A few days ago I posted a video showing a six-year-old being patted down by a TSA screener in New Orleans. Now, like clockwork the TSA has responded (from the TSA Blog):
Some folks are asking if the proper procedures were followed. Yes. TSA has reviewed the incident and the security officer in the video followed the current standard operating procedures.
What kind of procedures has an adult groping a six-year-old? Anyone in their right mind should know better than to violate a child, particularly when children have been taught about inappropriate touching (and by all means this is inappropriate).
The TSA continues:
Recognizing that terrorists are willing to manipulate societal norms to evade detection, TSA has been actively assessing less invasive screening methods for low-risk populations, such as younger passengers, while still maintaining a high level of security.
What, do these mindless drones working in the Department of Homeland Insecurity think that a suicide bomber is going to strap a bomb to a 6-year-old girl being accompanied by her parents? This modified policy should have never been rolled out last fall in the first place, let alone being applied to a child.
At the same time, the family appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America to discuss the incident:
“I did ask for alternatives, I asked for her to be rescanned,” Selena Drexel said. “They just refused and said they were going to do what they were going to do.”
This is just another case where the TSA has crossed the line. We have sacrificed too much of our civil liberties in the guise of protecting the public, and the time has come for those of us to take a stand.
This country was founded on principles of “innocent until proven guilty” and banning illegal search and seizure. Why is it, that this agency is allowed on a daily basis to ignore those principles? There are psychological profiling methods that work and could be done efficiently and without violating our rights, but they are repeatedly ignored so other, less-effective, measures can be used.
I travel on business rather frequently, and I know what I need to remove to pass through the metal detector without alarming. I also know that security is not a laughing matter. Unfortunately, the radicals who want to do this country harm do think our current “security theatre” is a joke, and they will continue to find ways to defeat it.
Until the TSA is overhauled will we ever get past the laughing-stock of a Federal Agency to having a secure transportation system.
