Full Body Scanner
As millions of Americans take to the skies for the start of the Thanksgiving holiday, many will be required to run the gauntlet of the enhanced security screening methods begun November 1 by TSA agents. The agency implemented the enhanced security procedures following attempted attacks on airliners.
Last month, authorities thwarted the bombing of U.S.-bound air cargo flights. On Christmas Day 2009, a passenger tried to set off explosives in his underwear on a flight to Detroit. But critics cite the fact that those flights originated over seas so the current enhanced measures would not have picked up the terrorist threats.
In the first two weeks after the enhanced screening measures began, the Department of Homeland Security said about 700 out of an estimated 28 million airline passengers lodged complaints with the TSA. The government says only 3% of all airline passengers have received a pat-down search.
Some who are upset with the screening procedures have initiated an Internet campaign urging travelers to refuse to use the scanners on Wednesday, one of the busiest U.S. travel days. That would force the TSA to conduct more than the usual number of pat downs.
In the end, the exercise may provide a test of the complacency of the American people and their willingness to give up civil rights and personal privacy in the interest of “security.”
