Transportation Security Administration

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TSA Pats Down 6-Year-Old
 TSA Pats Down 6-Year-Old  
Apr 13, 2011 10:10 AM CDT

TSA Pats Down 6-Year-Old

Anna Drexel cried after procedure, mom says

(Newser) - A video getting quite a bit of attention today shows a TSA agent patting down a 6-year-old girl. The video was posted on YouTube yesterday, Jezebel notes, and it shows the New Orleans agent running her hand over Anna Drexel's chest, groin, and inside her waistband. When asked by...

Ex-TSA Employee: I Was Fired Because I'm a Witch

Carole A. Smith claims religious discrimination got her canned

(Newser) - Carole A. Smith ranked among the top 10% of workers when it came to catching weapons on the X-ray machine at New York's Albany International Airport. So why did the TSA fire her? She says it was over her religious beliefs: Smith is a practicing Wiccan, or, as she calls...

Rep. Takes 12-Hour Boat Ride After Refusing TSA Search

Breast cancer survivor Sharon Cissna balks at airport pat-down

(Newser) - An Alaskan state lawmaker opted to spend 12 hours on a ferry home instead of submitting to what she described as an "invasive" TSA search at a Seattle airport. Sharon Cissna, a Democrat, says she was told she would have to be patted down after a body scan displayed...

TSA Tests 'Less-Naked' Body Scanner

Instead of showing every curve, new software uses a generic outline

(Newser) - Michele Bachmann may not have to worry about "naked pictures" of herself winding up on the Internet anymore—or, at least not clearly defined ones. The TSA yesterday began testing a more modest full-body scanner at three airports. The system uses the same machines, but new software, which ditches...

Jesse Ventura Sues Over Body Scans

Ex-governor argues they constitute unreasonable search and seizure

(Newser) - Jesse Ventura doesn’t want the TSA getting too intimate with “the Body.” The wrestler-turned-governor-turned-conspiracy-peddler has filed a lawsuit complaining that the full-body scanners and pat-downs passengers are subjected to at airports constitute unreasonable search and seizure, the AP reports. The searches are “warrantless and suspicionless,”...

Pistole: No Body Cavity Searches on My Watch

Nation can breathe a sigh of relief on that point, at least

(Newser) - Concerned that body cavity searches are the inevitable next frontier in the TSA's war against terrorism? Don't be—at least not as long as John Pistole is around. USA Today had a long chat with the TSA chief and he revealed that, though current technology can't detect explosives hidden inside...

TSA Just Wanted Closer Look at My Boobs: Flier

Woman claims agents were ogling her before extra screening

(Newser) - It was only a matter of time before this TSA complaint came out: A woman claims she was selected for further screening ... because the TSA agents liked her breasts. Eliana Sutherland was flying out of Orlando International Airport when she saw two male agents staring at her chest, the Daily ...

Airports Ban PETA Ads Mocking TSA

Video, ad campaign make light of new security procedures

(Newser) - Several major airports are taking a stand against PETA ads that make light of the TSA's new security procedures. One, a video originally planned to be shown in Boston on Logan Airport's free wi-fi network, features Pamela Anderson (hardly) dressed as a TSA agent stripping passengers of leather and fur....

Airport Protests Fizzle
 Airport Protests Fizzle 
Nov 25, 2010 4:14 AM CST

Airport Protests Fizzle

Storms, not protests delay Thanksgiving travelers

(Newser) - In the end, very few people opted to participate in National Opt-Out day. Activists had promised chaos, but people protesting TSA pat-downs and full-body scanners only appeared in ones and twos at the nation's airports, and no unusual delays were reported . Opt-out organizers claimed that the lack of lines proved...

TSA Is Overreacting: Our Bomb Risk Is 'Near Zero'
TSA Is Overreacting: Our Bomb Risk Is 'Near Zero'
OPINION
Nov 24, 2010 12:32 PM CST

TSA Is Overreacting: Our Bomb Risk Is 'Near Zero'

We're actually doing exactly what the terrorists want, writes Jim Harper

(Newser) - Are the TSA's new security procedures reasonable in the face of new terrorist threats, or an overreaction? An overreaction, concludes privacy expert Jim Harper—and that's exactly what the terrorists want. The better approach would have been "no change to domestic air security from the status quo of a...

