This man (a U.S. citizen) managed to enter the United States without being x-rayed or having his balls touched by government employees. It only took him 2.5 hours.
In order to enter the USA, I was never touched, I was never “Backscatted,” and I was never metal detected. In the end, it took 2.5 hours, but I proved that it is possible. I’m looking forward to my next flight on Wednesday.
I didn’t realize that the TSA was scanning and groping people when they get off airplanes, too. Because, I suppose, they might have been keeping that bomb in their underwear for that whole international flight, just waiting for the chance to blow up the baggage carousel.
All this crap before boarding a plane at least has the appearance of providing some kind of safety. What’s the excuse for all the questioning and scanning on the other end?
And as we all should know the shoe bomber, underwear bomber etc boarded flights outside of the US in foreign airports that missed the “bombs”. They probably never went through some of the crap our little old grandmothers/fathers have to go through here.
Anthony, it’s because of the way some airports’ international terminals are positioned. People are routed back through the “secure” areas of the airport after getting past Customs and Immigration. Once you’ve done that, if you just want to leave the airport, they’ll ask to search you (and nowadays, that might include an electronic strip search and frisking), but you don’t have to let them. Eventually, they’ll get someone to escort you through the airport to the exit. See this 2009 story from someone using the alias Polonius who did the same thing at Dulles back then: “Another visit to the USA…and another empty threat by the TSA”.
>Implying that it doesn’t normally take 2.5 hours to navigate airport security.
What’s even funnier are the people who get home, but have some kind of technical detail that will send them home, so now they have to go all the way back. From the way I understand it, we don’t have TSA agents in every country?
He’s posted audio of the incident:
“Up until three weeks ago, I didn’t need to have my balls touched in order to get into my own country. And now, I don’t want to have my balls touched.”
@1
Interesting fact that I never thought about. With that in mind, they’ll basically profiling Americans.
How is this safe when one of the things I was afraid of happening is already happening?
He’s on quite safe ground refusing when coming back into the US – there’s a lot of really clear rights there. I’m surprised they let it go that long.
You assume terrorists only want to blow up planes. You could do a lot of damage in a crowded airport with a small explosive. It’s pretty easy to bypass the security checks if you board in the right country. Last Christmas showed us that.
It’s not just paranoia if they’re really out to get you. Ask the Germans.
they’re just balls.
The more stories I see about intrusive airport security, the less I care about it.
It’s pretty standard to have to re-pass security when arriving from an international destination, I’ve done it in Iceland, Hong Kong, and Seoul, the rationale being that you can never trust another nation’s security, and that contraband could be transferred with in the terminal.
That in itself is not an absurd or uncommon security procedure, however, the specifics of procedures in the US are still absurd.
But they can’t strip search you, or detain or search you unreasonably upon re-entering the USA if you are a citizen without probable cause. They can search your stuff for contraband, but they can’t prolong things unreasonably or do very destructive searches, etc.
It hasn’t been determined yet just how far they can go in searching electronic devices, but so far it appears they can do that. Leave your batteries at home…
You do not need to answer any questions or say anything besides providing your passport to prove who you are and that you are a US Citizen. 4th and 5th Amendments still apply.
In some small way I will probably feel fine and not embarrassed to have my balls searched at the airport. Now I could feel sorry for some of the TSA people who have to do that in front of everyone and the grandmother including their employees. I mean I will probably never see that person and others again.
I just figure this is the opportunity the Govt has been waiting for in order to get accurate and complete full facial / body scans of citizens for the facial recognition surveillance technology coming down the line
/tin foil
Anthony,
The key fact in this situation was that he was a citizen re-entering the country (as @8 & @13 also point out.) Once a person has reasonably proven themselves to be a US citizen, they cannot be denied re-entry into the US under any circumstance. That’s why TSA had no choice but to escort him to a public/non-secure area.
To answer the question of why they were scanning everybody upon re-entry: apparently the Cincinatti / northern Kentucky airport is laid out so that the customs inspection area empties into the secure part of the airport. In most airports, after you clear customs, passengers arriving home are directed one way (that is, out of the secure area) and passengers taking connecting flights are directed another (that is, back through security screening and into the secure area.)
There is actually good to re-screen passengers who have just arrived by airplane, believe it or not. (Well, to the extent that the screenings themselves make sense, which they increasingly don’t, but I digress.) The problem is, what security at some random banana republic airport somewhere is compromised, say by an employee who accepts a bribe to allow weapons into his airport? Then a team of bad guys could fly into the USA with weapons, and if they were not screened again before catching their connecting flights, they could transport those weapons anywhere within our entire airport system. By re-screening passengers, the TSA aims to contain the threat of a lapse in the security of some external airport.
@15: The facial recognition software bought for the Toronto G20 meeting has proved to be so inaccurate as to be nearly useless. The tech needs a few more years of development to be in widespread use.
17: Yeah, the technology is still coming down the line, but the public needs to be conditioned to be accepting of having themselves scanned.
This is only the beginning, sheeple! (I’m kidding but not really)
@13: Captain Wiggette wrote, “But they can’t strip search you, or detain or search you unreasonably upon re-entering the USA if you are a citizen without probable cause. They can search your stuff for contraband, but they can’t prolong things unreasonably or do very destructive searches, etc.”
Captain, it seems you’re lumping Customs, Immigration, and airport security guards all together as “they”.
CBP can search your stuff, but once you’ve passed them at the airport, TSA cannot compel you to allow them to search you or your belongings.
Matt Kernan, the subject of this story, wrote about it yesterday. His blog post begins:
The rest is at http://noblasters.com/post/1650102322/my…
http://www.chokeshirtco.com/product/tsa-… this is what you people need!
@9, if someone wants to blow up an airport to injure the crowd, they can walk in from the street and set off the bomb in line at the security checkpoint. No amount of backscatter machines and freedom gropes will change that. For that matter, they can skip the airport and pull the same thing at a mall, or a stadium, or a theater, or anywhere where people gather.
This is fake security and does nothing to make anyone safer.
i don’t get it. he’ll strip naked but won’t have his genitals touched. i don’t know why people are so fixated on the groping issue. if you think pat-downs make sense then you should agree to your genitals being touched (what’s the point of an incomplete pat-down?). if you don’t think pat downs make sense, then you’d object to the entire pat-down. objecting just to the genital part just illustrates that we’re not REALLY concerned about unnecessary invasions of privacy but – as usual in the USA – we’re obsessed with our sexual organs. taboo is not a valid objection to a pat-down. either they are necessary, or not.
Did I just read person A state that he’s confused by person B stating that person B is reasonably comfortable with random person C seeing person B naked but completely uncomfortable with random person C running his hands over person B’s genitals?
If looking at someone’s body equated to touching that person’s genitals, we’d probably see a whole lot more people wearing burqas.
@24 you missed my point — and i probably didn’t make it well. instead of worrying about what part of our bodies is being groped, we should be worrying about why the groping is even happening. when we focus so much on what part of our bodies we’re OK being touched, the implication is that we’re OK with being touched as long as it’s the right parts – which makes NO sense.
in other words – “should TSA be able to touch my junk?” is the wrong question. the right question is “are these stupid scanners (which are creating the need for enhanced pat-downs) the right approach to security?”.
@25: Ah, got it. I agree with you.
@13: Phil, I was mainly referring to the hodgepodge of customs/immigration/border patrol.
It’s really not clear what TSA can do. They’re not a law enforcement agency, and AFAIK don’t have any law enforcement powers.
I agree with you, I don’t see why TSA would have any business searching you after your arrival, since presumably you’ve already finished traveling.