Blinq

Congress to hear TSA horror stories

A House Subcommittee will conduct a hearing on TSA screenings, and a star witness is expected to be an Alaska state rep whose post-mastectomy prosthetic breast set off alarms and repeatedly led to "humiliating" pat-downs.

8 comments

Congress to hear TSA horror stories

POSTED: Thursday, March 10, 2011, 6:29 PM

A year ago, two of my columns about troubling searches at the Philadelphia airport spurred a Congressman to demand answers of the Transportation Security Administration. Today I got word that that this inquiry has led Congress to call a hearing on Whole Body Imaging for next week in Washington.

A House panel will conduct a hearing on TSA screenings Wednesday, and a star witness is expected to be an Alaska state representative whose prosthetic breast set off alarms and repeatedly led to "humiliating" pat-downs.

Documents from the Subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense and Foreign Operations show that Sharon Cissna, a Democratic state representative from Anchorage, has been invited to testify about her ordeals at security checkpoints. Cissna's post-mastectomy false breast triggered an alert on a full-body scanner last fall and again last month in Seattle.

"The horror began again," she told the Los Angeles Times on Feb. 24. But the second time, she declined a rubber-glove search, and instead traveled by small plane and ferry for a two-day return trip home.

The Alaska legislature passed a resolution declaring "no one should have to sacrifice their dignity in order to travel."

The hearing, titled TSA Oversight, Part I: Whole Body Imaging," is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The subcommittee, led by U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. is to examine the effectiveness and safety of imaging technology and consider privacy concerns.

In addition to Cissna, invited witnesses include:

Robin E. Kane, the TSA's assistant administrator for security technology; Lee Kair, the TSA's assistant administrator for security operations; David J. Brenner, a professor of radiation biophysics at Columbia University, Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center; and Fred H. Cate, director of the Center of Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University.

The columns that U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, referenced in his letter to Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, reported on the complaints of the father of a disabled four-year-old boy made to walk through metal detectors without his leg braces, and of a college student who was accused of packing a suspicious white powder, only to hear from the TSA employee that he was kidding -- it was his. He was fired.

Daniel Rubin @ 6:29 PM Permalink | 8 comments

8 comments

Previous Story: Pa. Budget, Visualized

Next Story: Telling the TSA "No."

Comments (8)

0 like this / 1 don't • Posted 7:04 PM, 03/10/2011

September 11, 2001 has changed my definition of dignity. It is not particularly dignified to die as a passenger in an airplane or as an employee in a building as the result of terrorists boarding a plane without being properly checked by security. There is going to be embarassment, humiliation and all sorts of imperfections in body scanning and security pat downs. One thing there won't be is another 9/11. The families that will have to deal with that tragedy for the rest of their lives only wish that these security measures had been in place before they lost their loved ones.

— syddan26

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:12 PM, 03/10/2011

You are an idiot and we are lucky the terrorists are just as dumb as you are! Have you read those few stories recently where people have fallen out of the wheel wells of planes in mid air? Did you ever wonder how they got past security and in the wheel well of a plane? Ever wonder what would happen if they didnt want a free ride and wanted to cause death and destruction? Would you see them? I doubt it you are to busy giving up your rights for a false sense of security! Go drink some more TSA kool aid.

— 420-24-7

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:10 PM, 03/10/2011

@syddan26, that's a bogus excuse. All of these new intrusions into our privacy and dignity are power plays for greedy companies to make money on the fears of sheep like you.

Everything beyond a basic screening is security theater, designed to prolong the illusion that they are making you safer when, in fact, they are not.

— Zeb

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 7:45 PM, 03/10/2011

How about this: one line for the majority of the people who are not offended by the full body scanner and just want to get through seciruty and another line for those who prefer the other way. Then everyone is happy. Give us a choice - we are sheep!

— Justicek

Comment removed.

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 8:09 PM, 03/10/2011

I'm part of that majority you refer to so my only regret is that there isn't a single member of Congress who has an original thought in his/her head like you do. And I've never been aware of any person in Congress who holds a healthy attitude when it comes to the human body.
I've gone through several pat-downs since this became a sensation back in November 2010 and have never once had reason to believe I was being groped or fondled. The guys who use those terms in connection with a security pat-down have wives or/and girlfriends who are being seriously short changed.

— He Visto Todo

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 11:29 PM, 03/10/2011

The TSA is a bad joke!! They do security theater. Nothing they do improves quality and saftey of air travel. They are conditioning you to accept having your dignity and rights violated. They are progreeing thru other forms of transportation as well, bus stations, train stations. This nonsense will continue until EVERY American says "I Opt OUT". When all Americans call out Homeland security and the TSA for the unlawful farce they are, they will act like bullies. They will keep pushing you and pushing until they stop and frisk you when you're walking on the street. INFOWARS.Com

— StJames888

0 like this / 0 don't • Posted 10:17 PM, 03/12/2011

I work for USAir in Philly. Almost everything said here is very true, but there is one violation of your rights everyone is forgetting; "ticketed passengers only" past security. A non security measure in place 9 years too long and effecting the logistics of the entire operation at the airport. Smoke and mirrors to make you "feel" safer.

I could go on all night on how stupid and illegal this policy is, but instead I made a web page on the subject which really put me in good with the TSA-but I don't care. Go to my page at www.changeairportsecurity.org and read it. I try to update it as time permits. And when you go to the airport ask for gate passes. If they say no, ask for a supervisor, if he says no, a manager. If he says no write a letter of complaint to the airline you're dealing with. With copies going to the TSA. And don't forget to tell your elected officials; they support all these silly rules, not just "ticketed passengers only", but the whole gambit about what you have been talking about on this blog. Remember www.changeairportsecurity.org and have a good day!!!

Averill, Cheltenham

— averill