Is the TSA Allowing Convicted Rapists to Perform Pat-down Searches?

Do Obama, Pelosi, Geithner, Bill Gates, Rockefeller, Rothschild, etc. and their families have to go through a body scanner or a pat-down? If I have to go through one, then so should the leaders who made that decision for me. Obama should lead by example, and he along with his wife and children, and his administration and top officials and the financial terrorists, should not be exempt from the enhanced pat downs and full-body scanning by the TSA.

TSA: Some Government Officials to Skip Airport Security

November 23, 2010

Associated Press – Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior U.S. officials are exempt from toughened new airport screening procedures when they fly commercially with government-approved federal security details.

Aviation security officials would not name those who can skip the controversial screening, but other officials said those VIPs range from top officials like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and FBI Director Robert Mueller to congressional leaders like incoming House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who avoided security before a recent flight from Washington's Reagan National Airport.

The heightened new security procedures by the Transportation Security Administration, which involve either a scan by a full-body detector or an intimate personal pat-down, have spurred passenger outrage in the lead-up to the Thanksgiving holiday airport crush.

On Friday, the TSA exempted pilots from the new procedures; flight attendants received the same privilege on Tuesday, TSA spokesman Nicholas Kimball confirmed. Both groups must show photo ID and go through metal detectors. If that sets off an alarm, they may still get a pat-down in some cases, he said. The rules apply to pilots and flight attendants in uniform when they're traveling.

While passengers have no choice but to submit to either the detector or what some complain is an intrusive pat-down, some senior government officials can opt out if they fly accompanied by government security guards approved by the TSA.

"Government officials traveling with federal law enforcement security details are screened at airports under a specialized screening protocol, which includes identity verification," Kimball said. This allows the officials to skip the airport security checkpoints.

The TSA would not explain why it makes these exceptions. But many of the exempted government officials have gone through several levels of security clearances, including FBI background checks. Armed security details eliminate the need for an additional layer of security at airports.

Some members of President Barack Obama's Cabinet, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, travel almost exclusively on government or military planes.

Top officials like Geithner, Mueller and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid travel with security details and skip airport checkpoints, aides said. The second-ranking Senate Democrat, Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, and the House Democratic whip, Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, also have security, but they typically undergo regular screening with other passengers, aides said.

Spokesmen for both Boehner and current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., would not discuss security arrangements. But under a policy started by the Bush administration after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a military aircraft is made available to the speaker, third in line to the presidency, for all official flight needs.

Spokesmen for Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and outgoing House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said they fly commercial, but would not detail security arrangements.

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer said the only members of Congress with protective details are leaders, "based upon a threat analysis" conducted by the U.S. Capitol Police. Gainer added that members "with sworn protection" are able to avoid security because "their secure posture is affirmed by the law enforcement process established by TSA."

The TSA's administrator, John Pistole, is treated like any other traveler when he flies, waiting in security lines and walking through X-ray machines, including the full-body imagers, his spokesman said. Senior White House officials David Axelrod, Valerie Jarrett and John Brennan, the president's homeland security adviser, do the same, officials said.

Ron Paul: Crotch Groped by TSA, Calls for Boycott of Airlines

November 23, 2010

Infowars.com - Appearing on the Alex Jones Show today, Texas Congressman Ron Paul expressed his outrage and disgust with the TSA and its unconstitutional naked body scanners and genital groping under the transparent pretense of protecting the American people from terrorists in distant caves.

“If we tolerate this,” Paul said, “there’s something wrong with us.”

He added that the American people deserve to be humiliated and demeaned by the government if they refuse to stand up and resist.

Paul predicted Americans will eventually boycott the airlines to put an end to the intrusive searches and the unconscionable use of dangerous backscatter radiation naked body scanners.

“Maybe the Congress will get off their duffs and do something in January,” he said, “and insist we reign in the TSA.”

Responding to Alex Jones’ assertion that the TSA’s actions are akin to what the Nazis did in Germany during the 1930s, Ron Paul said that we long ago capitulated on “showing our papers” and now routinely provide Social Security numbers to employers and show our government issued driver’s license as an accepted form of identification.

“Now the government wants us to show them our genitalia and they want to take pictures of us and put their hands into our pants,” he said.

Paul said due to pervasive coverage of TSA abuses by the corporate media, the American people are now beginning to ask serious questions about government conduct.

“I think it’s a healthy wake-up call to a lot of Americans,” Paul told Jones. “I just hope they can work that in to the whole concept of what’s been going on with our country for a long time – the government is too big and intrusive and abuses our rights and they do the things the shouldn’t be doing and they forget about the things they were instructed to do.”

Congressman Paul said in the course of his work representing the people of Texas he has to endure TSA abuse, including the latest “enhanced pat down” that verges on sexual molestation.

“I have to go through that all the time because I have metal in my knees,” he explained. “I get prodded all the time and it is disgusting and I tell them so.”

When asked by Alex Jones if the TSA had subjected him to an “enhanced” screening, Ron Paul answered yes.

“Specifically,” Alex asked, “have you had the enhanced pat down, sir? Have they touched your crotch?”

“Yes. Absolutely, and like I said, absolutely disgusting,” Paul responded.

He said he believes a boycott of the airlines will be necessary if we are going to force the government to back down and stop acting like a sexual predator.

“I am going to be doing everything conceivable to try to change these rules because they are not making us safer, they aren’t better for us – it’s just to enhance the power of the state.”

Is the TSA Allowing Convicted Rapists to Perform Pat-down Searches?

