Sea-Tac International Airport passengers will soon begin undergoing full-body scans as the federal government installs equipment that will help identify terrorist threats but poses concerns about privacy, health risks and longer waits in security lines.
[…] The scans, which effectively allow agents to see through clothes by scattering low-dose X-rays at a passenger’s front and back, produce a blurry nude image that can be screened for nonmetallic items such as weapons and explosives hidden under clothes.
[…] To quell privacy concerns, TSA is making the screening optional, has agreed not to store the images, and has set up a system so the pictures are viewed by a screener in another location where passengers can’t be seen in person.
“Every passenger has the option to refuse to go through these,” and walk through a metal detector instead, Baird said. Those who do will be subject to a pat-down, a procedure that takes extra time, but one that privacy experts recommend for those who feel uncomfortable.
Well… fuck that!
I, for one, will refuse to allow my daughter through one of those scanners, and will refuse to walk through one myself. I’ll see how intrusive the pat downs turn out to be, but if they are, I guess I’ll just no longer fly out of Sea-Tac. Flying will just have to be a once every several year experience for me, if at all.
I mean, honestly… would you trust TSA to bombard you or a loved one with ionizing radiation? And when some enterprising terrorist responds by boarding a plane with a stick of dynamite up his ass, what’s next? Cavity searches?
This stupid, fucking, pointless security theater has gone too far; we should’ve drawn the line years ago at the no-liquids bullshit, but I’m certainly drawing it at TSA rent-a-cops irradiating my flesh. Not gonna happen. No way. Never.
I’m almost tempted to bring down an airplane myself, just to prove a point.
Oh yes. I feels SOO much safer now. :(
Cavity searches aren’t as outrageous as you think.
The last time I flew, was on the first plane out of SeaTac after 9/11. It was a red-eye flight to San Jose.
Having taken several friends to the airport over the last year or so, my thinking is about the sheer theatrics of it all. TSA is famous for hiring almost anyone who can speak english, read at the 4th grade level and obey orders without thinking about them too much. So, these big bad TSA “agents” are consequently full of themselves and their positions of authoriteh. They make a good show for the plebes, meanwhile you can damn well bet that anyone with nefarious purpose and a measure of intelligence is studying the system as closely as they can. Such systems are always flawed, and serious people are going to find them.
Knowing that the only other jobs they are qualified for are burger-flippers and convenience store clerks, it is no surprise that so many of them keep getting busted doing shit like thieving shit out of luggage or flashing their badges in bars when they are confronted with their asshole behavior.
No matter how hard you push the envelope, it always remains stationary.
The funny part about it is that the drive too and and from the airport is and always has been far more dangerous than the flight.
Geez, there are health screens I refuse because of the radiation’s potential health effects. Definitely going to the metal detector/patdown on this one, sigh. It’s goofy that many writers play up the OMGZ you’re being seen NOOD angle when the radiation is what’s more to fear.
in the EU, you don’t have to take your shoes off, there is no liquid ban, even on flights to the US. atleast on the flights we’ve taken over the last 10 years.
the security kabuki is ridiculous. i wouldn’t trust these people to park my car, let alone work an x-ray machine or pat down my kids.
Mike: Wrong.
in the EU there is a liquid ban (anything over .1 litres or 100ml (which is 3.3 oz) can’t be taken on. YOu can leave your shoes on, but some flights to the US do have a secondary screening which make you take your shoes off.
Goldy: but just imagine the pain and suffering the TSA guys will have to endure seeing you semi naked….I’m just saying
Well, SOMEONE’S stimulus money is getting spent.
I just flew to Phx in April. Thankfully! I had shuttleexpress come 1 hr earlier than they proposed. Got to security and people ahead of me, a middle aged lady and her husband had to keep going through and through metal detectors & each had a couple of patdowns. (My stuff had already run thru the conveyer belt so I couldn’t go find another line. I could see my stuff had already scanned & was waiting on the other end) Waited a good 20-25 minutes and they were looking so stressed.
Husband was wearing a leg brace over his pants, that’s why he was targeted. Her, I never figured out why, maybe she was wearing an underwire bra.
My turn, and OF COURSE I also get the patdown. The patting lady was pleasant, not creepy. I asked Why? She said most likely because I was wearing loose clothing (my sweatpants & sweatshirt). Told her “that’s cause I’m FAT! Do you have to patdown every fat person in this place?”
Like I said, she was pleasant & professional, the pats felt kind of good, not really getting to the intrusive parts of my body, more down the sides under arms.