Officer Leaves Loaded Gun Magazine on Plane

But don't worry: He'll receive remedial training!

(Newser) - What with all the new "enhanced" airport security procedures, passengers on a recent Southwest flight were probably pretty surprised to find a loaded gun magazine on their plane. After landing in Phoenix yesterday, a child crawled off his mother's lap and knocked the gun magazine out of a seat-back...

Let's Scrap Color-Coded Terror Alerts: Homeland Security

Rather than 'threat level red,' you may soon hear 'imminent threat'

(Newser) - America's color-coded terror alert system, long the butt of jokes and the target of complaints, may not be much longer for this world. The Homeland Security Department is proposing a change to the Homeland Security Advisory System, which many have faulted for being too vague or simply a scare tactic,...

Flier Sues TSA Over Scanners
 Flier Sues TSA Over Scanners 
Nov 24, 2010 6:24 AM CST

Flier Sues TSA Over Scanners

Robert Dean says 4th Amendment rights violated

(Newser) - Plenty of travelers have been complaining that the TSA's full-body scanners violate their privacy ... but do they violate the Constitution? An Arkansas man says they do. He has filed a lawsuit against the TSA in federal court in Little Rock, claiming that the scanners hurt his "emotional, psychological and...

Profiling, Not Pat-Downs, Key at Most World Airports

Including Israel's airport, one of the world's best at security

(Newser) - Ditching the TSA's new security procedures in favor of profiling seems like a controversial move —despite a new poll showing 70% support the idea —but at most world airports, that's how it's done. Airports like Israel's Ben-Gurion International, widely considered to be one of the world's most effective...

64% Support Full-Body Scanners

Pat-downs, however, are less popular: new poll

(Newser) - Despite the uproar over the TSA's enhanced security procedures, a new poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans actually support the new full-body scanners. Even so, only 48% believe the enhanced pat-downs are justified, according to the Washington Post -ABC News poll. Some 68% of those surveyed said the government...

Scanner Firms Doubled Lobby Spending Over 5 Years

High-profile former officials ended up on scanner firms' payrolls

(Newser) - A revealing USA Today scan of government records finds that companies who won the contracts to supply the TSA with its controversial full-body scanners have more than doubled their spending on lobbyists over the last 5 years. The firms have also hired some high-profile former government officials to advance their...

Man Skips Pat-Down, Opts for Strip-Down

And he's now facing charges

(Newser) - Not a big fan of full-body scans or TSA pat-downs, a San Diego man chose Option C: Stripping down to his Calvin Kleins to demonstrate he wasn't carrying anything untoward in them. Samuel Wolanyk was told to put his clothes back on for a proper pat-down, but refused to dress,...

TSA Searches Shirtless Boy
 TSA Searches Shirtless Boy 
Nov 22, 2010 1:23 PM CST

TSA Searches Shirtless Boy

Youngster's father removed shirt 'in frustration,' says filmer

(Newser) - Another day, another inconvenient video for the TSA to explain: In this one, a shirtless young boy is patted down by a TSA agent at the Salt Lake City airport. Luke Tait, who filmed the video with his cell phone and posted it on YouTube, writes in the video description...

Get Ready for Big Delays on 'National Opt-Out Day'

Even a small number of participants could tie up lines

(Newser) - You may want to get to the airport really early on Wednesday: With the country in a fervor over the TSA's new enhanced security procedures, experts believe "National Opt-Out Day" will indeed create delays at dozens of major airports. The day, conceived by Brian Sodergren (who, ironically, will not...

TSA Chief Says Pat-Downs Here to Stay ... or Not

Says pat-downs won't stop; then revises statement

(Newser) - Enhanced pat-down policies are “not changing” due to “the risks that have been identified,” the TSA chief told CNN yesterday—before quickly amending his words in a statement to Politico . Airport security screenings “will be adapted as conditions warrant,” John Pistole wrote, making them “...

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