“Don’t touch my junk ”¦” These words, which went viral last week, still ring in the ears of many people when they think of overly aggressive TSA employees patting down airport passengers. A lot of people are outraged by other TSA actions that have brought about mixed emotions, concerning privacy and civil liberty issues, as well as safety.
Years ago, an x-ray technician told me that he could do a “soft tissue” x-ray that could expose the private parts of fully clothed men or women, without their knowledge. I did not believe him then, but today we have this capability, with x-ray body scanners.
Are the TSA issues being blown out of proportion? After all, the bottom line is the safety and security of the passengers and the airlines. Only a small percent of the passengers boycotted the procedure last week. Most Americans, when polled, said they would rather put up with the scanners and pat downs than have terrorists on planes.
But most people have not gone through the scanners or the new pat downs, yet. Even airports with the new security devices still send most passengers through their old style screening machines. The TSA says that very little radiation is emitted by the body scanners, but some passengers, including pregnant women and airline personnel, are concerned about the radiation, and its cumulative effect.
Others are upset about the intrusiveness of the X-ray body scanner machines, and the loss of privacy. The government says that nude images of travelers are not kept, but a recent news report stated that over 35,000 nude x-ray pictures taken by the TSA body scanners at one of the airports, had been saved, and were being stored off-premises.
For those who opt out of the scanner, an aggressive pat down is given. Several weeks ago, a woman passenger who had cancer and one of her breasts removed, was forced by a TSA employee to remove her prosthetic breast, which had been put in place after her surgery. Even more embarrassing is when women, or men, are patted down, in the crotch areas.
Some changes need to be made. These include structural changes in the way we handle the security operations; and changes in personnel training, so that passengers’ privacy and dignity is preserved. Also, the public needs to be informed in advance about major changes in security protocols.
The TSA administration should follow some concepts used in the business world, such as the Japanese concept of “kaizen,” which uses continuous improvement efforts to improve operations. TSA personnel also should be better trained in customer relations, on how to handle people and privacy issues. Security planning should consider risks and costs, in order to manage both effectively, because TSA operations cost the American taxpayer over $2 billion dollars a year. We also need to find ways to lower the costs, while improving security. TSA could focus on persons who might need additional screening, the way the Israelis have done successfully. There are some problems with using their system in our country, though. They use profiling, which targets some people unfairly. Also, they are a small country, with a limited number of jet flights in and out each day. They have highly trained professionals doing the interviewing of potential travelers. We are a large country, with more than 300 million people, hundreds of airports, and thousands of daily flights.
We all need to be thinking about passenger and plane safety. Passengers should be on the lookout for strange or unusual events where people do things out-of-the-ordinary in airport facilities, to be reported to airport security personnel. TSA should consider using trained dogs to sniff out explosives, as is presently done to find drugs.
One good thing our security people did was to reinforce the door to the pilots’ cockpit cabin on the airplane. The other smart action was to have armed agents aboard selected flights to protect passengers and planes from hijackers.
We need to refine security and safety procedures, until the needs of the majority are met. Then we must evaluate the results of each new security system put into place. This may require management changes at all levels, to gain satisfactory passenger acceptance.
One thing is certain; a better relationship between passengers and the TSA organization is important. We need our security system to be both safe, and acceptable, to reasonable and decent citizens.
— Bernard Featherman is a business columnist and past president of the Biddeford-Saco Chamber of Commerce. He can be reached by e-mail: bernard@featherman.com.
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