Blog

“Somebody, somewhere, needs to shake us from this stupor of blind policy and blind obedience. I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t some test — a test of just how stupid Americans are. If TSA said that from now on we had to hop on one foot while humming “God Bless America,” would we do that too?”

The comment above is from a recent traveler referring to the new security procedures now being implemented at America’s airports by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at the orders of the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

I found the statement personally compelling because I’d already been asking myself the same question before the past couple of weeks. I have wondered for some time at what seems very much like a herd-of-sheep mentality amongst travelers. How have we allowed ourselves to be convinced that standing in long lines, partially disrobing in public, having our belongings rifled through by government workers, and repeatedly witnessing shake-downs of Grandmas, will make us safer?

Since 9/11, I’ve had to wonder each time the question of air travel has presented itself whether I am contributing  to the problem by sending my government a message that I am willing to put up with their reactionary, ineffective, and very inconvenient “security” methods. I asked myself, as did the commenter above, “Is this some kind of test?”.

Stand in line, have your boarding pass and ID ready, there are two lines, that laptop needs to be in its own bin! take off your belt, ma’am that sweater needs to come off…

We put up with it.

Then some guy puts 50 milligrams of powder in his shoes and then everyone has to take off their shoes. And we put up with it.

Some people in London are foiled in a plot involving liquids, so mothers are forced to drink their own breast milk and none of us can carry on toothpaste or even a bottle of water. And we put up with it.

Some guy puts 80 milligrams of powder in his pants. Now we’re all supposed to get naked…virtually. And more.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m having a difficult time getting a certain quote from Benjamin Franklin out of my mind when contemplating this whole subject…

“Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” ~ Benjamin Franklin, 1759, (variant 1775)

Just When Does Security Violate Liberty?

If you haven’t flown in the past few weeks, a rapidly growing number of people who have are sending the message that you may want to think twice. If you wish to travel by air, you will surrender a number of fundamental rights and submit to the very murky jurisdiction of the TSA and DHS. In order to board a flight, you must comply with procedures or you can expect that you will be detained, threatened with a lawsuit and/or fined. And that’s even if you decide not to fly after all.

Are We Really Safer?

While some go-along-to-get-along folks may be just fine with the increasing inconveniences prior to this point and believe what I’ve said so far is over-dramatized, it is simply a fact that there has been an undercurrent of debate questioning whether most security procedures implemented since 9/11 are actually all that effective or worth the trade-off in loss of liberty. I have come to realize I have not been as alone in my musings as I once thought. Freeman Online’s James R. Otteson wrote in 2002, “The invasive and unconstitutional tactics of such airport security are an alarmingly large step toward creating just the kind of totalitarian society our enemies hope to create. We must not let it continue.”

Again, Otteson wrote the above statement in 2002, prior to the shoes, the liquids, and most certainly, prior to the virtual strip searches. Critics of security procedures have argued that effective security would include deliberate profiling, based on many factors. Political correctness and a meaningless display to convince the public that all this makes us safer, dominates decision making.

For anyone who has had a nagging suspicion that the security procedures since 9/11 are indeed meaningless, only need read Jeffery Goldberg’s “The Things He Carried” to discover that suspicion is indeed, quite correct.

The most recent changes require that we completely reassess how security is being handled. I am far from alone when I say that I have no intention of traveling by air unless / until these procedures are changed. Currently at issue are those full / naked body scanners recently placed in many US airports, through which all travelers are required to walk in order to board a plane. In addition, the newly implemented “enhanced” pat downs are under fire.

The Lesser of Two Evils?

When the idea of full body scanners was first proposed, they were reportedly only going to be used as a secondary screening device. Concerns and objections about the scanners are focused on hazards to health, further violations of civil liberties, and criticisms that they are nothing more than another over-reaction that will not ultimately improve security. Some scientists and physicians believe the amount of radiation people will be exposed to is not well known but likely too high and the decisions to put them into use was made so hastily that they were not properly tested. At least one group has filed a lawsuit on most of the grounds mentioned above.

While it is most likely true that the majority of TSA workers are just trying to do their jobs and it seems by and large have been polite in the past, the implementation of the newest security procedures has caused a general shift. In fact, there is some indication that the newest procedures are purposefully designed to ensure that all travelers obediently comply with the requirement to go through the scanners.

While regulations allow travelers to opt-out, they are not being informed that the option even exists, and many reports indicate when someone is aware of the option and invokes it, the reaction from workers is deliberately attention-getting and embarrassing.

