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Does the TSA Go too Far?

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Has the federal government not yet overstepped its boundaries when it uses radiation to strip-search its citizens each time they fly and frisks them as they go to football games?

The Transportation Security Administration, which was created after Sept. 11, 2001, to provide nationalized security at American airports, has expanded its presence to train stations, bus terminals, concerts and sporting venues.

The terror threats in August of 2013, which resulted in the evacuation of American embassies and elevated domestic security, have drawn attention and criticism to these Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response teams, which operate outside of airport terminals.

These increased measures along with invasive pat-downs and full-body scanners demonstrate the TSA’s overextension beyond its intended purpose of preventing terrorism on airlines while respecting individual rights. Now performing warrantless searches in a variety of public places, the TSA has become another federal agency infringing on constitutional rights.

In 2010, John Pistole, the TSA administrator, announced enhanced pat-downs, which permitted TSA agents to touch travelers’ breasts and groins in search of prohibited items. When asked on Face the Nation if she would subject herself to the intrusive pat-downs, Hillary Clinton replied, “Not if I could avoid it. No, I mean, who would?”

After U.S. Sen. Rand Paul notably refused a pat-down, he described the controversy surrounding a 6-year-old Kentucky girl who was selected to undergo a random screening, which resulted in the TSA agent touching the child’s inner thighs and inside of her jeans. Paul stated, “Every time we travel, we are expected to surrender our Fourth Amendment rights, yet willingly giving up our rights does not make us any safer.”

Full-body scanners, which have become the TSA’s default screening device, use radiation to see through passengers’ clothing. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has criticized security measures that are not “well-tailored to protect personal privacy”; full-body scanners perform virtual strip searches by generating naked images of passengers.

Later it was revealed that the TSA had been storing these images instead of deleting them.

In this photo taken Tuesday, March 24, 2015, TSA agents work at a security check-point at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in SeaTac, Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Although the primary issue is the disregard for constitutional rights, the TSA is alarmingly inefficient, and though its presence is a deterrent, it is not known whether the agency has ever thwarted a terrorist plot.

In 2003, Congress set a cap on the TSA at 45,000 employees, but today, the TSA employs 56,000 and has an annual budget of more than $7.5 billion.

An audit by the Government Accountability Office revealed a 27 percent increase in misconduct by TSA agents from 2010 to 2012. The 9,600 transgressions included sleeping while on duty, allowing family members to smuggle prohibited items through checkpoints and stealing laptops.

In 2011, John O’Connor, the chief of Amtrak’s police, banned VIPR teams from Amtrak property after one unexpectedly arrived at a station in Savannah, Ga., and conducted personal searches on passengers who had already completed their travel and in common areas such as restrooms.

Acknowledging the revelations on the spying conducted by the National Security Agency, Americans must consider the cost in freedom of excessive security. The objective of terrorism is to compromise our values and subject us to fear. The terrorists win when American citizens drop water bottles in trash cans, walk barefoot across the airport floor and are subject to harassment from their own government.

It is time to reject the mentality that if we have nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear. The government is reaching a sufficient power to be immune to efforts to dismantle its intrusions on privacy.

When a liberty is taken away, it is common to ask, “What is next?” Has the federal government not yet overstepped its boundaries when it uses radiation to strip-search its citizens each time they fly and frisks them as they go to football games?

When a liberty is taken away, it is common to ask, “What is next?” Has the federal government not yet overstepped its boundaries when it uses radiation to strip-search its citizens each time they fly and frisks them as they go to football games?

This article appeared originally in the September 14, 2013 edition of the Orlando Sentinel. 

Erich J. Prince is the editor-in-chief at Merion West. With a background in journalism and media criticism, he has contributed to newspapers such as The Philadelphia Inquirer and The News & Observer, as well as online outlets including Quillette and The Hill. Erich has also spoken at conferences and events on issues related to gangs, crime, and policing. He studied political science at Yale University.

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