Peel and Feel: TSA's Search Policies Are All Up in Our Privates

The new TSA "peel or feel" passenger security policy has nothing to do with airline safety and everything to do with America's runaway culture of fear.

For those of you just emerging from hibernation, the Transportation Security Agency has upped the ante on its perpetual elevated security crisis stance by demanding all airline passengers pose for an X-ray machine that takes high resolution, front-and-back nude pictures of their bodies. Some deceptively low-quality images produced by these machines have been released for public viewing; don't be fooled. These X-ray images aren't like ordinary medical X-rays. The images are gathered by rays passing through clothing and bouncing off the skin. They expose every fold, crevice, and anatomical detail. It is easy to discern if the subject has had a mastectomy, for example, or is circumcised.

I encourage nudity, but I also believe it should be voluntary. And despite assertions to the contrary, the machines that make the images are designed to store and transmit them. Besides, anyone can take a picture of the screen with a cell phone or camera and the image can be distributed that way. It has already happened. In our modern world of pervasive titillation, how long will it be before a public figure finds his or her naked image, captured at an airport security checkpoint, all over the internet? How about a small child?

Sickened, yet?

But the TSA is sensitive to these privacy issues. Airline passengers who don't wish to have their nude pictures taken are provided with an alternative: the "aggressive pat-down."

This procedure is a limited version of the search performed in prisons. The breasts, buttocks, and genitals are fondled by an agent to ascertain that only the furnishings nature provided are found in these locations. We have the so-called "underwear bomber" to thank for that. To make this procedure sound more palatable, and probably also so the TSA agents don't vomit, the back of the hand is used for the most intrusive aspects of the search; in addition, agents are required to warn passengers of what's about to happen, much like a doctor saying "you'll feel a little pressure" as he goes in with the gloves.

To put this genital fondling procedure in perspective, if a TSA agent tried to perform one of these searches at a typical strip club, that agent would be dragged outside and beaten up by security. Exotic dancers now have more expectation of privacy than airline passengers. This sounds like a joke, but there's nothing funny about it.

If you are a survivor of rape or other sexual abuse, this procedure is no less a nightmare than the naked pictures. If you have deformities, injuries, or your body doesn't look or feel as expected, you will be singled out for further attention. What about transsexuals? They have little of this, a little of that, and I'm going to guess the screeners will have a hard time figuring out how to respond to it. What gender should the fondler be? How do we ensure the screeners looking at the nude pictures focuses on the job, not the equipment?

It should be telling that airline pilots are among the most vocal opponents of these procedures. Why do we even screen pilots? They're at the controls. They don't need hidden weapons. This is all about politics and the psychology of power; otherwise, pilots and flight crew would just have their credentials examined, not their private parts. These procedures are patently ridiculous security theater. They don't make flying much safer. They clearly violate the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure, regardless of arcane readings of the Constitution by compliant judges. Probable cause for suspicion is not that someone decided to buy an airline ticket. So why are allowing this to happen?