As I left, she patted me on the back and said “no need to thank me for the free massage”. Gave me a laugh. Hey, I get it that she was just doing a job. But I hope I never fly out of SeaTac again. In Phoenix they have NEVER had to resort to all the hysterics you endure at SeaTac.
BTW, the middle age couple ahead of me were so stressed out they left all their change in the tub. So, I collected it for them and bought myself an overpriced bottle of water on the other side of security. Damn, I hate SeaTac!
Phoenix Airport is also an international airport, so the difference can’t be simply because of that.
Is there a thumbs up button or a 5 star button I can click on? Your article deserves one.
So basically, minors were forced to go through something that shows them nude? How many state and federal laws does that break? Besides the radiation dangers, couldn’t the TSA get in trouble for child abuse and endangerment?
In my previous life I was on travel about 26 weeks a year. Mostly to and from DC.
After 911 and especially the last few years, the security theater was total bullshit.
And it is security theater, it’s just for looks.
Did you know: air cargo still gets little or no screening? Cuz it would be bad for business, doncha know. Also.
I just read a Stranger ad offering cavity searches for $50!
Seems to me Seatac is doing the same thing for free!
TSA does not wish to improve the saftey of flying….the wish to improve the image that it is safe to fly.
until they scan the cargo…all cargo, nothing will make fyling any safer in this regard.
imagine how the revolution would have been different if these were our leaders in the late 18th century??
we have indeed forgot our history.
Not much of a choice: some guy in a back room gets to see silouetted images of your pre-teen naked daughter, or someone gets to give her a “pat down”. Either way, in any other context, I’d break his jaw if some guy attempted something like that.
For all it’s attempts to be an “International Port”, SeaTac really needs to make some major changes. Arriving international passengers at the south terminal have to (a) go through immigration screening, (b) go down the escalators to a baggage claim area and collect their baggage (a process which can take 30 minutes to an hour on a large flight), (c) take their luggage for customs inspection (which is normally nothing more than another stamp in the passport), then (d) surrender their checked baggage again for delivery to the main terminal, (e) take the subway to the main terminal, and (e) collect their checked baggage again at luggage claim in the main terminal.
No other airport I know has such a screwy system. On my last trip returning from Japan, it took me almost two hours after landing before I emerged from the terminal. If my wife is picking me up, I tell her to stay in Everett until I call confirming that the plane has landed, that way she won’t have to wait more than a half hour or so to pick me up after arriving at Sea-Tac.
Normally I don’t use any checked baggage, but that time I was gone for over a week so I checked one bag. Never again.
I’ve seen this show before.
An ineffective, expensive, knee-jerk response to a manufactured crisis that just so happens to steal our privacy.
The Nigerian Detroit bound “Christmas bomber” was the winning lottery ticket for L-3 Communications and Rapiscan, makers of the full body scanners.
What to know why you’re getting screwed? Follow the money.
BTW, EPIC has sued Joe Lieberman’s Dept of Homeland Security. (link)
Undercover @ # 15: mandatory scanning of all cargo on passenger flights went into effect on August 1st. (Hey, it only took them nine years after 9/11 to put THAT one into effect). It’s had an effect on our business operations, the airlines have bumped back their deadline for tendering cargo by another couple of hours (from four to six hours before the flight). In practical terms, it means we have to tender all cargo the night before the flight.
I know a little bit about the scanning proceedures, but I’m not going to post any details online, we don’t want the holes in the system to be too readily apparant.
See what’s going on? On a daily basis, Goldy tells lectures us that more government is good for us. For “us.” Not him. When it starts to effect him, then he complains.
Yes, “we” need to do something. But who should “we” talk to? The Constitution is worthless and our elected representatives have been neutered. Perhaps we should go to the multinational corporation that makes the scanners and bribe them to let us off the hook. Because we know that this bullshit isn’t about anyone’s safety, it’s all about some insider making a financial killing.
While we are at it, who is making money off the TSA? Not the people at the gates – they are obviously being recruited off the very bottom of the barrel. If we were serious, all of those screeners would be Federal employees and subject to the same rules (and benefits) as other Federal employees. Let’s remember that President Richard Cheney designed this system and that it was never intended to work properly.
Perhaps we should stage some protests at Sea-Tac to remind people that they don’t have to put up with this crap. If every traveller turned down the body scan, things would slow to a crawl and they would dump it.
So Goldy believes more government is good for others, but not for him?
