Complaints Against TSA

TSA is now taking complaints online. Dana Liebelson of Mother Jones has compiled some of the best rants against the TSA's intrusive policies.

1. "No to scanners. You want to see my junk? Fine. But first buy me a drink."—Jack A. Webber

2. "You're really asking us if we want you to be checking out our genitals in the name of national security?"—Alec

3. "I opted out once and I felt like crying because I'm not a touchy feel person and well, when you are using feminine hygiene products, NO ONE wants to be touched anywhere near there…So yeah, no more flying for me."—Anonymous

4. "I sit in airports, and watch people get shuffled through these machines, raising their hands like criminals 'assuming the position,' and I think- 'How did we get so afraid?'—Curtis

5. "A poem: Land of the screened./Home of the afraid./No porno scanners. Why?/4th Amendment./Health risks./Common sense./Liberty./No TSA./Why?/See above."—S. Private

6. "STOP USING ADVANCED IMAGING TECHNOLOGY FOR SCREENING PASSENGERS ! YOU TYRANNICAL DEMONS. WE CAN ALL SEE IF YOU HAVE A GUN OR BOMB AND WE AIN'T SCARED OF KNIVES AND BOX CUTTERS"—Anonymous

7. "Bunch of perverts! You are slowing down our economy."—Onederer

8. "I am an 82 year old Jewish woman with an artificial hip. That makes me a prime terrorist suspect according to the TSA. I need to be frisked every time I fly. That is a disgusting procedure. I doubt that Janet Napolitano would want her mother or her grandmother to be subjected to it."—Joan B. Berkowitz

9. "I have not flown in more than 2 years since being improperly touched and fondled by a TSA employee. I served in the military to defend the rights and freedoms of this country, only to come home to find the TSA taking both away."—Anonymous

10. "I am a stroke survivor…I am a rape survivor…I take a train or drive, because I'm not willing to put myself in the hands of people who bully and try to railroad me through machines my doctor has strictly said to stay away from."—T.A.

11. "Go ahead. Screen me. Screen the crap out of me. Coming and going if you must. But don't let this be a doorway to more and more restrictions. I don't care if you want to make sure no explosives get on a flight. I do care if you'll look through my phone or computer files as well."—Jonathan

12. "I spent over 36 years on active duty in the United States Navy. Had numerous very high security clearances and was a qualified Nuclear Weapons delivery pilot. Being 'frisked' or forced into an X-ray machine and treated as a common criminal [is] disgusting to someone who dedicated a large portion of his life to the defense of the united States."—Terry Farnell Carraway

13. "Having 4 replaced joints, I am full of metal and have had numerous X-rays. I don't want to subject myself to more X-rays…My husband and I were a writer-photographer team and used to fly everywhere for our business. Since you have instituted these procedures, we have been forced to give up our business."—El Hilf

14. "AS A PILOT AND FLYER IM AS CONCERNED AS ANY ABOUT SECURITY FOR ALL TRAVELERS AND I AND MY SIG OTHER ARE ALSO NATURIST [NUDIST, AS ARE A VERY MANY] HUMANS. TO EXPEDITE AIRPORT SCREENINGS A 'NUDIST' OR SIMILARLY WORDED LINE SHOULD OFFER VERY FAST SCREENING FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE NOT SHAMED BY OUR BODIES. THIS WOULD BE A GREAT BOON TO TRAVELERS AND HELP UNCLOG SCREENING STATIONS"—Norm Al Man

Quote of the Day

Amanda Carpenter should talk to Litbrit. She blogs at TSA News Blog. Litbrit will not travel on a plane because of the TSA patdowns. Litbrit is also no fans of intrusive anti-abortion laws.

In Carpenter's mind, women that don't want a large medical object shoved inside of them want a stranger to fondle them in a security line. That makes absolutely no sense.

Disgraceful TSA Failure

Via Gawker: TSA agents at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport put a dying woman at risk of infection by making her peel back her bandages and puncturing her saline bags.

Michelle Dunaj is dying of leukemia. Dunaj was denied a private screening. She was forced to have her skirt be lifted up publicly.

"I asked them if they thought that was an appropriate location, and they told me that everything was fine," she said.

KOMO News has a video interview with Dunaj.

For the record: passengers have the right to request to be screened in a private room. TSA denied Dunaj her right.

