Alaskan lawmaker declares war on TSA patdowns

An Alaskan lawmaker has declared war on TSA airport security methods after she refused to submit to a pat-down search at Seattle’s airport when her false breast triggered an alert in the full-body scan, the second time in three months. vowing never to allow a patdown again, Rep. Sharon Cissna, a cancer survivor who has had a mastectomy, took a four-day detour via rental car, a small plane, taxicab and a ferry that ended Thursday near Alaska’s capital city, where she was met by a small group of well-wishers and a bouquet of yellow flowers.

Cissna said travelers are “accidentally being abused by government,” and she vowed to fight for changes in how the TSA deals with screening passengers, especially those with special health issues.

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Meanwhile, Sen Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has asked TSA Administrator John Pistole to clarify the agency’s screening policy for passengers with special medical needs. Murkowski believes invasive probing should not be the price of travel. And she said privacy concerns must be addressed.

“Our security officers are trained to work with each individual traveler to ensure a respectful screening process, while providing the best possible security for everyone,” spokesman Greg Soule said in a statement to FoxNews.com. “We are sensitive to travelers’ concerns, but security is not optional.”

“We have reached out to Rep. Cissna’s staff to explain that our responsibility is to keep the traveling public safe and discuss some of the policies in place to carry out this mission, including conducting pat downs to resolve alarms during screening,” he continued. “At any point, any passenger can request to be screened in a private location and can have a witness present. If a person is unwilling to complete the screening process, he/she will not be able to board his/her flight.”

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Since the new screening techniques were enacted last year, it has brought concerns to the ACLU over privacy issues, and complaints from travelers who say TSA agents patted their genitals and ran fingers through their hair or along their bras or waistbands. One lawsuit has been filed over the patdowns. The plaintiffs in the case, pending in the District of Columbia, include a breast cancer survivor from California and a Kentucky man that the lawsuit says was presumably singled out for a pat-down due to an enlarged testicle.

The TSA insists it tries to make the process as comfortable as possible, allowing for passengers singled out for pat-downs to be screened privately and to have a travel companion with them.