Former DHS Official Blames Privacy Advocates For TSA's Aggressive Procedures

colinneagle writes with an interesting excerpt from Senate testimony offered yesterday, on the 12th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, from Stewart Baker. Baker formerly served as DHS Assistant Secretary and NSA General Counsel, and gave his opinion on the source of the real problems within the TSA, opining: "Unlike border officials, though, TSA ended up taking more time to inspect everyone, treating all travelers as potential terrorists, and subjecting many to whole-body imaging and enhanced pat-downs. We can't blame TSA for this wrong turn, though. Privacy lobbies persuaded Congress that TSA couldn't be trusted with data about the travelers it was screening. With no information about travelers, TSA had no choice but to treat them all alike, sending us down a long blind alley that has inconvenienced billions."

Comments

Priceless

[Rigel47]

.. so now, because you can not build your own registry of American travelers, we are supposed to either submit to your useless, invasive procedures (that still can't detect things in body cavities) or "opt-in" to the Trusted Traveler program? Are those the two choices, Stewart? How about the TSA goes away and airline security is handed over to the airlines themselves.

The DHS and its bastard offspring the TSA would have our founding fathers rolling and vomiting in their graves. To say nothing of the NSA.

Re:The Horror!

[oodaloop]

Wow, good thing you didn't blow that out of proportion. You might have sounded like a buffoon.

I think what he's saying is that there are many people that don't need to be searched. Police officers, for instance. Are they not already trusted and scrutinized? Active duty military. Those with security clearances. I am former active duty military with 4 separate concealed carry permits issued, all with background checks done. I have a Top Secret clearance, with three separate extensive background checks done. And I have a polygraph done, during which I was asked if I was a terrorist. And I passed. So one branch of the federal government is sufficiently convinced I am not a terrorist to allow me access to sensitive materials. But the TSA has to treat me like a terrorist, because they're not allowed to keep a record of me. There are millions of people in the US who don't need to be treated like terrorists every time they travel. If those who are already trusted can proceed with minimal checks, then it would make it easier to check everyone else.

At least, that's how I interpreted his remarks. YMMV.