Litbrit on the Nicole Sandler Show

Radio host Nicole Sandler interviews Litbrit about the civil liberty violations of the TSA scans and searches. Litbrit is a contributor to TSA News. The interview starts around the 30 minute mark of the show.

TSA Screws Up Again

It is no accident that the blog Feministe is down. Blog editor Jill Filipovic received national news coverage today after posting about a creepy note in "Filipovic's suitcase to "GET YOUR FREAK ON GIRL."



Filipovic was interviewed by Boing Boing about the incident. There was a personal female item in Jill's luggage. Making comments about a woman's (very) personal item qualifies as sexual harassment. We have discovered TSA saving nude body scan images. Breast cancer survivor Cathy Bossi was forced by TSA to take off her bra. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see a history of sexual harassment. I hope Jill files a complaint.

Update: I asked Jill if she was sexually harassed in any other way. She was gracious enough to emailed me this reply.

No, I wasn't harassed going through the screening -- the vibrator was in a checked bag, so I didn't interact with the agents who screened it.

TSA Frisk 6 Year-old Girl

Needless to say, the parents are not happy. Todd and Selena Drexel went on Good Morning America to talk about their daughter being flagged for a patdown. TSA would not tell the parents why 6 year-old Anna was flagged.



TSA realizes that the Youtube video is damaging. TSA posted this statement on its blog.

A video taken of one of our officers patting down a six year-old has attracted quite a bit of attention. 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.

That makes me feel so much better. Not.

TSA Saving Nude Pictures

Remember when the Obama administration was telling Americans that the TSA body scanners did not save images of people naked? They were lying. A lawsuit by the Electronic Privacy Information Center sued the Department of Homeland Security for access to 2,000 copies of images from TSA body scanners.

Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled that the Homeland Security Department is not obliged to provide the images under the Freedom of Information Act because disclosure of the images may provide terrorists and other groups with higher ability to prevent detection by TSA and bring into aircraft prohibited materials.

I don't take the security issues lightly. However, I'm sure terrorists are aware that TSA uses machines that scan through clothing. Federal courts usually rule with the government on security issues. The ruling is not surprising. It does make me wonder why TSA is saving these pictures.

Rapiscan is one of the companies that makes the scanning machines for TSA. The CEO of Rapiscan is Deepak Chopra. It is a troubling potential conflict of interest when Chopra accompanies President Obama on a trip to India. On the trip, Obama announced a $1.7 billion deal between India and Boeing. The Wikileaks revealed the Obama administration has used legally shady behavior to secure contracts for Boeing.

Thom Hartman has a good commentary on how President Obama has blurred the line between lobbyists and government Hartman discusses Obama's India trip with Chopra.

Quote of the Day 2

"Hahahaha. Just got an email on the RS Contact line that the person has decided to take viagra before going through the TSA pat down. LOL."

Erick Erickson, on Twitter.

I much as I disagree with Erickson, I gotta admit, that is funny.

TSA Strip Searches Boy

Via GottaLaff: TSA forced a young boy to strip. This is what happens when two political parties can't have rationale discussions about national security. President Barack Obama and Republican John Mica have failed to show leadership on the pat-down controversy.

The Hypocrisy of John Mica

John Mica is now running from the very Transportation Security Administration he helped created.

Jim DeMint placed killing unionization of TSA employees above national security by placing a hold on President Obama's appontment of a new TSA chief administrator. Mica disingenuously blames Obama for DeMint's hold.

MICA: We didn't have a TSA administrator for over a year. It was one of the last appointments the Obama administration made. (Cross talk) So you had an out of control agency... a rudderless agency which is difficult to manage even if you had it all together.

Mica's plan is to kick TSA out and have private companies do the screening. It is painfully obvious to me that Mica never read the 9/11 commission report. Private screener failed miserably and let the hijackers aboard the planes. Furthermore, is Mica suggesting that private companies be given the same authority to use x-ray scans and pat down private body parts? Mica is just ranting about the wonders of private companies after such security measures have failed before.

Mica supported the TSA pat-downs in 2004.

The patdowns could be made obsolete by new machines being tested at six airports nationwide that suck in air around passengers and quickly detect explosive material. But that project is two years behind schedule, said Florida Rep. John Mica, a Republican who chairs the House aviation subcommittee.

“My biggest fear is suicide bombers on an aircraft,” he said. “We just don’t have too many other options than to pat people down to try and detect the explosives.”

