Posted on 12/04/2004 6:33:28 AM PST by MississippiMasterpiece
Anchor: NEW ALLEGATIONS TONIGHT ABOUT ILLEGAL STRIP SEARCHES TAKING PLACE INSIDE REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT.
ON MONDAY, THE I-TEAM UNCOVERED CHARGES OF SERIOUS SECURITY LAPSES THERE AND NOW, WE'RE HEARING ABOUT SOME DISTURBING INCIDENTS RELATED TO PASSENGER SCREENING.
ANDREA MCCARREN JOINS US WITH MORE ON THE STORY.
Andrea McCarren on-set: IN TSA JARGON, THEY'RE CALLED PRIVATE SCREENINGS. THAT'S WHEN A PASSENGER WHO SETS OFF AN ALARM IS TAKEN TO ANOTHER LOCATION AND CHECKED MORE THOROUGHLY FOR WEAPONS OR EXPLOSIVES.
BUT WE'VE NOW LEARNED ABOUT SOME PRIVATE SCREENINGS THAT APPARENTLY WENT TOO FAR.
Story: TSA Employee: "I couldn't imagine my sister or my mother going through that process. I was so upset."
AGAIN AND AGAIN, TSA EMPLOYEES AT REAGAN NATIONAL AIRPORT -INCLUDING SUPERVISORS-TOLD US THAT PASSENGERS WERE ASKED TO REMOVE THEIR CLOTHING AND EXPOSE THEIR PRIVATE PARTS DURING SECURITY SCREENINGS…A CLEAR VIOLATION OF TSA'S OWN INTERNAL GUIDELINES… OBTAINED BY THE I-TEAM.
TSA Employee: "The look on their face would almost give you the sense that they felt like they were in a sense being raped. In a sense, being victimized and to a certain extent, they were. "
TSA Employee: "That really incensed me that someone felt that they could just put on some gloves and they could just violate someone to that degree."
TSA Employee: "They actually had the passenger remove the clothing that covered the sensitive area and perform a duck walk to see if something would fall out."
IN FACT, SOME OF THOSE SO-CALLED PRIVATE SCREENINGS WERE ALLEGEDLY CONDUCTED IN A VERY PUBLIC PLACE: THIS STAIRWELL…ACCESSIBLE TO OTHER PASSENGERS AND AIRPORT EMPLOYEES.
TSA Employee: "The private screenings were conducted right in that stairwell"
Andrea McCarren: Isn't that an inappropriate place to be searched?
TSA Employee: "That's a very inappropriate place to be searched."
TSA EMPLOYEES SAY AFTER THEY COMPLAINED, THE SCREENINGS WERE MOVED INTO THIS MANAGERS' OFFICE… WHERE THEY ALLEGE, UNSUSPECTING PASSENGERS WERE EITHER VIDEOTAPED OR MONITORED ON CLOSED CIRCUIT TELEVISION.
TSA Employee: I couldn't believe it! I said is that a camera up there? And they said yeah.
Andrea McCarren: Do you think the women being strip searched had any idea they were being videotaped? TSA Employee: Absolutely not
A TSA OFFICIAL INSISTS THE CAMERA WAS COVERED UP AND EVEN DEACTIVATED… A FACT SEVERAL EMPLOYEES DISPUTE.
Andrea McCarren: You saw a light go on in that camera? TSA Employee: "Right."
SOME TSA EMPLOYEES ALSO ALLEGE THAT THE PASSENGERS SELECTED FOR ADDITIONAL SCREENING WERE OFTEN DETERMINED WELL BEFORE THEY REACHED THE MAGNETOMETERS. Andrea McCarren: "You're saying a FEMA (website - news) le passenger would be stopped for additional screening not because she set off an alarm but because of her breast size?"
TSA Employee: "Absolutely, Yes"
IN FACT, SHE SAYS SOME SCREENERS EVEN -INTENTIONALLY- SET OFF MAGNETOMETERS BY KICKING THEM.
TSA Employee: "It leaves supervisors in a very bad spot because if the manager's enjoying it, then how are you going to tell him to stop them from doing it?"
Mark Hatfield, TSA Spokesman: "The rules are non-negotiable and they apply to everybody."
TSA SPOKESMAN MARK HATFIELD.
