They tell me there's no other way: Obama defends TSA pat-downs (but as President he gets to skip them)



U.S. pilots to be exempt from pat-downs

Cancer survivor is forced to show her prosthetic breast to TSA agents



Another woman likens her pat-down to 'sexual assault'

Orlando airport may ditch TSA in favour of private firm

Fears of travel chaos as Thanksgiving approaches



President Barack Obama has defended TSA amid a growing furore over whether new 'aggressive' pat-downs at airport security are over the top.

The U.S. President, speaking at a Nato summit in Lisbon today, said he understands the frustrations of U.S. airline passengers who are subject to intrusive security screenings.

He said he has asked security officials whether there's a less intrusive approach.

But security officials have told him that the current procedures are the only ones considered effective enough right now to guard against terrorist threats.

Controversy: President Barack Obama wades into the furore over airport security at a Nato summit in Lisbon today

As President, Mr Obama does not have to pass through normal airport security himself. He admitted he has not experienced the new patdowns and imaging devices now in use.



He spoke amid a growing backlash against the new screening.

Pilots are getting a break from going through the stepped-up and intrusive screening of airline passengers.

But, just days before the hectic Thanksgiving holiday travel period, Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole offered little hope of a similar reprieve for regular passengers, who are complaining loudly about the new measures.

The TSA agreed yesterday to let uniformed airline pilots skip the body scans and aggressive pat-downs at the heart of a national uproar.







Touchy subject: Passengers have voiced their disapproval at being submitted to pat-downs at airports

Pilots must pass through a metal detector at airport checkpoints and present photo IDs that prove their identity.

The victory for pilots followed a two-year lobbying campaign by their union leaders that reached a fever pitch in the past two weeks.



Their bid was boosted by hero pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who said pilots should be treated as 'trusted partners' in the fight against terrorism.

The complaints of pilots like Sullenberger, who successfully landed a passenger jet in the Hudson River in January 2009, gave weight to the movement to roll back the new procedures.



With pilots apparently satisfied, the TSA's most prominent critic may be a California software engineer who recorded himself threatening a TSA inspector, 'If you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested.'

Too far: Enhanced airport security including enhanced pat-downs like the one pictured has raised concerns from civil liberties unions

Images: A passenger stands in one of the full-body scanners and, left, the X-Ray image of his body



IS THERE A RISK OF RADIATION?

Concerns have been raised about the effects of radiation exposure from the full-body scanners at U.S. airports could lead to increased risk of cancer. The technology works by bouncing X-ray beams off a person's body to create a full image showing contours and any bumps or protusions from potential weapons. But the Transportation Security Administration said the amount of radiation was just a thousandth of that received during a chest X-ray. Peter Rez, a physics professor at Arizona State University in Tempe, told MSNBC the risk of getting cancer was around one in 30 million. 'That puts it somewhat less than being killed by being struck by lightning in any one year,' he said.

He added that the risk of getting cancers was aroudn the same as the probability the aircraft could be blown up by terrorists.

Some are urging travellers to refuse to go through full-body scanners, which produce a virtually naked image.

If the loosely organized Internet campaign succeeds, security lines at the nation's airports could be snarled. Those who refuse a body scan can be forced to undergo time-consuming fingertip examinations, which include clothed genital areas and breasts, by inspectors of the same sex as the traveller.

Some airports are considering ditching the TSA in favour of private security firms.



The top executive at the Orlando-area's second-largest airport, Orlando Sanford International Airport, said he plans to begin the process of switching to private screeners in January as long as a few remaining concerns can be met.



CEO Larry Dale said members of the board that runs Sanford were impressed after watching private screeners at airports in Rochester, N.Y., and Jackson Hole, Wyo. He said TSA agents could do better at customer service.

'Some of them are a little testy,' said Dale, whose airport handles 2 million passengers a year.



'And we work hard to get passengers and airlines. And to have it undone by a personality problem?'



American Airlines pilot Sam Mayer said that intrusive screening for pilots makes little sense.

A pilot intent on terrorism could simply crash the plane. No amount of imaging at the security checkpoint could stop that. Besides, under another government program to make them the last line of defense against terrorists, pilots are allowed to have guns in the cockpit.

Mayer's union, the Allied Pilots Association, helped foment the backlash against the security measures two weeks ago. Its president, Dave Bates, urged pilots to skip the imaging machines because of concern about frequent radiation exposure. The government and an independent group of experts say radiation is safe, as long as radiation doses are kept within the low limits set for the scanners.

Poll Are the new TSA pat-down security checks justified in the face of terrorism? Yes No Are the new TSA pat-down security checks justified in the face of terrorism? Yes 2310 votes

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Bates recommended that pilots instead accept a pat-down - preferably where passengers couldn't see them.

The TSA offered few details - and no specific timeline - for changes in screening of pilots, which expand a program tested at airports in Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Charlotte, North Carolina.

The TSA said beginning Friday, pilots traveling in uniform or on airline business could pass security by presenting two photo IDs, one from their company and one from the government, to be checked against a secure flight crew database.



Their unions said pilots could skip the pat-downs immediately.

Pistole said pilots ensure the safety of millions of passengers every day, and that putting them through a faster screening process would be a more efficient use of the agency's resources.



Security screening in Seattle on Friday. As Thanksgiving approaches, there are fears of long queues at security during the biggest travel weekend of the year

But the TSA chief has defended the more invasive inspections of passengers, saying they were a response to intelligence about potential terrorist attacks and plots to evade airport security.

Homeland security officials were alarmed last Christmas when a terrorist with a bomb in his underwear got on a flight to Detroit. He failed to detonate the explosives. Last month, terrorists tried mailing bombs hidden in ink cartridges and shipping them on planes as cargo.

Still, some lawmakers who are feeling heat from voters have called for a review of the TSA procedures. They are not likely to be satisfied by exempting pilots from the process.

The TSA, however, could calm the controversy through technology. It is testing a new body scanner that produces stick-figure images instead of pictures of the traveler's naked body.

While pilots celebrated Friday, other airline employees feel left out.

The president of the flight attendants' union at Southwest Airlines said if pilots can bypass the screening process, so should his members.

Thom McDaniel said attendants go through FBI checks just like pilots do, and making them go through the regular screening is 'a double standard'.