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Sunday, November 21st, 2010

Travelers, Lawmakers Up in Arms Over Airport Security Measures

Author:     BRAD KNICKERBOCKER
Source:     The Christian Science Monitor
Publication Date:     20-Nov-10
 Link: Travelers, Lawmakers Up in Arms Over Airport Security Measures
Stephan:   Nineteen young men, with what is estimated to be at most a few hundred thousand dollars -- APPROXIMATELY WHAT WE SPEND AROUND THE CLOCK EVERY 10 MINUTES IN AFGHANISTAN ALONE -- began a process that has achieved what the late Soviet Union never could with all the billions it spent. This handful of man-boys, and the estimated few thousand more al-Qaeda, aided by tens of thousands of men offended by occupation, have forced America, which spends more on defense than the rest of the world combined, to bleed more than a trillion dollars. And to subject itself to a vast erosion of personal liberty and privacy, all at a cost to them estimated to be less than a couple of million dollars a year. So tell me: Who's winning this war?

As the high-travel Thanksgiving holiday approaches, travelers and lawmakers are up in arms over airport security measures.

On special web sites, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the U.S. Travel Association have been getting thousands of complaints. Facebook and Twitter are smoking with posted outrage.

In response to terrorist threats, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) now gives airline passengers two choices: Get a full-body scan using low-dose radiation that shows a naked image – everything from head to toe – which may or not be harmful to one’s health, depending on the expert cited. Or refuse the scan and have a stranger run his or her hands over every part of your body.

Critics call it a no-win choice: Get zapped or get groped.

‘With the holiday travel season fast approaching, we need to make sure that security measures are in place that actually make us more secure without compromising passenger privacy,

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