Welcome to Masterpiece Security Theater

In Darrin Nikolaisen’s blog post “Pat Downs and Body Scans,” he explains the growing concern about the Transportation Security Agency’s implementation of full body scanners and vigorous pat downs. He details the public’s mounting apprehension toward receiving a high dose of radiation or being aggressively fondled by TSA agents in order to board a plane. While he empathizes with those who feel violated by the new security measures, Nikolaisen defends the TSA in stating that “passengers should give up some of their rights for the greater good of those around you.” I respect Nikolaisen’s opinion and I think he did an excellent job in this blog post. I found it to be quite articulate. However, I believe a more thorough cost/benefit analysis would expose the discrepancies in the endorsement of these procedures.

Allow me to introduce you to Michael Chertoff, the former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security under President George Dubya Bush.
Chertoff is a co-author of the USA PATRIOT Act, which was an act of Congress that removed some of the liberties of the American people in the name of safety. It was signed into law on October 26, 2001 in a response to the events of September 11th. Is it just me, or do the proximity of those two dates seem weird to anyone else?

Imagine you are at a restaurant. You order an entrée and begin a casual conversation with your company. Three minutes later, the entrée appears in front of you. Where did it come from? It certainly wasn’t made-to-order. That entrée is the Patriot Act, and it arrived suspiciously quickly. Usually, an Act of the U.S. Congress takes months or years to prepare. The Patriot Act was introduced to Congress on September 20, 2001, just nine days after September 11th. I’m no conspiracy theorist. I’m just sayin’: rather strange. Don’t you think?

Michael Chertoff was also the first to use his former government credentials to advocate for the use of full body scanners at airports, shortly after the failed Christmas-day bombing attempt last year. When interviewed on the topic, he never mentions that a client of Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, is Rapiscan Systems, the company that makes the body scanning machines that are being sold to the government to be placed in airports across the U.S. (Washington Post) This implicates a huge conflict of interest. One can plainly see that his intentions are to the benefit of his company and clients, and not of the American people.

“Pat Downs and Body Scans” makes no acknowledgment of the welfare of the minors that are forced to be photographed or touched inappropriately. There are claims that the images are deleted immediately after being viewed by TSA agents, but something tells me that that is an outright lie. I get the feeling that, in the event of a successful in-flight suicide bombing, the body scanner image of the suspected terrorist would be pulled up immediately for review, perhaps out of the “Recycle bin.”

Darrin mentions that, as of now, we still maintain the right to opt out of being x-rayed. In the case of an “opt-out,” the entire surface area of the passenger’s body is thoroughly and invasively “patted down,” including primary and secondary external reproductive organs. Indeed, this means the folds of the vulva, penis, and breasts will be groped by a stranger of the same sex. This is one of the reasons that I refuse to fly.

I also rejoinder Darrin’s support for the new security measures with reasons why scanning American citizens as they fly from city to city within the U.S. will not prevent a terrorist attack. First of all, full body scanners are not being implemented at airports in most countries outside of the United States. If a bomb-wielding maniac successfully boards a plane in Yemen or Germany and detonates it on its way to the United States, I think we would quickly realize that all of these heightened security efforts were in vain.
Darrin mentions that the body scanners are worth-while because they are able to detect objects inside body cavities. However, full body scanners are not able to scan for objects inside body cavities. They are only good for capturing a detailed image of your “junk.” And we know that terrorists are not disinclined to insert a bomb into a bodily orifice. They would only need to set a timer for mid-flight detonation, eliminating the need for an external detonating device.

Altogether, I thought Mr. Nikolaisen’s blog post was informative, organized, and very interesting. And while I may not agree with what he has to say, I will defend to the death his right to say it; a perfect example of the freedoms that we, as American citizens, should never surrender. After all, we do have the greatest constitution in the world; we should work a little harder to preserve it.