They cannot get it right, never have. Right after 911 we flew out of Houston to Seattle, they took away my wife’s cuticle cutter, when she told me it cost $26 bucks, I told the idiot if we could not take it, put in our baggage, no can do! The fact she spent that much is another issue HA, So we board the plane and they are serving beer in Long Neck bottles and wine in wine bottles, in my 25 years in the Seattle Fire Dept, I never ever saw anyone hurt by a cuticle cutter, but I saw a lot of damaged people from Beer Bottles and Wine Bottles, some damn near dead. Called Congress, Called the Airlines Called the FAA and no one could answer why they (and still do) served beer and wine in bottles, but by gawd we are safe from Cuticle Cutters (for all of you as dumb as me, cuticle cutters are smaller than small finger nail clippers).
I just flew Alaska (with upgrade to 1st class) 2 weeks ago. Get this…
I had to go through the airport screening, where they happily confiscate any metal object with points or a blade longer than an inch (give or take). I got on the plane, sat down, had a drink and they then brought me food, with a F**KING METAL KNIFE AND METAL FORK. Is this just silly? Am I insane? I couldn’t take those VERY implements they gave me and put them in my jacket and go BACK through security, because of the “danger” but the airline gave them to me ON the plane. What the F**K?
And can we stop with the retarded “taking off the shoes” nonsense. Looking if someone is really intent to just “kill” you can’t stop them. Just use common sense (like hardening the doors to the cockpit and changing the procedures, like they HAVE already). Look, no magical security or body scanners were used in 1920-2000….yet NO ONE ever flew a plane into a building. Because of security? NO…because you rely on the fact that there are NOT that many insane people in the world. There were world wide conflicts, wars, bombings, and terrorism back then too. Someone could have done that in 1943, 1963, 1977, but they didn’t….not because of our TSA like security, but because there aren’t THAT many crazies in the world.
No troll, like any sane person, Goldy believes that government is good for some things and not for others.
It’s only idiot Conservatives who think it comes down to “more” or “less” government all the time. Government is our tool. We use it to produce good outcomes when needed. We should also protest loudly when government does stupid things that violate civil liberties.
@25
Wingnuts are just dumb like that. It’s all black or white…totally good or totally evil. The concepts of reality, reason, rational thought don’t work with them. The idea that there can be a conflict where BOTH sides are wrong, or both doing something incorrect is impossible for them to understand. Government similarly is GOOD or BAD…to them it’s BAD. The concept of some parts being good and some parts being bad is beyond them. Good & evil, with us or against us…simple child view of reality is all they can understand. Complexity is beyond them.
(Goldy’s Mom saves thousands not having to buy him plane tickets….)
So much for gwb and his amazingly fucking unsuccessful “war on terrah”.
Just so he could prove his dick was longer than his Daddy’s.
@25
Goldy is always lecturing us that more government is good for us. But now it seems like he is complaining about more government.
I’m honestly trying to find out what he believes, that’s all.
TSA is a big, giant joke.
By having screeners see your image in a different room, you can bet there will be a lot more unprofessional comments about whoever is going through the machine. At least when standing in front of you, they are fairly limited in what they say.
I wonder what would happen if going through the screening if you stood their with both middle fingers extended? Would you get hauled out of line for stating your opinion?
I hate flying. I hate most airlines.
selfish money sluts like troll here don’t give a flying fuck about what anybody else thinks.
One of the things most people don’t realize is that those boarding private jets at Boeing Field or Paine Field (or anywhere else in the country) aren’t subject to the same security proceedures as the rest of us.
Sure, they are officially subject to TSA screening regulations, assuming that their plane is of sufficient size. But they leave it to the flight operators to conduct their own screening. I don’t fly private jets, but I’ve been observed flight operations for private jets at Boeing Field on a few occassions, and I’ve never seen the passengers subjected to anything more than an ID check.
So the corporate bigwigs don’t even bother to fly first class anymore, they fly private jets, so they don’t have to take off their shoes, go through metal detectors, have their bags x-rayed, etc. There was a bit of a stink about private jets when the car companies testified during the bailout hearings, but it was just a blip – business on that front has pretty much returned to normal.