Mica did not support pat-downs for travelers on private planes.

"We're concerned," Mica said, "but you can't protect yourself against every single small aircraft or every vehicle."

Translation: Mica's response is hell no to pat-downs to people rich enough to afford their own planes. In Tampa, 15 year-old Charles J. Bishop slammed a private plane into the Bank of America Plaza building. Bishop voiced his supported Osama bin Laden. Bishop was killed in the crash. Bishop's act of terrorism in 2002 shows Mica does not take national security seriously.

Update: Mica is urging travelers not to participate in Opt-Out Day.

“I think the public needs to work with us. We will get it right,” Mica said on CNN’s "State of the Union." “I’m not going to support that but we need to get it right and we will.”

Mica support the pat-downs during the Bush administration. Mica now feels differently that there is a Democratic administration and heat on him for helping to create the TSA. A true profile in courage.

Mica criticized John Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), for signing off the new invasive pat-down procedures. He said Pistole needs to change course because of the public outcry against the pat-downs.

“I don’t think the rollout has been good and the application is even worse. This needs to be refined,” Mica said. “He says this is the only tool and I believe he’s wrong.”

Really? Mica himself said in 2004 that the pat-downs were necessary.

“My biggest fear is suicide bombers on an aircraft,” he said. “We just don’t have too many other options than to pat people down to try and detect the explosives.”

SNL on TSA

Saturday Night Live sketch on the TSA controversy.

TSA Update

Image via Lomesomerobot.com.

Breast cancer survivor Cathy Bossi went through a humiliating body search conducted by T.S.A. agents. Bossi was forced to remove for bra in front of agents.

She says two female Charlotte T.S.A. agents took her to a private room and began what she calls an aggressive pat down. She says they stopped when they got around to feeling her right breast… the one where she'd had surgery.

Pat-down Backlash: Child groped during pat-down? What are the rules?

"She put her full hand on my breast and said, 'What is this?'. And I said, 'It's my prosthesis because I've had breast cancer.' And she said, 'Well, you'll need to show me that'."

Cathy was asked to show her prosthetic breast, removing it from her bra.

"I did not take the name of the person at the time because it was just so horrific of an experience, I couldn't believe someone had done that to me. I'm a flight attendant. I was just trying to get to work."

The original goal of the T.S.A. screenings was to make flying safer from potential terrorist attacks. What we are seeing now is citizens being humiliated and having legally questionable searches conducted on their bodies. People have had enough of having to be accosted in airports.

John Mica is the ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. A CBS News story reports that Mica is a longtime critic of the Transportation Security Administration. That is interesting considering that Mica's committee oversees TSA. Mica also crafted the legislation that created TSA. It is interesting that Mica is an opponent of something he helped create.

Mica is using the TSA controversy to privatize TSA. This would personally benefit Mica and his campaign contributors.

Companies that could gain business if airports heed Mica's call have helped fill his campaign coffers. In the past 13 years, Mica has received almost $81,000 in campaign donations from political action committees and executives connected to some of the private contractors already at 16 U.S. airports.

What is interesting is Mica has written no legislation requiring people traveling on private planes to go through screenings, no showing of ID and patdowns.

Mica was at the forefront of the legislative effort to create the Transportation Security Administration. He placed the risks associated with private air travel in the context of an entire spectrum of risk. In other words, he reminded me, the United States has more urgent vulnerabilities than spring flights aboard Cessnas.

"We're concerned," Mica told me, "but you can't protect yourself against every single small aircraft or every vehicle. So you look at the biggest risk, the terrorist plot that can do the most damage. They're not interested in taking out a few folks, as we've seen. They're interested in taking out thousands and doing a lot of psychological damage, which also affects our economic stability. Again, you just can't protect yourself against every eventuality."

Short version: Mica isn't going to require wealthy people go through intrusive patdowns or long waits. Mica's reasoning is "but you can't protect yourself against every single small aircraft or every vehicle." If Mica really feels that way then why even have screenings.

Ron Paul on TSA

Image via Lomesomerobot.com.

Unlike Glenn Reynolds, Ron Paul actually sounds like a civil libertarian on privacy issues. I'm not a Paul supporter. Paul does make a compelling argument on the stupidity of the TSA x-rays and pat downs. Paul rightly argues if you or I tried to take photos or grope people we would be arrested.