November 3, 2010

AirSafe.com - Last Thursday, without much fanfare, TSA announced that it would start a new screening procedure that would include more pat-down searches nationwide. USA Today reports that in the new procedures, screeners' hands would slide over a passenger's body, requiring screeners to touch passengers' breasts and genitals. In addition to questions over whether this change is necessary or effective, another question that many passengers may have in the backs of their minds is whether the TSA screeners have a criminal background that should preclude them from such sensitive duties.

Possible reasons for the new procedures

There is some debate over whether these procedures are either useful or necessary. There are certainly threats to airliners from bombs that could be carried on a person's body, such as the bomb used in the unsuccessful bombing attempt on a Delta airliner last December. However, it is not at all clear that this new pat-down procedure would have found that explosive device.

The more recent incident involving two bombs sent as cargo from Yemen to the US could indicate renewed efforts to target US airliners. However, there has been no public acknowledgement by the TSA, the US government, or any other government that there is any increased threat to air travel from bombs hidden beneath clothing. Certainly the new pat-down procedure is a very public and very noticeable increase in security, but not one that is directly linked to any immediate threat.

TSA employees with faulty criminal background checks

The TSA serves a very important and vital role in airline security, and all of their employees are required to pass security and background checks. However, those checks in the past have been less than thorough. For example, in 2004, the Department of Homeland Security (which includes TSA) released a report that stated that TSA had allowed some screeners to perform their duties before their criminal background checks were complete, and allowed others to continue working while problems with their background checks were resolved. Even if this problem no longer exists for current applicants and employees, a more serious problem may be that the current system of background checks may have allowed those convicted of rape and other sexually based offenses to join TSA.

Are current TSA background checks too limited?

The 2004 DHS report stated that federal regulations (49 CFR. § 1542.209) specified were 28 kinds of felony convictions that would have disqualified an applicant for a TSA screener position, including rapes or crimes involving aggravated sexual abuse, but only if those convictions had occurred in the previous 10 years. It implies that a person convicted of rape, attempted, child molestation, or similar crimes may not be required to report such convictions during their background check and may be allowed to perform pat-down searches on passengers.

It is unclear if TSA has changed its background check requirements since 2004 to exclude any convicted sex offenders from working directly with passengers. However, the fact that in the past it may have been possible that someone with that kind of criminal past may be a TSA screener may concern most passengers.

Are convicted rapists performing pat-down searches?

The full details of the the TSA's process for reviewing current and potential employees is not available to the public. Whatever those procedures are, a reasonable passenger would agree that anyone who has been found guilty of any crime that involves rape or some similar criminal act should not be allowed to search passengers. If the TSA could publicly address the following questions, it may go a long way toward reducing the public's concern over the new pat-down procedures:

• Are there any current TSA employees who are convicted sex offenders (either for a felony or lesser crime, either as an adult of juvenile), even if the conviction occurred more than 10 years before joining TSA?
  
  
• If the answer to the first question is yes, are any of these employees acting as security screeners who have have to have direct physical contact with the flying public?
  
  
• If the answer to the first question is no, have all TSA employees, as part of their background check, been asked if they have been convicted of rape or some other sexually based crime, whether it were a felony or lesser crime, either as an adult or as a juvenile, even if the conviction occurred more than 10 years before joining TSA?
  
  
• If the first question can't be answered for a TSA employee because of inadequate information, would this employee be restricted from working in a position that involves direct physical contact with the flying public?
  
  
• Are TSA security screeners who are convicted of rape or another sexually based crime, no matter how minor, immediately removed from any position where they may have physical contact with the traveling public?

Unless the TSA is both willing and able to answer these and similar questions, the average traveler may be very reluctant to submit to invasive searches where TSA security officers have to physically touch them in sensitive areas, making it more difficult for the TSA to accomplish its security mission.

What to do if searched

While searching passengers, including pat down searches of breasts and genital areas, may be necessary for security purposes, it would be considered very intrusive by most passengers. If you are selected for this kind of search, you should insist that it be done in a dignified manner. It should be done in a screened off area so that you can't be viewed by others in the vicinity, and the TSA representative should act in a professional manner.

Dealing with abuses

If you feel that you were not treated with dignity or respect during a pat down search, you should take appropriate actions such as calling attention to anything that you think is unnecessary or having a TSA supervisor or law enforcement official present. You can also file a complaint with the TSA, with the AirSafe.com complaint process, or with an organization like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU has noted several types of common abuses:

• Unnecessary groping of passengers’ breast or genital areas
  
  
• Humiliating experiences including for disabled or transgendered passengers
  
  
• Lack of privacy during pat-downs
  
  
• Lack of respect for religious requirements.

If you feel that you have not been treated in a fair and professional matter, you can contact the ACLU and provide them with details about your experience.

“A Review of Background Checks for Federal Passenger and Baggage Screeners at Airports”
http://www.airsafe.com/issues/security/OIG_TSA_report_full.pdf
Between February 2002 and December 2002, TSA reviewed an estimated 1.7 million applications to hire 55,600 new federal appointees, successfully meeting congressionally mandated deadlines of November 19 and December 31, 2002, for replacing commercial passenger and baggage screeners, respectively. However, reports surfaced soon afterward that the background checks for screeners, which ATSA requires, were incomplete and possibly flawed. In response to these reports, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiated this review of screener background checks.


Before the video started, the boy went through a metal detector and didn’t set it off but was selected for a pat down. The boy was shy so the TSA couldn’t complete the full pat on the young boy. The father tried several times to just hold the boys arms out for the TSA agent, but I guess it didn’t end up being enough for the guy. I was about 30 feet away, so I couldn’t hear their conversation, if there was any. The enraged father pulled his son's shirt off and gave it to the TSA agent to search; that's when this video begins. - The U.S. Police State Outrages Continue: Why is the TSA Strip Searching Little Boys?, RedState.com, November 2, 2010

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