Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

As important as cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms are to the average traveler, most travelers agree that safety issues need to be given top priority. To that end, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun conducting what it is referring to as “enhanced patdowns” at two of America’s busiest airports: Boston Logan and Las Vegas McCarran.

The new patdown procedure is being tested in these airports prior to an anticipated national rollout. This patdown approach is being described as more aggressive palms first, slide down body search technique. Currently at other airports TSA screeners use patdown motions to search passengers over their clothes, switching to the backs of their hands when searching sensitive body areas such as genital areas.

This test is fueling additional debate over the need for privacy vs. safety. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is questioning whether this more aggressive form of patdowns will prove to be an effective security measure. The ACLU is concerned that this is yet another step in a seemingly constant erosion of privacy and argues that its effectiveness should be proven prior to being rolled out.

The TSA claims that enhanced patdowns are part of the agency’s constantly evolving effort to enhance the many different layers of security to ensure travelers’ safety.
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