"Fun Facts" about TSA Body Scanners and Pat-Downs

Once you enter the security checkpoint, you must submit to either the full body scan or the pat-down procedure. You can't simply refuse both and leave the airport. If you do, you face the possibility of arrest, a lawsuit, and/or an $11,000 fine.

This was demonstrated by John Tyner, a software engineer in California who famously said, "Don't touch my junk." He refused both the full body scan and the pat down. Before he could leave, he was told that he would face a lawsuit and a fine if he didn't cooperate.

A TSA agent informed him that "by buying a ticket, you gave up a lot of your rights."

According to TSA's San Diego security director, "What he's done, he's violated federal law and federal regulations which states once you enter and start the process you have to complete it."

Sources:

1. The Viral "Don't Touch My Junk!" Video


2. TSA Investigating "Don't Touch My Junk" Passenger


3. TSA Full Body Scan: Man Faces $11k for Refusing TSA Screening

There is absolutely no guarantee that choosing to go through the body scanner will spare you of an invasive pat-down. ANYONE can be subjected to the full pat-down if TSA feels that additional screening is necessary. Even small children have had to endure the pat-down.

A couple of months before the infamous John Tyner incident, a woman named Deborah Petersen who opted to go through scanner was told that she didn't follow TSA's instructions correctly. If she wanted to fly, she had to agree to a pat-down. When Peterson asked why she couldn't just go through the scanner again, she was told that it was "against the rules." Peterson submitted to the pat-down, but was horrified to learn just how invasive the procedure turned out to be.

Sources:

1. Opinion: The Trauma of TSA Airport Pat-Down Screening Takes Security a Step Too Far


2. TSA Molests 3 Year Old Child at Chattanooga Metro Airport (video)

Initially, TSA agents were allowed to touch passengers only with the backs of their hands. Certain parts of the body were off-limits.

That was changed on October 29th, 2010. TSA agents are now required to use the palms of their hands. They will check a woman's breasts and try to feel anything that might be hidden inside her bra. They can put their hands down your waistband. They are also required to feel up your legs and groin.

While TSA agents may perform pat-downs at will, police officers who routinely put their lives on the line have to justify pat-downs. In 2008, the Supreme Court threw out a conviction of a man who had methamphetamine hidden on his person; it was ruled that the police had no right to search him under the circumstances. The United States Supreme Court [holds] that a police officer who lacks probable cause to arrest could undertake a patdown search only "where he has reason to believe he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual."

In other words, when it comes to pat-downs, TSA agents have been granted more power than the police. You can be treated like a criminal not because there is a reason to suspect that you are an armed and dangerous individual, but because you simply chose to fly.

Sources:

1. Pat Down or Full Body Scan? Security Gets More Personal at Airports


2. Court: Police Pat-Down Was Not Justified


3. CA Court of Appeal Rules Police Cannot Conduct Pat-Down Search Solely to Obtain Identification


4. Airport Pat-Downs: The New TSA Rules are a Mistake

People with medical problems, transplants, and prosthetics have it harder than the rest of us. One example was a 61-year-old man with bladder cancer. He was wearing a urostomy bag, which collects urine. The bag showed up on the body scanner and made a full pat-down necessary. When they began their search, he tried to warn them that if they hit the bag they could break the seal. They ignored his warning and ended up breaking the bag's seal, leaving his clothes soaked in urine. The security officers never apologized or offered assistance. He didn't even have time to clean up before boarding the plane.

At the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, a flight attendant and breast cancer survivor opted for the pat-down, since she was concerned about the radiation emitted by the full body scanners. Her right breast had been surgically removed, and she was wearing a prosthesis. She was asked to remove the prosthetic breast from her bra and show it to the agent.

Sources:

1. TSA Pat-Down Leaves Passenger Covered in Urine (AOL News)


2. TSA Pat-Down Leaves Traveler Covered in Urine (MSNBC)


3. TSA Makes Cancer Victim Remove Prosthetic Breast

"I don't know why everybody is running to buy these expensive and useless machines. I can overcome the body scanners with enough explosives to bring down a Boeing 747. That's why we haven't put them in our airport."

This was a statement from Rafi Sela, a former chief security officer at the Israel Airport. He has 30 years of experience to back him up. Ben Gurion International in Tel Aviv is widely recognized as one of the safest airports in the world. They maintain the security of Ben Gurion International by profiling, and they are unapologetic about it.

In an interview broadcasted on ABC News, Charlies Slepian, founder of the Oregon-based Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center, was asked if the new security measures would catch someone like the Underwear Bomber. "Not likely," he said. "The underwear bomber had powder in his underpants. You really don't know if there is an explosive there."

Sources:

1. Israeli Security Expert to Canada: 'Full Body Scanners Useless'


2. Ben Gurion Airport Security


3. Former Israeli Airline Security Chief: U.S. Needs to Profile Air Passengers


4. How the Israelis Do Airport Security


5. TSA Changes Pat-Down Procedure at Airports

TSA assures passengers that "advanced imaging technology cannot store, print, transmit or save the image." As of November 22, 2010, this statement was still posted on TSA's website.

This statement was proven false when Gizmodo leaked 100 saved body scanner images. According to Gizmodo, the U.S. Marshals in a Florida Federal courthouse saved 35,000 images on their scanner. Gizmodo was able to obtain these images by applying under the Freedom of Information Act.

Sources:

1. One Hundred Naked Citizens: One Hundred Leaked Body Scans


2. Leaked online: The Body Scanner Images We Were Promised Would Never be Saved or Published