Government Holding Firm on New Screening Measure

Despite pushback from passengers and flight crews, the Transportation Security Administration says its new, more intimate airline screening techniques are justified and will continue.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the agency will continue to listen to the flying public but remains convinced the new tools and procedures will make flying safer from terror attacks.

Last week many major airports because using full body scammers to see beneath passengers' clothing. Passengers who "opted out of the screening, or whose scans revealed unidentified items, were subjected to pat-downs that included touching breasts and genitals.

Flyers Rights, a passenger rights group has entered the fray, announcing the launch of a petition to protest the implementation of Backscatter Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) Machines as well as the "Enhanced" Pat Down Mechanisms for those who opt out of the machines.

Radiation as well as privacy concern

"The TSA has offered no credible specifications for radiation emitted by these machines, and multiple constituencies, including the US Airline Pilots Association are declining to be screened, said Kate Kanni, Director of Flyers Rights. "The TSA has also implemented an 'Enhanced'

 Pat Down procedure that includes touching the genitals as well as breasts and buttocks.  It's clear the intent behind this new pat-down process is to discourage flyers from opting out of the AIT Scanners." s petition: 

Hanni said she believes that all the TSA is doing is adding layers of security.

"In this case, more is not better, more is just more, she said. "We believe that both the AIT and Enhanced Pat Down Mechanisms are a violation of all Americans' 4^th Amendment rights against unreasonable search.

Hanni said her group is urging TSA tpo adopt risk based, intelligent screening, and not simply "add layers on the existing process." Her group is collecting signatures on a petition to try and overturn the new rules.

Hanni, meanwhile, offers this advice for passengers who opt out of the scanners:

• Ask for a private room for your pat-down WITH a witness.
  
• If you have a child under the age of 12 you can ask the ticket agent if your child was pre-selected for additional screening; if they were you can ask to have them de-selected.
  
• If during the screening process/pat down you feel you or your child was molested call the authorities.  
  
• Don't wear metal and if you aren't pre-selected for additional screening you might avoid the pat down.

A word of caution for those going through the security checkpoint. Once you begin the security process, you cannot leave the area. John Tyner, a 31-year old San Diego computer programmer, who famously told a security not to "touch his junk, faces an $11,000 federal fine after TSA officials say he tried to leave the screening area.

 The incident, captured on cellphone video, has gone viral on YouTube.

"People generally are angry about what is going on, but they don't know how to assert their rights," Tyner told the San Diego Union Tribune.