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Donald Rumsfeld may have smiled through his TSA pat down in Chicago last week, but my friend Barb is not smiling about her recent TSA encounters. Like Rumsfeld, Barb is sporting a metal joint or two, which is not uncommon.
In the Peoria Journal Start, Dr. Tom Mulvey of Midwest Orthopedic, is quoted as saying:
"There are now more than 1 million hip and knee replacements per year in the United States," said Mulvey, a hip and knee reconstructive surgeon in Peoria.
"Unbelievable."
Barb is a 60s+ year old woman of European decent, who has white hair and is barely 5'4" tall.
Dressed in comfortable traveling slacks and a beige blouse, Barb set out from her home port, Washington Dulles, bound for the small Knox County Airport in Rockland, Maine.
She dutifully passed through the body scanner at Dulles with no incident.
Then a short flight to Boston Logan, where she had to endure security at the Jet Blue entry one more time in order to reach her connecting Cape Air flight to Rockland. It was here things really became insulting.
Passing through that body scanner, she was informed by a TSA agent that she had set off an alarm for "hazardous substances." The agent stood before her wielding a device akin to a barbecue lighter with a circle of cloth at the end.
As Barb was wearing and carrying exactly what she wore and carried through Dulles a few hours earlier, she was perplexed.
The agent explained to her the "procedure" she was about to go through, including the touching, groping, and intrusions to "sensitive" parts of her body.
Barb noted that the recited procedures do not include any instructions on how they were to conduct this "pat down" with any sensitivity to the person or allow room for this senior citizen to retain a modicum of dignity.
By now Barb, again a woman in her 60s and who is no more than 5'4" tall, was guarded by not one, but two agents who kept their hands on Barb's carry on items, which included nothing more insidious than her prescription medicines. Two more agents besides the woman with the poker instructed her to go into a small room whereupon they closed the door.
Then Barb, an obvious American grandmother on her way to visit her grandchildren, was subjected to the totally unpleasant and demeaning bit of invasive groping by one agent as two acted as witnesses.
Of course they found nothing.
© unknownThe TSA - working hard at protecting the skies from potential terrorists
Because this process required so many agents to conduct the search, and they had to wait for the last one to set up, the whole process took 45 minutes!
Five TSA agents, 45 minutes! TSA pay scales have agents making between $17,000 and $155,000 per year. Lets take an average, and say these agents made $50,000 per year. That is $250,000 worth of man-power to make sure Barb, the senior citizen grandmother with a hip replacement, is not a terroist.
That is $250,000 per year for one airport, for one team of agents. If we are to assume that the airport has a minimum of two teams available every eight hours that begins to add up to somewhere around $2,000,000 a year, per airport, to protect us from Barb.
Now with TSA reporting approximately 450 commercial airports in the U.S., and taking an average of three shift teams per each airport, two teams per shift... well, you do the math.
And this is not taking into consideration that most airports, say Dulles, Chicago, Washington-Regan, Orlando, Dallas Fort-Worth, Miami, have significantly more than six teams on staff per day.
Thankfully Barb had enough time between flights not to miss her connection even though the two agents touched every item in the cases, including her wallet.
Just to see what would happen at another TSA checkpoint, Barb wore the same exact clothes to return to Dulles three days later, beginning her journey back at the little Rockland airport.
Those agents have little traffic and lots of time to search and seize. They also tested her with their poker but no alarm went off. They also went through every item in her baggage.
The role of the TSA is important; however, it may be that some common sense is required, not only from a fiscal standpoint, but also a procedural. Is frisking a wheel-chair bound octogenarian really a good use of our tax dollars?
Here are some questions to ponder from this tale:
First and foremost, when will the U.S. follow Israeli security models. Stop listening to liberals and begin to profile, i.e., actively look for those that would do harm. Yes, stop someone who sets off an alarm but use some common sense in dealing with that person.
Yes, I understand that some people may be inconvenienced for no other reason than their dress, color of skin, or ethnicity. Unfortunately, this cannot be avoided.
How much money would the TSA save if they made a conscientious acceptance of the fact that in America a large number of people over the age of 60 have metal parts?
Yes, if Barb's bags triggered a "hazardous substance" alarm, she should have been questioned, because you don't always know. However, to treat people, regardless of how they look, that are asked to "step aside" as potential terrorist masterminds is a bit of overkill.
I can recognize someone may have tucked something into a carry on bag, but I doubt many travelers wouldn't realize if someone stuffed something into their underwear.
At one time America was ruled by common sense and civility. And we paid our bills when they came due.
If we are going to cut spending, let's start with the TSA, not Social Security. Barb has suffered enough.
What do you think?
On the present turmoil in nature, the economy, and society in general, except to say that they are being used to mold a new world order in which freedom is determined by the state, rather than arising from the inherent rights of man.