The time spent in an airport waiting to board a plane and pass through security check-in may now be greater than the time spent in the air. This past Thanksgiving, many traveled by car or plane to spend time with family. Those who traveled by plane were met with a myriad of delays due to security.
Prior to the 1970s, anyone could enter an airport and walk to the boarding gate, even without a ticket. Passengers and security, or lack thereof, took it upon faith to trust the other people around them. For years, people assumed that no one would commit acts of violence in the air. The terrorist attacks of September 11 completely changed our views on safety and protection.
We questioned everything about the effectiveness of airport security. Four of the hijackers set off the metal detector alarm, and despite being waved down with a hand-held detector, they still managed to make it onboard. This is something that never should have happened, but the United States is learning from its mistakes and trying to make it better.
When the Transportation Security Administration was introduced in November 2001, most people had never heard of it; in recent months, the TSA has become a household name. This is largely because of its critics. Some say that the body-imaging machines are invasive and dehumanizing. Perhaps they are a little invasive but dehumanizing, no. TSA members that screen the body images are placed in a room hundreds of feet away from the machine so they do not know exactly who they’re looking at. As far as the pat-downs go, the method follows about a 10-second standard procedure. If that’s still unsatisfactory, it’s very possible that you could avoid the pat-downs and body screening all together. Most women and children are not required to do either.
The TSA’s job is to keep flying as safe as humanly possible. If we reverted back to the old ways, most people would not feel safe boarding any airplane. If the US eliminated the new security measures, the major steps we took toward preventing another September 11 attack would be in vain. If those opposed would take a step back and look at the big picture, they would see that the TSA wasn’t created to embarrass anyone. It was created to prevent anyone dangerous from ever being onboard.
If the TSA’s methods are not up to par by someone’s standards, then they simply shouldn’t fly. Airport security is a human system that won’t be perfect; it’s important that we take all measures necessary to come out on top.
Merina Mesa is a communications junior and may be reached at [email protected].
We deserve a TSA that has spent the last ten years earning a better image.
Let's face it, having the former head of the TSA heading up a company that's scamming us for Millions in order to foist Xray Backscatter Screening Machines on us is slimy. Our Federal Government is operating in the red with massive deficit and debt, yet these people openly and shamelessly profit from waste, fraud and abuse of Federal Funds?
Illegal searches are slimy, and using other unconstitutional coercions to force Americans to accept routine sexual assaults is even slimier:
1. surrender 4th amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure (porno-scan or grope)
or
2. surrender 8th amendment rights against excessive fines (11,000 dollars? That's a deliberately outlandish fine.)
And/or
3. surrender right described in U.S. Code 40103 (A)2 American citizen's right to transit navigable airspace (avoid flying in order to avoid government sponsored abuse)
Please recall that the Bill of Rights was not intended to deny citizens rights not specifically enumerated, nor disparage these other rights. (That would be amendment 9, if you're keeping track.)
Between the daylight robbery and the utterly shameless, open contempt for American Civil Liberties, I vote the leadership of the TSA and DHS to be our nation's slimiest.
We deserve better from our government. We also deserve better journalism.
Where's the shame? Where's the integrity? Where's the accountability? Where are the qualities that establish a decent public image?
This is the sort of journalism that results from research:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=40273
http://my.auburnjournal.com/detail/165126.html
Main stream news outlets used to to research and post information too. Now you have to go to "alternative media" sites, while major publications and news shows wonder why nobody takes them seriously any more.
lol be a good american and let the high school dropout with a plastic badge grope your 13 year old sister, for freedom.
I don't care if they put the TSA agent in a booth 100 feet away or if he's behind a two way mirror. There is something dehumanizing about a total stranger checking out my pseudo-nude body when I cannot see who he is.
I will not go through that scanner until I can see the person that is looking at me, because I don't know who or what kind of person they put in that booth. He could be some wacko, social deviant that can't be trusted to work with the public. Someone that will start touching his junk the minute they close the door on the booth. At least I can size up my TSA appointed fondler before I go through that humiliation, but the agent in the jack-off booth is an unknown.
Also, when I opt for the grope, I get groped by a same-sex agent. But do I get the same respect when I go through the scanner? If I'm a sexy, voluptuous religious prude, am I being viewed by a member of the same sex or am I being ogled by a perverted dude? What if I'm a devout Muslim wearing a burka for modesty? Is my nude image inciting indecent acts or thoughts in the viewer?
Isn't this the kind of thing that pisses off our adversaries and incites them to violence?
More importantly, why has it taken nearly an entire year for them to put these porno-scanners in less that 1/3 of American Airports since the underwear bombing? If this was a necessary piece of security, wouldn't they have acted sooner to get them in place everywhere? Or is it just another piece of security theater?
Personally I would rather not have these new scanners. Like you say, "[a]irport security is a human system that won’t be perfect." There will be plenty of false positives requiring additional screening. And eventually, someone will get through the system with a weapon and they will have to check the recorded images of every person that went through the scanner to find out where the system broke down.
