Despite a deluge of complaints over intrusive pat-downs and body-exposing airport scans, the government is betting Americans would rather fly safe than untouched. “I’m not going to change those policies,” says TSA administrator John Pistole, the nation’s transportation security chief. One legislator who has voiced discontent with airport security intrusiveness is U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla: “I wouldn’t want my wife to be touched in the way that these folks are being touched.” The debate over where to strike the balance between privacy and security, in motion since new safety measures took effect after the 2001 terrorist attacks, has intensified with the debut of pat-downs that are more thorough, and invasive, than before, and the wide implementation of full-body image scans. A week before some of the busiest flying days of the year, some passengers are refusing the regimen, many more are complaining, and the aviation industry is caught in the middle.
Today’s poll question: Are the pat-downs and airport scans too intrusive to airline passengers?
