Here’s the deal: TSA is correct in everything they posted about 
the pat-down that has gone viral. It looked like all procedures were followed – it still sucks they have to do it, but I understand the threat. It looked like the pat-down was even a bit more thorough than normal (I’ve had several too), but I can imagine that once the TSA officer knows he’s being filmed he’s going to go slow and meticulous because he knows his supervisors and TSA leadership may eventually be watching this as well.
I appreciate TSA putting out this blog post HERE about their procedure, but they needed to do it earlier – not after there have been incidents. TSA has been more and more reticent about making public statements and it’s hurting them and the their mission. I, more than most, know that security should have its random elements, but we live in a democracy where people have rights. It’s the duty of our institutions to develop procedures that are reasonable and effective, that still protect the traveling public, yet not eliminate the benefits of air travel.
Is that hard to do? Undoubtedly, yes. TSA needs to be more forthcoming and tell the traveling public what to expect. Does that have some security compromises in it? Yes, indeed it does. But we know enough not to just trust our government to do the right thing – they must be held accountable.
No one said preventing air terrorism was going to be easy.
You can read TSA’s blog post discussing the incident by clicking this link: http://blog.tsa.gov/2017/03/tsa-mythbuster-rest-of-dfw-pat-down.html
To read more of my posts on aviation security, click HERE.
