NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE
Charlie Cooke
August 9, 2011 4:00 A.M. Ten TSA Outrages
The Transporation Security Agency has engaged in absurd searches. After 9/11, airport security quite rightly became an issue of paramount concern. Yet since its creation in 2001, the Transport Security Administration has repeatedly walked a fine line between vital vigilance and gratuitous intrusion. Security expert Bruce Schneier famously referred to the current system as bordering on “security theater,” in which the measures taken are more officious than efficient. This tendency toward such blunt theatrics has only been magnified by the “enhanced screening procedures” introduced in November 2010. Ron Paul, ever the champion of the individual, described the new system as “appalling” and “abusive.” There is no doubt that many of those who have fallen afoul of its excesses would agree. 1. Disabled four-year-old Ryan Thomas was on the way to Disney World when he was accosted by TSA agents at Philadelphia Airport and forced to walk through the scanner without his leg-braces. This wasn’t the easiest request to honor, as Ryan’s “ankles [were] malformed and his legs [had] little or no muscle tone.” His mother’s attempts to explain this to the screeners fell on deaf ears. The TSA eventually conceded that Ryan should have been privately checked, but only after the boy’s father got thePhiladelphia Enquirer involved. 2. Elderly business traveler Penny Moroney described her TSA experience at St. Louis as “like being raped.” She had metal artificial knees and was thus eligible for a pat-down, during which the agent “touched her breasts . . . and patted her genitals.” The experience left her “shaking and crying.” Under any other circumstances, said Moroney, “it would be considered criminal sexual assault.” 3. Flying while pregnant can be uncomfortable enough, but for one diabetic traveler who did not want to be named for fear of “retaliation,” her day was about to get much worse. TSA agents at Denver International Airport considered the woman so much of a “risk for explosives” that they confiscated her insulin. When the woman asked for the names of the agents to make a complaint, they “scattered” and “left [her] crying at the TSA checkpoint.” 4. Former Baywatchstar and Playboyplaymate Donna D’Errico felt singled out at LAX when a TSA agent told her that she had been chosen for a security search “because you caught my eye and [the other passengers] didn’t.” The officer — who did not give D’Errico the customary choice between a scan and a pat-down — “was smiling and whispering with two other TSA agents and glaring at me,” she complained. “It is my personal belief that they pulled me aside because they thought I was attractive.” Somewhere, Lord Acton is nodding sagely. 5. TSA officials clearly have a high regard for the planning skills of eight-month-old babies. So much so that they subjected one to a full body pat-down and scan. This so amused pastor Jacob Jester that he took a photograph at Kansas City International Airport and posted it on Twitter. “I think in most cases, babies don’t pose a threat to security,” said Jester. One would think. 6. A 95-year-old wheelchair-bound woman with late-stage cancer was given a full pat-down before boarding a flight from Florida to Michigan. Officers were not satisfied, however, until they had forced her to remove her adult diaper. “We have reviewed the circumstances involving this screening and determined that our officers acted professionally, according to proper procedure and did not require this passenger to remove an adult diaper,” concluded the TSA report. That is true, providing, of course, that she didn’t want to get onto the plane. 7. The “pat or scan” choice usually proffered to air travelers was rendered moot for a female Army veteran when the body scanner showed her wearing a sanitary towel, and prompted a “horrible experience.” As a result of the image, she was “subjected to a search so invasive that [she] was left crying and dealing with memories that [she] thought had been dealt with years ago of prior sexual assaults.” 8. Drew Mandy was also on his way to Disney World when agents at Detroit Metro Airport started questioning him about his adult diaper and confiscated the six-inch toy plastic hammer he has carried for comfort for 20 years. Drew was unable to comprehend what was happening, because, though he is 29, he has the mental capacity of a two-year-old. When his father, a doctor, tried to step in and explain that his son was mentally challenged, he was met with an assurance that the staff “knew what [they] were doing.” Sadly, that seems to be true. 9. Susie Castillo’s tearful testimony went viral on YouTube, after the former Miss USA reacted with outrage to a pat-down at Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport. Castillo complained that she was being given an unacceptable choice, between being “molested” and walking through a machine that is “unhealthy and dangerous.” She claimed that the TSA agent “actually felt, touched my vagina.” “It’s not just about my rights,” she said, “it’s about all rights; the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution is being violated.” Amen. 10. Eliana Sutherland was travelling from Orlando International Airport when she was singled out because of her large breasts. “It was pretty obvious,” said Sutherland. “One of the guys that was staring me up and down was the one who pulled me over. Not a comfortable feeling.” — Charlie Cooke is an editorial intern at National Review. |
April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008