Mark Hatfield, TSA Spokesman: "In terms of a violation or a criminal act, something that violates civil rights or the privacy of an individual, there's zero tolerance for that. And we'll get to the bottom of that and root out the individuals."
SOME FEMALE PASSENGERS FEAR IT'S ALL PART OF A GROWING TREND TOWARD MORE AGGRESSIVE SCREENING.
Woman #1: "Sometimes they overdo it. I've been almost stripped, practically."
Woman #2: "You're sort of treated like a criminal."
Woman #3: "I was like, whoah! You can't do that and the supervisor who I had been objecting to was standing right there and he said yes, we can."
TSA Employee: "It's very upsetting to see this happen and there are a lot of screeners that took his job thinking that they could do something good and many of them have quit and many of them are talking about quitting now."
Andrea McCarren on-set: SO, WHO INVESTIGATES COMPLAINTS ABOUT TSA SCREENINGS? WELL, THE TSA DOES! THROUGH THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, WE'VE REQUESTED ALL OF THE PASSENGER COMPLAINTS ABOUT SCREENINGS AT NATIONAL AIRPORT AND WILL REPORT BACK ONCE WE HAVE THAT INFORMATION.
REPORTING LIVE FOR THE I-TEAM, ANDREA MCCARREN, ABC7 NEWS
Bizarre usage of capitalization.
Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank would probably like a strip search.
I wonder what percentage of this article is actually accurate.
Apologies...I lifted it verbatim and with no changes in punctuation from the stations's website.
See, if only we had Federal Employees in these jobs, we wouldn't have this kind of issue!
straight from the web site.
The airport screening situation is completely out of hand!
I haven't flown in 3 years and I may never fly again. No way would I let my teenage daughter or son fly either.
This is sexual assault with government sanction. Why aren't our Republican leaders outraged? Why aren't they doing something about this?
Sounds a bit like selective reporting to me. They are trying to make the guards sound like peeping tom perverts.
I'll bet it went more like... (condensing many episodes into one)
TA: I think this passenger is hiding something. I need to search them better, but I can'd ask them to disrobe in public. They are uncomfortable disrobing in public.
SUP: That's a real problem. Take this passenger into a stairwell, it is quieter place and search them better. That should work.
(later)
TA: Thanks, but that wasn't really a good place to search. Somebody could have walked in.
SUP: Okay, lets use the old office next time.
(later)
TA: That office worked much better. The passengers felt more secure that they wouldn't be walked in on but they did notice a security camera. That made them uncomfortable.
SUP: Okay. I'll get maintenance to deactivate the camera.
Dang liberal newsmedia.
Ain't that the truth!
You can always refuse the serach...you just don't get to fly....
BTW, do NOT interpret that I condone the action outlined above....
I just find it amazing that someone would allow a government agent to do this to them. I don't want to fly that badly....
The TSA agents should be criminally prosecuted and the flyer's should sue the government and the TSA Agents for damages.
NeverGore :^)
This would all end if they would stop looking for weapons and start looking for ARABS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I personally saw Bush 41 and his bodyguards (Secret Service?) go completely around the screeners at Reagan National, post 9/11. So close I almost bumped into them (I was exiting the terminal).
I was treated very rudely at Reagan airport in March of 2004. The TSA employee who searched me had an attitude problem.
I intend to fly as little as possible.
Yeah, you're right.....not.
Oh, Mark! You're just too much!
More Like.
Attendent: Man look at the boobs on this, one I gotta se if theyre real.
Supervisor: OK take her in the office so we can all watch on the camera , and make her duckwalk too thats funny as hell.
Attendent: Man here comes a Janet Reno lookalike ,let her pass, man is she gross.
Sorry, but I flew out of Reagan on Nov. 1, 2004.The screeners were very professional. One young lady had me give up a film camera for a separate test. ( I did not want it x-rayed). She quipped with a couple of jokes, but it was good to see someone with a sense of humor. From what I saw, they just did their job.
"Bizarre usage of capitalization..."
Nitpicky
What they need is a sadistic overseer who'll make these overzealous T&A...oops! I mean TSA...screeners actually screen the likes of Teddy Kennedy, Barnie Frank, and Michael Moore. That'll weed them out in a hurry.
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