ATLANTA – With the busy Thanksgiving holiday season looming, frustrated travelers and politicians are expressing displeasure with the TSA’s enhanced security measures at airports nationwide.
The new measures include full-body scanners that take detailed images of travelers or pat downs for travelers who opt out of the scan. Some are also suggesting the full-body scans could be harmful to travelers’ health.
“Not only are these porno scanners a gross violation of individual privacy, they’re also a threat to the health of millions of passengers and ineffective as well,” George Donnelly, co-founder of We Won’t Fly, said in a news release. The group is organizing National Opt Out of the Airport Scanners Day for Nov. 24 – the day before Thanksgiving.
“The goal of the demonstrations is to urge Americans to exercise their legal right to ‘opt out’ of the scan,” Donnelly said.
A number of groups contend the new security procedures violate the 4th Amendment, which protects Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures.
“We believe that all the TSA is doing is adding layers of security- and in this case, more is not better- more is just more,” Kate Hanni, director of Flyers Rights, said in a news release. “We believe that both the AIT and Enhanced Pat Down Mechanisms are a violation of all Americans’ 4th Amendment rights against unreasonable search. It’s time for the TSA to adopt Risk Based, Intelligent Screening, and not simply add layers on the existing process.”
As the complaints about the new measures are building on a daily basis, members of Congress are weighing in on the matter as their offices are flooded with messages from unhappy constituents.
“It is the TSA’s responsibility to provide the strongest security possible to ensure the safety of our nation against terrorists. However, there is a careful balance we must maintain between security and an individual’s right to privacy,” U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., said in a news release. “I think the administration needs to do a better job of letting our national security intelligence guide our airport screening, rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach to security.”
Said U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., R-Tenn., during a speech on the floor of the House: “The American people should not have to choose between having full-body radiation or a very embarrassing, intrusive pat-down every time they fly, as if they were criminals.”
