Thanksgiving Crisis: Backlash Growing Against TSA’s Invasive Pat-Downs & Body Scanners at Airports, “Opt-Out Day” Looming, Muslim Women Exempt? (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on November 13, 2010
Backlash grows against TSA's new invasive airport security policies... TSA parody T-shirts now offered by Despair.com
The biggest travel weekend of the year — Thanksgiving — is less than two weeks off, but with the growing backlash against the Transportation Security Administration’s new controversial pat-down procedures and body scanners that provide graphic naked images, many people are rethinking their travel plans.
Sweet old Grandma Edna may decide to not fly to Houston for the Turkey Day holidays so as to avoid the indignity and creepiness of having her nude image stored in a Big Sis database and her panty area and brassiere areas groped and fondled by lewd TSA personnel. Or being subjected to unsettling illegal drug pranks.
This could spell gargantuan financial disaster for the airlines.
An “Opt-Out Day” is being pushed by groups that feel that TSA has crossed a line, subjecting airline passengers (including children) to an unnecessary invasion of privacy for over-the-top security. Additionally, airline pilots are protesting against the full-body scans, which they fear emit enough radiation to create serious health problems, including cancer.
A lawsuit has been filed against TSA, and a meeting has been scheduled with Homeland Security czarina Janet Napolitano, the U.S.Travel Association, and 20 travel companies on this looming catastrophe. Yes, I would think so, JaNo. Hey, when are you going to get around to securing our nation’s borders?
From CNN, Growing backlash against TSA body scanners, pat-downs:
(CNN) — A growing pilot and passenger revolt over full-body scans and what many consider intrusive pat-downs couldn’t have come at a worse time for the nation’s air travel system.
Thanksgiving, the busiest travel time of the year, is less than two weeks away.
Grassroots groups are urging travelers to either not fly or to protest by opting out of the full-body scanners and undergo time-consuming pat-downs instead.
Such concerns prompted a meeting Friday of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano with leaders of travel industry groups.
Napolitano met with the U.S.Travel Association and 20 travel companies “to underscore the Department’s continued commitment to partnering with the nation’s travel and tourism industry to facilitate the flow of trade and travel while maintaining high security standards to protect the American people,” the department said in a statement.
Federal officials have increased security in the wake of plots attributed to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Industry leaders are worried about the grassroots backlash to Transportation Security Administration security procedures. Some pilots, passengers and flight attendants have chosen to opt out of the revealing scans.
More of the units are arriving at airports, with 1,000 expected to be in place by the end of 2011.
From Michelle Malkin, TSA: Touching sensitive areas:
I noted the growing brouhaha over TSA’s new, invasive security procedures at the airport compared to the agency’s lackadaisical treatment of illegal alien pilots:
Hands-off for law-breakers, hands-all-over for everyone else.
The old joke about TSA used to be that it stood for “Thousands standing around.”
Now TSA stands for “Touching sensitive areas.”
Or, to put it more bluntly: “Thousands squeezing asses.”
Michelle Malkin tweet, November 2010: Old: TSA=Thousands Standing Around. New: TSA=Thousands Squeezing Asses.
From Death and Taxes, Revolt Against TSA: Airline Industry Spawns New Folk Hero:
American Airlines pilot Dave Bates, who also presides over the Allied Pilots Association, has written a letter to his fellow pilots, urging a change in the demeaning security standards the TSA has implemented against them, causing some to predict a full-blown pilot revolt against TSA.
In addition to pilots undergoing full-body scans, they are also subject to mandatory, at-random patdowns while in uniform. Bates argues that this does nothing to improve national security, and undermines their positions, as planes cannot fly without pilots (though it’s safe to assume Google is working on this, too.)
Bates is urging pilots to deny TSA scans and patdowns, politely if possible. His anti-confrontation stance evokes the sensibility of proper civil disobedience, positioning Bates as the Gandhi of the skies.
The reason his letter, which you can read at The Atlantic, has struck such a chord is because flying, once an enjoyable privilege, has become one of the worst experiences imaginable. Going on vacation usually involves the statement, “Yeah but then we have to fly.”
CNM: Revolt Against the TSA &” Naked ” Body Screeners!!
From Washington Post, Revolt against TSA: Ban the body scanner?:
A groundswell of anger has rippled through the nation’s airports: People are not happy about the body scanner security systems.
While The Post’s Andrea Sachs did not find the procedure too invasive when she tested the new technology (“I found it comforting to know that the body scanner would uncover items missed by older equipment and that we travelers have one more layer of protection against those exceedingly crafty terrorists.”), other people have not been so happy with the experience.
Some people are bothered by the idea of a stranger seeing the naked outlines of their body, others worry about the images being stored. Another complaint is that if you opt out of a scan, you’re subjected to a pat-down that has gotten a wee too invasive for some folks. “One US Airways pilot said he felt as though he had been “sexually molested” by the pat down,” Mike Cleary, president of the US Airline Pilots Association, told USA Today.
Some people are planning a National Opt Out Day for Nov. 24. Fliers are supposed to opt out of having a body scan or not travel at all. The Web site writes, “You should never have to explain to your children, ‘Remember that no stranger can touch or see your private area, unless it’s a government employee, then it’s OK.’ ”
Meg McLain, a radio host, went on the program “Free Talk Live” and said she had been handcuffed and harassed when refusing to use the body scanners. The Transportation Security Administration released security camera footage that appears to contradict at least some of her claims, as she is not handcuffed in the footage.
