Republicans from Florida are taking aim at new search techniques being employed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) on airline passengers -- even as a poll shows most Americans accept these measures as necessary for greater security.
Last Wednesday, outgoing U.S. Sen. George LeMieux grilled TSA Administrator John Pistole at a U.S. Senate Transportation, Science, and Commerce Committee hearing on the TSAs new security procedures -- including a pat-down process that critics have called extremely invasive.
The Republican senator, considering a run against Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, agreed with the critics.
I would not want my wife to be touched in the way that these folks are being touched; I would not want to be touched that way, said LeMieux. I agree that our main focus has to be safety, but there needs to be a better balance.
LeMieux voiced his support for increased use of scanners -- which have also drawn controversy for being too invasive.
We should be moving forward with full-body scanners and other nonpersonal-contact screening methods and use more common sense when addressing the risk of terrorist-related activity by travelers, added LeMieux.
Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney jumped into the fray two days later and went further than LeMieux in criticizing the TSA.
Passengers are angry, and they should be, said Rooney on Friday. Full-body pat-downs and explicit photo screenings have gone too far, and the security benefits of implementing these procedures on random passengers are dubious at best.
TSA full-body screenings and pat-downs are an invasive, unnecessary infringement on passengers rights, continued Rooney. Congress must exercise its oversight authority to investigate why TSA has mandated these new procedures and whether they actually provide stronger security for airline passengers.
Unfortunately, TSA has become a bloated federal bureaucracy with more than 70,000 employees, added Rooney. In a classic example of mission creep, the agency has vastly overstepped its original charter and is no longer effectively administering its duties and responsibilities. Congress should act immediately to reform TSA.
Rooney was joined Monday by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who moved to Florida earlier in the year where he has remained politically active. Huckabee blasted President Barack Obama for backing the new TSA measures.
President Obama is defending the humiliating and unconstitutional electronic strip searches by machines that are making its [sic] manufacturers filthy rich and the flying public hopping mad, said Huckabee who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and may do so again in 2012. The president also says that there isn't a choice about the federal fondling and groping of the private parts of totally law-abiding citizens by government agents."
Huckabee threw down the gauntlet, even offering a personal challenge to Obama.
Mr. President, I issue a challenge -- if you don't find anything wrong with these practices that presume the guilt of an American before he or she proves innocence, then I ask you to take your wife, your two daughters, and your mother-in-law to Reagan National Airport and have them go through the full-body scanner and then be subjected to the same and full-body grabbing grope by the government agents that you authorized to do it, said Huckabee. Do it in public where all can see. When you do that, maybe some of the rest of us won't be as angry as watching our wives, daughters, and mothers humiliated and degraded like criminals just in order to fly on a plane.
Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Connie Mack did not go quite as far. Mack, who is considering running for the U.S. Senate in 2012, said on Tuesday that he opposed the new pat-down technique that TSA officials are using to search airline passengers.
TSAs new enhanced security screenings are outrageous and have gone too far, said Mack. We all want our nation to be safe, but this security must not come at the expense of our freedoms. Im extremely concerned that TSAs enhanced pat-downs infringe on individuals privacy rights and give the federal government unprecedented power.
The enhanced pat-downs should cease immediately, continued Mack. Congress and the administration must examine whether there are other measures we can take such as privatizing TSA or revising the security searches to ensure our national security while protecting ones rights.
But a new poll from Gallup on behalf of USA Today found that most Americans have no problem with the new scanners, though they remained ambivalent about the pat-downs. The poll of 757 frequent air travelers was taken between Nov. 19-21 and found that 57 percent of those surveyed didn't mind the full-body scanners, while 42 percent had no qualms with the new pat-downs. The poll found 18 percent of those surveyed were angry about the scanners and 24 percent were bothered but not angry about them. The new pat-down method got lower marks -- with 29 percent angry about it and 28 percent bothered but not angry. The poll had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
