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Dems Challenge TSA to Justify Pat-Downs
 Daniel Tencer - Raw Story
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November 22, 2010
Two House Democrats, including the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, have sent a letter (PDF) to TSA Administrator John Pistole asking him to "reconsider" the new screening procedures.
While we agree that security measures should be enhanced in the wake of recent attempted terrorist attacks on the aviation system, we are concerned about new enhanced pat down screening protocols and urge you to reconsider the utilization of these protocols. With Thanksgiving Day marking the beginning of the busiest travel season of the year, this request is timely, the letter stated.
It was signed by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MI), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX).
The letter also challenges Pistole to justify the decision to offer "enhanced pat-downs" as the alternative for passengers who choose to opt out of the full body scanners. The letter requests that Pistole provide the committee with all documents "that support the TSA's decision to implement the enhanced pat-down procedure."
That may prove difficult. Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic reported last month that a TSA agent told him the pat-down procedure, which involves the touching of breasts and genitals, was simply a bullying technique meant to get passengers inside the full body scanner.
"Nobody's going to do it [choose the pat-down]," the agent reportedly said, "once they find out what we're going to do."
'I was absolutely humiliated,' said bladder cancer survivor
A retired teacher from Lansing, Michigan, says he had to walk through an airport and board a plane covered in urine after TSA agents tore open his urostomy bag during a pat-down.
Thomas Sawyer, a 61-year-old survivor of bladder cancer, was flagged for an enhanced screening at Detroit Metropolitan Airport Nov. 7 after a metal detector picked up the urostomy bag in his pants. The medical device collects urine through an opening in the stomach.
Read the MSNBC report here.
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