Thread: TSA Chief Shifts Position; Says Screening Will Be Minimally

It sounds like the new TSA chief Rep. Mica will change procedures in January when he takes over.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/21/ts ... -invasive/

TSA Chief Shifts Position; Says Screenings Will Be Minimally Invasive

Published November 21, 2010
| Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The head of the agency responsible for airport security, facing protests from travelers and pressure from the White House, appeared to give ground Sunday on his position that there would be no change in policies regarding invasive passenger screening procedures.

Transportation Security Administration head John Pistole said in a statement that the agency would work to make screening methods "as minimally invasive as possible," although he gave no indication that screening changes were imminent.

The statement came just hours after Pistole, in a TV interview, said that while the full-body scans and pat-downs could be intrusive and uncomfortable, the high threat level required their use. "No, we're not changing the policies," he told CNN's "State of the Union."

Pistole said that, as in all nationwide security programs, "there is a continual process of refinement and adjustment to ensure that best practices are applied."

Still, he pointed to the alleged attempt by a Nigerian with explosives in his underwear to try to bring down an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight last Christmas. "We all wish we lived in a world where security procedures at airports weren't necessary," Pistole said, "but that just isn't the case."

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Obama said in Lisbon on Saturday that he had asked TSA officials whether there's a less intrusive way to ensure travel safety. "I understand people's frustrations," he said, adding that he had told the TSA that "you have to constantly refine and measure whether what we're doing is the only way to assure the American people's safety."

Clinton, appearing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," said she thought "everyone, including our security experts, are looking for ways to diminish the impact on the traveling public" and that "striking the right balance is what this is about."

She, for one, wouldn't like to submit to a security pat-down.

"Not if I could avoid it. No. I mean, who would?" Clinton told CBS' "Face the Nation" in an interview broadcast Sunday.

"Clearly it's invasive, it's not comfortable," Pistole said of the scans and pat-downs during the TV interview. But, he added, "if we are to detect terrorists, who have again proven innovative and creative in their design and implementation of bombs that are going to blow up airplanes and kill people, then we have to do something that prevents that."

Rep. John Mica, R-Fla. who is set to become Transportation Committee chairman when Republicans take over the House in January, differed with the approach.

"I don't think the rollout was good and the application is even worse. This does need to be refined. But he's saying it's the only tool and I believe that's wrong," Mica, a longtime critic of the TSA, said separately on the CNN program.

With the peak traveling season nearing, air travelers are protesting new requirements at some U.S. airports that they must pass through full-body scanners that produce a virtually naked image. The screener, who sits in a different location, does not see the face of the person being screened and does not know the traveler's identity.

Those who refuse to go through the scanners are subject to thorough pat-downs that include agency officials touching the clothed genital areas of passengers.

Pistole was shown videos of people being patted down where the screeners touched the breasts of a woman, felt into the pants of another person and felt the crotch of a man. He said all three cases were proper and that the gloves of the screener who felt inside the pants were then tested for explosive trace residue.

Pistole added that very few people receive the pat-down. People who go through the new advanced imaging machines available at some 70 airports are usually not subject to pat-downs, he said.

Pistole said that while watch lists and other intelligence sources help the TSA pick out travelers who might pose greater risks, rules against profiling mean that some people who are less of a risk, such as the elderly or the disabled, must sometimes undergo pat-downs.

"I want to be sympathetic to each of the negative experiences. We've had extensive outreach to a number of different disability community groups, a number of different outreach efforts to try to say, how can we best work with those in your community to effect security while respecting your dignity and privacy," he said.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., appearing on CBS, said Congress would hold hearings on the "very controversial" issue of how to strike the right balance. Asked how he would feel about submitting to a pat-down, Hoyer said: "I don't think any of us feel that the discomfort and the delay is something that we like, but most people understand that we've got to keep airplanes safe."

Originally Posted by CCUSA

Transportation Security Administration head John Pistole said in a statement that the agency would work to make screening methods "as minimally invasive as possible," although he gave no indication that screening changes were imminent.

The statement came just hours after Pistole, in a TV interview, said that while the full-body scans and pat-downs could be intrusive and uncomfortable, the high threat level required their use. "No, we're not changing the policies," he told CNN's "State of the Union."

Pistole said that, as in all nationwide security programs, "there is a continual process of refinement and adjustment to ensure that best practices are applied."

This is just another game of "good cop, bad cop" meant to make things go on the same as they have before.

I would have a hard trusting any of them. They are just hoping people will let down their guard.

Originally Posted by CCUSA

TSA Chief Shifts Position; Says Screenings Will Be Minimally Invasive

Michael Chertoff on the TSA Watchlist

So you can get on the Watchlist if your name is the "same" as someone else's? The Department of Homeland Security might is not be responsible because the Department of Justice maintains the "Database"? [The old blame the "computer nerd" excuse?]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynik0w0nOys


Yet Chertoff is a millionaire from promoting these disgusting Orwellian full-body microwave cookers?

http://www.thetreeofliberty.com/vb/show ... p?t=123741

Getting Rich from the TSA Naked Body Scanners


Raven Clabough | The New American
18 November 2010


With all the commotion over the invasiveness of the naked body scanners used by the United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA), one question that has been ignored is who is profiting from TSA’s use of the body scanners? Mark Hemingway and Tim Carney at The Examiner discovered the shameful answer: George Soros, Michael Chertoff, and a number of lobbyists.

Both Soros and Chertoff are profiting from the naked body scanners by way of the company Rapiscan, whose contract is worth $173 million. Lobbyists for this company include Susan Carr, a former senior legislative aide to Representative David Price (D-N.C.) who is coincidentally chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee.

Former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff was “flacking for Rapiscan,â€

They are making a big deal about the pat downs so we'll forget about the awful scanners. There is no safe dose of radiation. I don't care what study they cite.

Isn't it ironic that the ole problem and solution worked here. Problem: Christmas Day bomber Solution: Chertoff has his new machines ready in January to start making money

I heard today on Sunday talk shows that the "people" have forgotten about the Christmas Day bomber. I wouldn't be surprise if they pull off another one of these to scare us into submission.

Don't believe their "wanting to keep up safe" BS.

www.optoutday.com

Or, will they be minimally invasive for certain groups or ethnicities while others get the full brunt.

Selective screening based on religion, race, age etc? I think these people are a disgrace to decency.

I find it extremely ironic and offensive that such invasive procedures are used on people who are documented travelers, they have ID, we know who they are.

On the other hand, we are ignoring the millions who sneak over our borders with NO documentation. Heck, we make it easier on them, while treating citizens and those who are legally here like scum.


Talk about utter stupidity!

They can say what ever they want until they stop radioactively scanning people and doing these abusive, undignified feel ups...we need to boycott the airlines, and stop flying here and abroad....money talks bull---t walks.....

And going a step further as far as I am concerned...If it is good for them to abuse us in this manner; then it is good for them to do it to "everyone" who fly's. That is including everyone up to the President and his entourage.... anyone coming in to, and out of this country from pilots, stewardess to all airport workers, to Americans and Non Americans alike, dignitary's and non dignitary's, elitists and non elitists...everyone's equal.....no fudging around....



Kathyet