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Monday, September 26, 2011

Rethinking The TSA: No Longer Accepting Police Repression In Exchange for Safety

Google "TSA stupidity" and you will find that almost one and a half million web sites have something to say about the subject. If the United States is to avoid another major terrorist attack on its air transportation system without placing greater restrictions on the civil liberties of air travelers, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) had better get smart.

Everyone who travels by air in the United States has a depressing story to tell about airport screening. Media stories of a gravely ill 95-year-old grandmother forced to remove her adult diaper before being allowed on a plane and viral videos showing terrified children being intimately touched by TSA agents are more than depressing. They are a chilling commentary on the police state increasingly accepted by the American public in the name of security.

Air travelers dare not complain. TSA standards focus additional scrutiny on travelers who are "very arrogant" and express "contempt against airport passenger procedures."

Is such repression the only choice? Or can TSA officers be trained to exercise the necessary discretion to detect would-be terrorists, while allowing innocent travelers to swiftly and safely pass through screening?
A reasonable and practical balance in airport security screening policy must be obtained before another terrorist attack results in even greater repression.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lets have a constitutional reset.
TSA would not be alowed to do what they're doing if they obeyed the constitution.

lmclain said...

The TSA may become MORE repressive?? LOL!! How? By strip searching everyone (including cavity searches?)? i don't even fly anymore and it's directly the result of the TSA. AMERICANS get searched, patted down, stripped and humiliated. But complain? You have just become labeled as a possible "terrorist". if you REALLY want to fly through the TSA procedures, carry a Koran and wear a white robe....The LAST thing they want is some "discrimination" problem....

Anonymous said...

THE TSA SHOULD BE ABOLISHED COMPLETELY. The TSO's can do anything they want to travelers and they know it and they let you know it too! I don't fly anymore because I refuse to allow these people to dehumanize me. If the TSA goes and REASONABLE screening(no strip search, no blue gloved hands all over me etc.)was put in place I would love to fly again but until then I'll be driving everywhere I go.