Planes fall out of the sky all the time without terrorists on them. As things stand, an accident is more likely than a terrorist hijacking. And knowing that fewer than 1 percent of my fellow flyers is a terrorist, I am happy to take my chances with the flying public and the security we had in place before. if the old methods are not up to par by your standards then you simply shouldn’t fly. There are far greater threats to your safety while flying than the handful of terrorists around the world that will likely never set foot on your plane.
People who are okay with the government's abuse of power ruin it for the rest of us.
The pat-downs are longer than 10 seconds and are not standard. You cannot avoid the pat-down or the body scanner if you were selected to go through it. You can choose not to go through it but you would not be allowed to fly. Finally women and children are not exempt from the body scanner or the pat downs.
>>>> I don't understand how some people have no shame in writing something when they don't know what the f*** they are talking about.
Better Public image? No amount of turd shining will make TSA better. Obviously the author is no air traveler. Everybody noticed TSA from the get go. IF you have flown at anytime during the past 10 years you might recall thinking "who's the guy in blue gloves stealing my nail clippers and toothpaste" ," why am i taking off my shoes and sharing a tile floor with an unlimited potential number of athlete's foot sufferers". EVERYBODY NOTICED. Do you remember the passenger who was forced by TSA to drink her own breast milk? SHE NOTICED. The pilots who, prior to flying for Delta, were trusted with up to and over 40 million dollar aircraft carrying thousands of pounds explosive payload by the DOD, now subject to be screened by joe slackjaw and his maglite. THEY NOTICED.
It must be blissful to carry on with the authors point of view. She makes no mention of radiation exposure and susiquent health concerns from the scans, nor does she mention how women and children are exempt. if so wouldnt she be advocating a system that could never reach over 50% effectivness?
Don't like it – Don't fly? Air travel is a necessity for our modern day economy. Lots of business/government fucntion depend on fast travel. Need to fly home to say a last goodbye to grandma, knocking on heavens door in the hospital. Well prepare to be groped!
so lets take a look at the big picture as suggested by using the example provided and comparing it to a different axiom.
-TSA was not created to embarass. –
-Asbestos was not created to induce mesothelioma.-
To refer to what TSA does to people as mere embarrassment is a gross miscomprehension of whats really going on. Think in terms of precident – not just sexual harrasment.
-It was created to prevent anyone dangerous from ever being onboard.-
dangerous how?being onboard what?
Boarding an airplane with the flu could be "Dangerous".
We KNOW what she is getting at, however your chances of being on a highjacked plane are in the same neighborhood as being attacked by a shark on labor day in Iowa.
I realize this article was probably just an assignment the author churned out for a grade, but i honestly can fathom why someone would make such an outlandish claim and then attemp to back it up with a bunch of nonsequitar reasoning and mindless complicity, without being on the manufacturer payroll. Obviously she is not an air traveler. Everybody noticed when TSA came on the seen. Everybody notice tubes of toothpaste and nail clippers being taken away. Remember the lady that TSA forced to drink her own breast milk then toss the remaining milk intended to feed her infant. SHE NOTICED TSA. Where was the Author when they started forcing people to take their shoes off? We complianed about that too. Its more than just Critics of TSA its everybody who has flown and is literate.
Wow…
Merina, I don't know where you got your "facts," but I have been researching and writing about the TSA for 5 years, and I have never read corroboration for such statements as "four of the hijackers set off alarms that morning" or that "most women and children aren't being groped."
Keep on inventing stats and "proof." You'll make a fine journalist, given today's standards. Or you could go to work directly for the TSA after graduation. Like the corporate press, they appreciate and promote propagandists.
How easy is it to get a communications degree at UH?
Shouldn’t the Daily Cougar have an editor, or someone who reads the articles they print? You guys at the DC need to start reading some of the submissions you are getting.
Anybody have an idea how the Daily Cougar responds to criticism? They start by citing the 1st amendment and go on about how they can print any thing they wish, even if it is offensive, idiotic, or false. Then they follow up by printing student submitted articles that side with them. Repeat as necessary.
1- The TSA is truly in a no win situation. 2- The majority of the TSA employees are “regular,” “ordinary,” good American citizens that do not care about any strangers JUNK. They just want to do their job and go home to whatever awaits them at home. 3- There are “bad guys” out that are trying to kill as many men, women and children as possible. This includes me and my family and you and your family. 4- Humans are trying to harm us and humans are trying to protect us. 5- The TSA is human. 6- The TSA MAKES MISTAKES. 7- The bad guys are human. 8- Bad guys make mistakes. 9- Bad guys try to hide bad things on their body. 10- The TSA must find things on bodies. 11- When a bad guy hides bad things on his/her body and something REALLY bad happens on a plane, we wont be having this conversation.
12- The TSA is truly in a no win situation.
The officers are only a reflection of the managers and up.Kind of like Congress it may be time to replace so of the entitled. Itmay need to be at the Airports too.When the TSA head says if you don't like drive then how are the officers going to act you just gave them ability to be rude.