NEW YORK—When former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger flies, he gets patted down by security agents — just about every time.

The 88-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was stopped again a few days ago as he passed security at New York’s LaGuardia Airport on his way to Toronto.

But the elder statesman released a statement Tuesday, saying it’s “not unusual” for him to be patted down during airport security screening. He said he wears a brace on his foot and cannot remove his shoes.

Kissinger praised agents of the federal Transportation Security Administration for both their “professionalism” and “courtesy” while performing what he called “an important job.”

And the TSA released a statement saying there was “no indication of anything out of the ordinary” with Kissinger’s checkpoint experience last Friday.

The story of Kissinger’s encounter with TSA agents spread after freelance journalist Matthew Cole told the Washington Post the statesman was given “the full Monty” while going through security.

The TSA agent sent the diplomat to be searched after asking him his name, which he apparently didn’t recognize, Cole told the Post.

“None of the agents seemed to know who he was,” he said.

With files from GlobalPost