Opting-out triggers an “enhanced” pat down procedure. Previously, pat downs were rather superficial. TSA workers used the backs of their hands and largely avoided contact with certain parts of the body. The new “improved” version involves probing fingers, a “groin check” and a look-see down one’s pants. All of this is proceeded by a loud and very graphic explanation of what is about to occur. Some travelers have described the pat down as identical to the treatment a suspect receives when placed under arrest:

DenCSA in FlyerTalk (Nov. 9, 2010 ): “As the smurf police was groping me up he said he was going to stick his hands/fingers on the inside of my pants, and as he was doing so he was looking down inside my pants. I stopped his hands at that point and said ‘hey buddy, eyes up here.’ He of course gave the ‘doing his job’ spiel, brought over supervisor, and we went back to the private screening area for molestation time. I asked for a comment card, supervisor asked what I didn’t ‘like’ about the pat down, and I let him have it at that point: I have NEVER been to prison, however I have seen the intake procedure when someone is hauled off to jail and it includes running hands inside the pants the way the TSA are doing. Now, in that case the person has been alleged to have done some impropriety or crime to cause the trip to jail. In my case, the TSA wants to strip me down and grope me up in the same manner as if I have done something wrong or committed a crime. That is not right on any level. Travelers are NOT CRIMINALS and the TSA needs to stop treating them as such. In the USA you are innocent until proven guilty, so unless I’ve been accused of a crime you have no justifiable reason to stick your hands down my pants. None, whatsoever!”

Backlash…

Based on a number of reports, something akin to revolt is starting to break out. The very popular Drudge Report has been linking to many of them. Complaints by travelers, pilots, and flight attendants began to appear immediately following implementation of the newest procedures. In addition, some have alleged that TSA workers are targeting attractive females.

Initially, not even children were exempted. As one father noted:

“We spend my child’s whole life telling him that only mom, dad and a doctor can touch you in your private area, and now we have to add TSA agent and that’s just wrong,” he told Reuters. “At some point the terrorists have won.”

“Big Sis” Backing or Doubling Down?

In response to the many complaints of this nature, the DHS / TSA have backed off from subjecting children 12 and under to the new procedures. While this may be a very small but hopeful sign, there has clearly not yet been enough opposition. DHS Secretary Janet Napalitano (called “Big Sis” by some) actually issued statements on Monday reasserting that all travelers will submit to the new procedures. In so doing, Napalitano reasserted a good deal of information that doesn’t hold up well to scrutiny, including the safety and effectiveness of the scanners, the machines’ capabilities to store and transmit the images they capture, and the “discreet” nature of the pat downs.

Are Airports the Hotel California?

Napalitano was not the only official to make a statement on Monday. A California TSA official responded to media inquiries about a report from potential passenger John Tyner. Tyner used his cell phone to record video of his journey through security and decision to opt-out of either screening procedure once the graphic verbal description was given by the TSA worker. Tyner subsequently posted the video on YouTube (second video here). Tyner followed up the YouTube postings with a report on his blog noting that the video did not show what happened after he was escorted from the security area; he was threatened with a civil suit if he left the airport without complying with the screening, whether he decided to fly or not. Despite the fact that a TSA supervisor had a police officer escort Tyner from the premises,  the TSA administrator confirmed Tyner could face a civil suit stating, “He’s violated federal law and federal regulations which states once you enter and start the process you have to complete it.”

Some folks may argue that the purchase of an airline ticket or entry into an airport equals an agreement to subject oneself to whatever is required in order to fly. When I buy an airline ticket, I am making a private purchase from a travel agency or airline, not from the federal government. Isn’t it time to start asking ourselves why the government is inserting itself in a transaction between an airline and its customer? What might security be like without DHA and TSA involved?

Does anyone else find it paradoxical that the same government that cannot seem to figure out how to restrict the movements of people who do not even have a legal right to be in the country don’t seem to have any problem locking down the freedom of movement of law abiding citizens? While so many dramas play out on the political stage in this country, we dance around core questions. Chief among them is whether a majority of us really know what it means to be free and are any longer willing to do anything when that freedom is violated.

Liberty or Security?

Time will tell on this point and there are hopeful signs. The exemption for children under 12 shows some potential impact from complaints. Further, pilots and flight attendants quickly moved to complain through their unions. Reportedly, an exemption for pilots is under consideration.

But as noted above, crew member unions are not alone in lodging their complaints. Opponents urge Americans who are against the new procedures to write letters to the companies with which they usually do travel business as a number of travelers have already done.

Several groups have sprung up in efforts to inform the public and to organize protests. Thousands Standing Around has been gathering comments from recent travelers and posting them on their website, Don’t Scan Me urges travelers to avoid the scanners due to health concerns, and Opt Out Day is urging all travelers to opt out of the scanners on November 22.

In addition to contemplating the necessity of travel plans and writing letters to companies in the travel industry, it seems like a good idea to write letters to members of Congress. The US Senate will be holding hearings about the TSA on November 17. In addition to all of the other information listed here, some are advocating for the abolishment of the TSA on the basis that it is not only ineffective it is incredibly wasteful. If letters to our US Senators are not effective this round, pressure brought to bear on our representatives in advance of the new session of Congress stands perhaps a better a chance of making an impact than we’ve seen in the recent past.

As is always the case when it comes to bad policy, it’s up to us, the American people to decide whether we will extend ourselves to make an effort to reverse it, or whether we will let others decide. If things continue as they are, airport security will go the way of such things as the health care mandate; certain groups with lobbying power will be exempt while the average citizen is not.

Further reading:

Axxiom for Liberty’s Kaye Beach has a number of articles on her website on this subject.