Groping Our Way Towards National Security
I, like much of the country, have been listening intently to the discussion about the new TSA security process. In many ways I am of two minds about it. We are a country structured around the concept of independence – that is the name of our national birthday, after all. The Constitution gives us these rights. Even when we don’t engage them well, our documents state our belief in individual rights. Full body scanners, now so much in the news, have been available for years but their introduction into airports has been slowed by privacy advocates like the ACLU. Recent events like Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 2009 Christmas underwear bomber and the Fedex packages targeted for Chicago synagogues have created a new, more fearful environment. We have no real solution for how to balance our culture of independence with our need for security. Nor have we been thoughtful about how we should handle this challenge. So while we should not be surprised, it has still been somewhat jarring to see photos of TSA officers with their hands between grown men’s legs. Or to hear the humiliating story of
Thomas Sawyer, a bladder cancer survivor who wears an ostomy bag and was drenched in urine when an officer did not pay attention to his admonitions to adjust his pat down method. And the new cry has become: Don’t touch my junk.
No one wants their junk touched . Or hardly anyone.
For all that I treasure the American cultural value of independence, to ensure national safety when we have an enemy as bent on destroying us as is Al-Qaeda, I will give TSA permission to feel me up. That, however, is not the issue. What is wrong with the entire process is this: While I understand that fewer people are patted down than has been reported – perhaps two percent - the machines don’t do their job. The scans these machines take look like science projects at the GE high school science fair. I love genius kids but they don’t necessarily make me feel safe.
Scan Everything. If the security process is to be effective, it must scan us internally and externally. It must be assumed that we might have explosives hidden in our stomachs, intestines, vaginas and rectums. I guarantee that terrorists are gonna come up with a exploding kegel muscle exerciser. The machines reportedly cannot, at this point, even detect underwear bombs. So the utility of the machines is limited. Except to show who is silly enough to wear their body jewelry, underwire bras and other unnecessary heavy metal apparati to the airport. The scanners need to show ever-y-thing. If I am going to let you look through my clothes, go ahead and view me on a cellular level. Get a report that you can send to my doctor. Save me some lab fees. I’ll sign the release. Frankly, TSA could have probably have saved some money by using more specially trained dogs. Every dog I have ever met is a happy crotch sniffer. Let them loose in TSA security posts. Train officers more effectively. Training + sniffing dogs + machines that see up our nasal cavities just might do the job.
Other Airport Security Models. The US has always tried to balance privacy and security. It is important that this be the place that we start. That said, there are other airport security models that seem to ensure more safety. The Israeli model works well in an environment that is constantly under attack. The Israeli security system targets terrorist behavior rather than focusing on weapons. Their system is reportedly so secure that some travelers prefer a full body scan. Following the underwear bombing incident, a panel of travel security experts indicated that scanning was essential and that pat downs were of limited utility. I imagine they expected better scanners than are being used.
Eliminate Conflicts of Interest. On Monday, November 22, 2010, Former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff was found to have a proprietary interest in the Rapsican machine produced by OSI, having recommended their use over other companies that might have had more effective scanning methods.
So here we are, just in time for the holidays, standing in long lines like sitting ducks, possibly vulnerable. TSA agents are doing their jobs. But we have to use this moment not simply to complain about our personal indignities, but to figure out how to redefine personal freedom in the age of terrorism, how to make our systems of oversight work so that we have the equipment that we require. And how to have fewer conversations about who is touching our junk than what is changing our hearts.