As the busy holiday travel period approaches, senators at a hearing on Wednesday complained to Transportation Security Administrator John Pistole about the tougher screening which entails a patdown or highly detailed body imaging.
“I’m wondering why I got both a few weeks ago. I did use my Senate I.D. and was subjected to both,” Republican Senator Mike Johanns said during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing. “Now, I didn’t object to going through the advanced imaging.”
The new airport screening procedures come after several foiled plots in the past year, including a Nigerian man who tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear aboard a U.S. flight from Amsterdam to Detroit in December.
Republican Senator George LeMieux expressed worries about the degree of contact in the patdowns, which include touching of the genital region and breasts.
“I’m frankly bothered by the level of these patdowns. I’ve seen them first-hand in airports in Florida,” he said.
“I wouldn’t want my wife to be touched in the way that these folks are being touched. I wouldn’t want to be touched that way. And I think that we have to be focused on safety, but there’s a balance,” he said.
Pistole agreed it was important to strike the right balance between safety and privacy, but said most travelers want to fly on a plane with passengers who had been properly screened.
“I recognize the invasiveness of it. I also recognize that the threat is real. The stakes are high, and we must prevail,” Pistole said.