Just think. A limo delivers you to the door of a small building by the airport. You go inside while the driver unloads your luggage, and someone places it on a cart to roll inside for you. You walk up to a front desk, a few feet from the entrence, and you give your name to the smiling receptionist. She greets you and asks for your ID, which she photocopies, and asks you to sign a register sheet. She then says “Welcome, Mr. Smith! Your aircraft is fueled and ready for departure, and is waiting just ouside! Are these your bags? You nod your head, and the bags are weighed and the bag count and weight is noted on a sheet which is given to the pilot for his “weight and balance” calculations while the baggage is being loaded in the luggage compartment. But you don’t even bother noticing this, because you are already on board, with the flight attendent asking you if you would like wine or perhaps a cocktail as the plane is readied for departure? Assuming that all of your party is present, the doors are closed, the pilot requests clearance to proceed to the runway, and within a few minutes you are on your way. Total time at the airport prior to departure? About 15 minutes.
Oh, and if private jets are likely to cause a P.R. ruckus, Boeing has an answer. They have a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ)which is a 737 “adaptable cargo conversion”, with a main-deck cargo door. The “selling feature” is that the handful of seats can be quickly removed and the airplane converted into a cargo carrier for “humanitarian relief” missions. I don’t know if they’ve sold any, I took a tour of one as part of a cargo conference I attended last year.
One story being circulated during the cocktail reception at the same conference was about a rather famous singer popular with the ladies, who had a private jet with a beautiful interior of mahogany and leather. But the interior had to be completely sprayed down with sealant because every flight would include as a passenger one or more “ladies” from the audience, and cleaning up afterwards had become quite a chore.
Security Theater and the predictable reaction of folks like Goldy is a real drag upon one of our region’s largest employers and our country’s most successful exporter.
If we could get over ‘Mosque at Ground Zero’ maybe we could have a discussion on how to better improve airline and airport security and dispense with all the useless, time wasting, customer frustrating Security Theater.
One would think freedom loving Republicans could find common cause with cranky liberal Democrats on this issue.
Mr Cynical, Troll, Puddy, Pudge @ 17
Stupid liberals. Insisting govt be effective. Perish the thought.
Boy Scout @ 33 said: “Security Theater and the predictable reaction of folks like Goldy is a real drag upon one of our region’s largest employers and our country’s most successful exporter….”
Assuming that you are referring to Boeing, remember that Stonecipher already said the difficulties of flying into and out of SeaTac was a major reason for Boeing headquarters being relocated to Chicago.
As for myself, I’ve never believed that was even a minor reason for the relocation. Boeing transported it’s executives and board members to any meetings on a Boeing jet. A previous Boeing CEO even used a Boeing jet to fly between Boeing Field in Seattle and Paine Field in Everett, so he wouldn’t be inconvienced by Seattle traffic. So any problems at SeaTac due to security systems or flight schedules were irrelevent.
The real reason for the move? (a) Stonecipher didn’t like Boeing headquarters on the Duwamish, it was a 1920’s or 1930’s art-deco building and he thought he was too important for such modest quarters, or for Seattle in general. He wanted to live in a much bigger city so he could play the big-shot. (b) Boeing executives reported that when they played hardball with the unions, their wives complained that they were uncomfortable at PTA meetings, etc. when they had to be in close proximity to workers and their wives who’s lives were being directly affected by Boeing policies. So they figured some distance would help them be as mean as they wanted to be.
35. rhp6033 spews:
I ALWAYS figured it was something like that. Typical money-slut cheap labor clownservative.
Thanks rhp.
Wasn’t it also reported that these machines actually keep copies of the pictures, even though TSA said they didn’t?
What’s wrong Goldy? Afraid the TSA might see your little limp dick and have a chuckle? LOL. Poor little tenderhands….
Not sure why everyone thinks that the people viewing the scans are overly thrilled about it. We don’t know what level of comfort they have looking at nearly naked people all day. I should think that after awhile they’d become numb to the images and looking for contraband like anyone might. I don’t envy them the task at all. Also, I’d think those machines would be broken down about half the time anyway.
Goldy, try the Portland airport. It’s way nicer than SeaTac (yes, SeaTac sets the bar pretty low, I know.)
No, no, all this invasion of privacy is GOOD, since the One is our President. We were only supposed to hate this crap when Bush is in office, right?
Oh, I’m so confused.
Re 26
The problem is that government stops being a tool, sooner or later. The government purest in conception, most honorable in intent, and best informed in how to fashion itself by the best minds in history will start to work for its own power and aggradizement if left unchecked.
After 250 years that government of the people, by the people and for the people has perished from the earth. 80 years of progressive thinking that government is the only possible answer to any problem, whether the Constitution grants them that right or not, have ensured that.
It’s a bit late to complain about the tyranny of a government (if accurate to do so) subjecting all airline passengers to violations of 4th Amendment rights. Having treated the Constitution as a polite suggestion rather than a rule, progressives have enabled that tyranny.