The angry fliers have professional support: The unions at American Airlines and US Airways have advised their 14,000 members to avoid the scanners and opt for the pat-downs.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit July 2 to stop the installation of more scanners at airports in the United States, saying the procedure was “unlawful, invasive and ineffective.”
From CNS News, Muslim Group Advises Women Wearing Hijabs to Allow TSA ‘Enhanced Pat Downs’ Only on Head and Neck Area:
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has issued a travel warning to Muslim airline passengers on U.S. aircraft in response to the Transportation Safety Administration’s “enhanced pat down” policy that went into effect in late October.
CAIR said Muslims who object to full-body scans for religious reasons should know their rights if they are required to undergo a pat-down, including asking for the procedure to be done in a private place. In addition, CAIR offered a “special recommendation” for Muslim women who wear a hijab, telling them they should tell the TSA officer that they may be searched only around the head and neck.
Muslim woman wearing hajib and niqab... will Muslim women be exempt from TSA's new policies?
From The Jawa Report, CAIR Pushes To Exempt Muslims From Airport Body Scans AND Pat Downs:
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has already endorsed a fatwa making full-body scans haraam. The alternative for refusal of the full-body scan – for EVERYONE, not just Muslims – is an “enhanced pat down”.
CAIR, however, is demanding that the pat downs on Muslim women be limited and even self performed (emphasis mine):
CAIR said Muslims who object to full-body scans for religious reasons should know their rights if they are required to undergo a pat-down, including asking for the procedure to be done in a private place. In addition, CAIR offered a “special recommendation” for Muslim women who wear a hijab, telling them they should tell the TSA officer that they may be searched only around the head and neck.
In the “special recommendations for Muslim women who wear hijab,” it states: “Before you are patted down, you should remind the TSA officer that they are only supposed to pat down the area in question, in this scenario, your head and neck. They SHOULD NOT subject you to a full-body or partial-body pat-down.”
It also states: “Instead of the pat-down, you can always request to pat down your own scarf, including head and neck area, and have the officers perform a chemical swipe of your hands.”
Very ironic that Muslims would object to these extreme security measures given that it is Muslims who caused these measures to be necessary in the first place.
From AFP, ‘Naked’ scanners at US airports may be dangerous: scientists:
WASHINGTON — Some US scientists warned Friday that the full-body, graphic-image X-ray scanners now being used to screen passengers and airline crews at airports around the country may be unsafe.
“They say the risk is minimal, but statistically someone is going to get skin cancer from these X-rays,” Dr Michael Love, who runs an X-ray lab at the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at Johns Hopkins University school of medicine, told AFP.
“No exposure to X-ray is considered beneficial. We know X-rays are hazardous but we have a situation at the airports where people are so eager to fly that they will risk their lives in this manner,” he said.
The possible health dangers posed by the scanners add to passengers’ and airline crews’ concerns about the devices, which have been dubbed “naked” scanners because of the graphic image they give of a person’s body, genitalia and all.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began rolling out full-body scanners at US airports in 2007, but stepped up deployment of the devices this year when stimulus funding made it possible to buy another 450 of the advanced imaging technology scanners.
Some 315 “naked” scanners are currently in use at 65 US airports, according to the TSA.
From a February 2010 news story published at Orlando Sentinel, TSA officer accused of lewd act on child, bragged about S&M fetish on MySpace:
The Orlando International Airport TSA security officer arrested on charges of molesting a minor is a fan of bondage and sadomasochism, according to his MySpace page.
Charles Henry Bennett’s MySpace profile identifies him as “Master Charles or Sir.” The online page shows the 57-year-old airport security guard has “many years experience” as a bondage and sadomasochism master and is looking to meet people, especially “submissive females.”
Officials with the Transportation Security Administration on Monday said Bennett has been working security at the airport since 2002. A spokeswoman at the federal agency said officials are investigating the allegations.
More reading at DBKP – Death By 1000 Papercuts: Angry Over Airport Full Body Scans? On the Horizon, Red Flag Tests.
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Thanks for posting on this, Vicki.
I bought plane tickets a while ago for travel soon. I regret it COMPLETELY already.
I can assure you that whatever happens, I will not fly domestic again until these options (scanners or pat downs) are removed. I’ll take the train, bus, or drive.
Hear that, airlines? I’m done with you. Wake up, people are revolting!
I know that TSA and HS are loving this invasion of privacy and insults because it is the M.O. of this regime.
Larry – I have a feeling that Napolitano will be squirming her way out of this debacle – a lot can change in two weeks. She’s likely feeling the heat from a number of angles. Hang in there, buddy. The policy isn’t in concrete yet.
Thanks for your good words, my friend.
I hope you are right.
“Very ironic that Muslims would object to these extreme security measures given that it is Muslims who caused these measures to be necessary in the first place.”
No, get your facts straight. It was Osama Bin Laden and his radical terrorist extremist groups that caused these measures to be necessary and put into place. Stop absorbing every little bit of information the media spoon-feeds you and do your homework.
Homework? Looks like someone wasn’t paying attention on September 11, 2001, G. You get an “F” for the day.
It was Muslim radicals who learned how to use jet planes as gigantic torpedoes to destroy the Pentagon and World Trade Center Towers on 9/11, murdering thousands of people. It wasn’t a group of Catholics or Jews or Buddhists or Hindus or Christians or Hari Krishna. The murderers then, and in further subsequent attacks using airplanes, have been Muslims. ALWAYS.
Unless you have some magic information the rest of us lack. Didn’t think so, Canadian chucklehead.
[...] the day before Thanksgiving, will be a very bad day to be in an airport. People are organizing to opt out of the revealing scan and choose the intimate pat-down. Not because they want the personal touch [...]