Republican Senator Orrin Hatch was forced to go through a TSA naked body scanner against his will, according to testimony heard at the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, as lawmakers complained to DHS head Janet Napolitano about the “baloney” Americans were forced to put up with at the hands of “arrogant” TSA screeners.
Despite the TSA’s official policy stating that travelers can select whether to pass through the radiation-firing body scanner or take an “enhanced pat down,” Utah Senator Hatch told Napolitano during the hearing that he wasn’t offered the choice.
“Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican, raised the issue, saying he’s been forced twice to go through the scanning machines when he would have preferred another method of screening,” reports the Washington Times.
“Maybe I look like a terrorist,” Hatch joked sardonically.
Hatch also said that he had witnessed TSA screeners “force” other travelers to go through the naked body scanner when they had expressed a wish to pass through the standard x-ray metal detector instead.
Vermont Democrat and committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy complained that TSA screeners were punishing travelers who rejected the body scanner, stating, “Sometimes you get the impression they almost want to make you miss your plane because you have to go through the pat-down.”
Leahy went further, telling Napolitano that TSA workers had an “arrogant disregard for real Americans who have to put up with this baloney,” and were disconnected from reality, while also criticizing the fact that children have to pass through the radiation scanners.
No comments:
Post a Comment