Rep. Doesn't Catch TSA's Wave
The Transportation Security Administration's full-body scans at some airport security check points have been the subject of some heated discussions, <a href="http://www.tsa.gov/blog/2009/08/imaging-technolgy-bigger-picture.html">even on the TSA Blog</a>.
Opposition to the scans, or what TSA refers to as "Millimeter Wave Passenger Imaging Technology," is beginning to look a bit like August's town hall health care debates. Consider what happened in Salt Lake City this week. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, had an altercation with a TSA security worker on Monday when the congressman declined to be patted down after refusing to submit to a whole-body scan at the Salt Lake City International Airport. Chaffetz said the incident escalated when a TSA supervisor refused to give him his name or badge number, the Salt Lake City Tribune reported . He admitted that he then touched the supervisor's badge with his finger but "did I touch the officer? Was I obnoxious? Absolutely not," he said.
Chaffetz, who sponsored a bill to ban the scans because they are intrusive, says he was singled out by TSA because of his opposition to TSA officers unionizing, the Tribune reported.
TSA advises passengers to agree to whole-body scans because it is a way to avoid what the agency describes as the more intrusive pat down. While Chaffetz and other passengers certainly might not like submitting to a pat down, "our officers don't like patting down passengers either. It's uncomfortable for everyone involved," the TSA Blog noted earlier this year.
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