The Transportation Security Administration’s invasive airport screenings are full of checks, but very few balances.
As offensive as the intrusive groping and naked image X-ray scanners may be, what’s worse is the way the new security measures are being executed — without explanation, consistency or recourse for passengers who feel abused.
We still live in a free and democratic society, not a dictatorship. Any security measure that impinges our freedoms requires careful consideration before being implemented.
The government is “desperately” trying to find a balance between security and invasiveness, says White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. But this balance should have been thoroughly weighed long before scanners found their way into 70 airports.
The TSA says the less information revealed to the public, the harder it is for would-be terrorists to find ways around the system. But measures that impact all travelers can’t stay hidden long. A few extra months of secrecy doesn’t justify introducing invasive security tactics without proper explanation or vetting.
We didn’t vote to give up our Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable searches, or to abandon the right to be safe from sexual assault — or to protect our children from the same. We didn’t even discuss it. TSA officials took away our freedoms without a murmur of debate.
We should know how much these security measures will improve our safety. We should understand why pat-downs and scanners were picked over less invasive (and more intelligent) options like interrogations and better training of agents to detect anomalies in passenger behaviors.
The TSA defends scanners and groping as necessary responses to the Nigerian underwear bomber who tried to detonate an explosive on a flight to Detroit last Christmas. Yet the bomber reportedly got on the flight despite the fact that he was on a terror watch list — and a warning from his father to U.S. officials about his activities. Reports say Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab also purchased a ticket in cash, changed his departure airport and checked no luggage despite a stated intent to take a two-week vacation.
Further investigation of any of these red flags could have kept him off the plane — or truly justified a full-body pat- down without subjecting all travelers to the same.
Does the TSA truly have the right to ignore our Fourth Amendment rights? Other law enforcement officials can’t conduct such intimate searches without warrants or probable cause, or without having their actions subject to review.
Is a full-body pat- down equal to sexual assault? A woman traveling from Colorado Springs said Tuesday a TSA agent put a hand inside her pants. And what about minors? As much as I’m trying to overcome my own hesitations to travel for Christmas, I’m having a much harder time letting someone touch my 11-year-old daughter. I spent the last decade educating my children that private parts are private. Do I make an exception now?
Even worse than the lack of information is the lack of consistency in executing these new measures. Friends and family in airports in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Denver were given choices of who wanted to volunteer for the screenings. How are we keeping airports secure if we’re only screening passengers who raise their hands?
Stories also abound of authoritarian agents yelling at passengers and refusing to answer questions.
We need a clear recourse for passengers who feel their rights are violated — other than to take their stories to the media and the Internet. We also need clear rules about what agents are and aren’t allowed to do and an independent review of cases when those rules are broken.
We need to be safe. But we also need to safeguard our rights and freedoms. We need fewer checks and more balances.
Lisa Wirthman is a freelance writer who lives in Highlands Ranch.
