If I were a TSA agent, I would become very familiar with certain travelers coming through the checkpoint. Obviously, this morning, they were not quite awake at the airport in Nashville, and the wrong person was “randomly” selected for a pat down screening.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
That person was Rand Paul, the Republican Senator from Kentucky. As he passed through one of the TSA’s multimillion dollar body scanners, it alarmed with an anomaly on his leg. He pulled up his pant leg, and even offered to submit to being re-scanned, but the agent at the checkpoint insisted he had to receive a pat down because of the alarm.
Keep in mind, that Senator Paul also happens to serve on the “Homeland Security and Government Affairs” committee, which has some oversight into the operations of TSA and DHS. He has also called out their screening procedures at past committee hearings.
Here, in an interview, Senator Paul was on with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to discuss the incident:
I suspect there will be another committee hearing in the not so distant future, for which this incident will be a subject of discussion.
As someone who has derided the overreaching TSA in the past, I am hopeful this incident will be the one to push things far enough over the edge that Congress will mandate reforms. While I no longer travel as frequent as I used to, I was routinely witness to the random acts of stupidity that is the Transportation Security Agency, and know that myself and the travelling public would appreciate it.
Author’s note: Recently, while doing research for another project, I discovered a cartoon strip drawn by a former TSA agent. Appropriately titled “Homeland Security Theater“, I am now checking it often for a reminder of how broken this agency really is. I suspect today’s Rand Paul incident will soon be gracing one of his strips.
