA abuse. There is already precedent for the courts to nullify the Fourth Amendment at airports: decades ago, they justified metal detector sreenings and baggage searches without warrants.

So it does not surprise me much that a court in Florida determined that there is no need for the TSA to stop its aggressions (specifically the use of the naked scanners and so-called "pat-downs") while a case proceeds. The case is Corbett v US, and the court specifically cites the TSA procedures as not violating the Fourth Amendment. Obviously, there are other cases pending, and this case may still move forward, so this is not a final answer. But read excerpts from the court's statement if you want to feel hopeless about the state of constitutional law in this country (emphasis added):

Begging Congress to help Alaskans enjoy their right to freedom of travel

The AP reports:

Alaska lawmakers are asking a U.S. Senate committee to hold hearings in Alaska over what they consider "invasive procedures" used by the Transportation Safety Administration.

The TSA doesn't yet conduct mandatory full-body pat downs in Alaska, but the issue made headlines when state Rep. Sharon Cissna, a Democrat from Anchorage, refused a pat-down at the Seattle airport. She used a car, small airplane and ferry to get back to Alaska.

Rep. Max Gruenberg drafted the letter to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

The Anchorage Democrat says the committee needs to hear from Alaskans about their unique concerns since they rely on air travel more than other Americans. Rep. Bob Lynn, an Anchorage Republican, was the only one of the 60-member Legislature to not sign the letter.

TSA supporters like the claim that we don't have a right to travel by air. However, we do have a right to freedom of movement as well as a right to due process if liberty is infringed, not to mention our right to reasonable searches with a specific judge-issued warrant. There is not a valid argument that restriction certain modes of travel without due process or a warrant is consistent with this right. Citizens of Alaska and Hawaii have a particularly good argument here, as air travel is the most reasonable method for them to travel between the States. Congress has so far failed to stand up to protect these rights.

H/T Boycott Flying

The perfect bag for your air travel

H/T Mark Fee

An open letter to Jason Chaffetz

Rep Jason Chaffetz takes an outspoken position on TSA abuses of Americans’ rights in airports across the nation. In 2009 – long before most Americans knew what a “scanner” was – he introduced legislation to try to block the scanner program due to the alarming lack of research and potential rights abuses. He has likened their “pat-downs” to sexual assault, has oversight of DHS since the GOP won a majority in the House, and, in that role, held a hearing (as editorialized here by Becky Akers). Just today, he issued a statement about the upsetting viral video that shows a 6-year old receiving a custodial search at the New Orleans airport. Because of his apparent interest in these matters, I am writing him this open letter. 

April 13, 2011

Dear Mr Chaffetz,

I am writing to you regarding the serious abuses occurring at the hands of federal employees across the nation: the employees of the TSA. I read your statement and letter to John Pistole regarding the recent incident of a 6-year old, Anna Drexel, being thoroughly searched by a TSA employee. In an interview with Good Morning American, Dr. and Mrs. Drexel looked as if they have been through a living nightmare. They also let us know what happened after the camera stopped rolling: little Anna broke down in tears, confused over what had just happened and why. Of course, her parents could not explain why. They do not understand this themselves, just as you, I and thousands of others who have seen the video fail to see any justification in what happened.

I can only imagine what the Drexels went through, but, as a mother myself, I can relate to their situation. I suffered through months of anxiety prior to our trip to see family for Christmas last year. After purchasing our airline tickets, I learned that scanners had been installed in all of the DC-area airports. As a professor of chemistry, I had serious misgivings about the safety of the scanners for my 1-year old, as well as for me and my husband. As a liberty advocate, I knew that the use of the scanners as primary screening without a warrant or just cause was a serious breach of our rights. As a modest person and mother, I did not wish to have me or my daughter seen naked by a stranger, and view the scanners as an egregious invasion of our privacy. I cried more than once over the prospect of having my daughter molested at the airport during our trip. I pleaded with the airline to reimburse me for the cost of the trip, but only succeeded in getting the fee waived to change our departure airport to Norfolk, VA (yes, I drove four hours to an airport to avoid the scanners). I have been tirelessly publicizing the TSA’s abuses. Suffice it to say, we will be taking the train to California next Christmas, unless, by some miracle, the scanners and pat-downs stop at BWI, DCA, and IAD.

CrewPass2 being phased in

Pilots and flight attendants are going to get a second chance to be treated better than the masses at airports. Particularly disturbing is this quote:

Details of the proposed system have yet to be worked out, but TSA officials say they plan to hook into airline employee databases and confirm the identities of pilots and flight attendants using biometric measures such as retina scans and fingerprint matching.

Lovely that the airlines are going to hand over their employee databases to the feds so cavalierly (I'm sure they already do, but maybe only some limited info? Or at least it's not so blatant?) Detailed passenger data is next, I suppose, not that our treatment will improve.

This type of collaboration is why I have taken out my anger over TSA abuses on the travel industry.

Let me add this: Of course it makes sense for pilots and flight attendants to be under less scrutiny than passengers. However, it does not follow that suspicionless searches (which are, by the way, quite invasive) should be the norm for passengers.

TSA Peeps

From the Washington Post's annual Peep diorama contest (click through for full size/full resolution):

#3: FINALIST: "TSA Agents Get a Peep Show"

#12: Pat Down the Bunny:  An Average Day at PWI-O'Hare

H/T Kristen Churchill

Boats are next

Fortunately, there are so many miles of seaboard in the US, that DHS is having a hard time controlling our every move. Of course, HuffPo resents this. Whatever happened to the principles of freedom to travel?

6-year old's intrusive search on 'Good Morning America'

Here's the interview with the girl's parents. The anchor's comments are terrible, and I couldn't help feeling that these poor parents were holding back on fully expressing their real feelings on the matter.



UPDATE: It's official - American media has picked up the story and I am now seeing coverage in many places.