2 Comments on “Young Boy Strip Searched By TSA”

1. 
   NeverRight said at 8:05 pm on November 22nd, 2010:

   Typical right wing distortion- the father removed the boy’s shirt on his own even though he was not asked to. In Faux News fashion, just show a bit of the tape and make up the facts. You people are downright embarassing. -Story below:

   The video played almost perfectly into Americans’ fears about new Transportation Security Administration procedures going too far, providing fodder for critics’ complaints of a system that allows an unnecessary “strip search” of a shy and innocent child followed by a Big Brother-like attempt to suppress evidence of the incident.

   The TSA apparently realized it had a problem, which is why today it posted a blog post responding to the video.

   (Credit: YouTube.com) “Many are coming to their own conclusions about what’s happening in the video which is now perched at the top of the Drudge report and being linked to in many other blogs and tweets,” writes the TSA blogger. “We looked into this to find out what happened.”

   The blogger, “Blogger Bob” of the “TSA Blog Team,” confirms that the incident took place November 19th in Salt Lake City. But the TSA’s interpretation of what happened to the family is very different than that of the uploader.

   “Their son alarmed the walk through metal detector and needed to undergo secondary screening,” the TSA blogger writes. “The boy’s father removed his son’s shirt in an effort to expedite the screening. After our TSO completed the screening, he helped the boy put his shirt back on. That’s it. No complaints were filed and the father was standing by his son for the entire procedure.”

   The blogger adds that “you will not be asked to and you should not remove clothing (other than shoes, coats and jackets) at a TSA checkpoint.”

   “If you’re asked to remove your clothing, you should ask for a supervisor or manager,” he concludes.

   News reports about what critics say are overzealous screening procedures are proliferating: Here’s one story entitled “TSA Makes Cancer Victim Remove Prosthetic Breast,” and here’s a post entitled “TSA Screening Soaks Bladder Cancer Survivor with His Own Urine.” A story about a person being arrested for refusing the security procedures is entitled “TSA airport screeners gone wild in San Diego- again;” here’s one called “TSA pats down a screaming toddler.”

   Secretary of State Hillary Clinton probably didn’t help matters when she said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that she would not submit to a pat-down “if I could avoid it,” adding, “I mean, who would?”

   Meanwhile, as the story at left shows, there is now “specialized underwear” being made to keep the TSA scanners from getting a clear view of what has become known in the debate over the security procedures as one’s “junk.”

   Politicians are also criticizing the TSA: Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” yesterday that “the American people are worried when they see an administration worried about reading Miranda rights to the underwear bomber.”

   He added, as The Hill reports: “[They’re] so worried about rights of the terrorists, what about the rights of innocent American travelers?”

   President Obama said over the weekend that he can “understand people’s frustrations” with the screenings and is looking for a less intrusive option, though he’s been told that for now at least there is not one. The TSA says it is continuing to refine its procedures and may change them – but also stresses that it is trying to keep the nation’s air travelers safe from terrorists. (A TSA official tells CBS News there are no imminent changes planned, which means that the current procedures will likely be in place for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The official stressed that a very small percentage of passengers get pat downs.)

   The TSA can take at least some solace in the fact that according to CBS News polling, four in five Americans say they support the use of full-body airport scanners – a finding the TSA blog was sure to note.

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2. 
   chili palmer said at 3:06 am on November 23rd, 2010:

   To the previous comment, it’s fascinating that commenter views this issue as ‘right wing.’ If one is consumed with ‘wings’ one may not see that a bomber coming from outside this country can still blow us up easily. We let them get on planes headed here even if we’ve been warned, if they have no luggage, and bought a one way ticket. Even if rules were all technically in place at some point, the relevant people know checking is lax. Civil libertarians have fought for years against our ability to protect ourselves on airplanes. They might object to this latest farce with the X-rays, but there are billions of dollars in it per the GAO report. For the political class, whatever “wing” you want.