The war on Terror has been the justification for a litany of government abuses and invasions of privacy. And the new measures rolled out by the Transportation Security Administration - the agency responsible for security at America's airports since 9/11 - constitute yet another substantial addition to America's burgeoning police state.
The TSA is implementing full-body scanners at airports across the nation. These scanners permit intelligence workers stationed within the airport to view slightly distorted, naked images of randomly selected passengers. There are 300 full-body scanners currently stationed in 60 U.S. airports and will grow to 500 scanners by the end of the year.
Passengers who choose to opt out of the full-body scan (either to maintain their dignity or avoid the radiation emitted by the scanners) are subjected to an "enhanced" pat-down. This is not the pat-down passengers have been subjected to in the past. Instead, it includes aggressive groping of the buttocks, crotch and breast regions by TSA agents. Firsthand reports are surfacing of enhanced pat-downs at certain airports involving groping beneath the passenger's clothes.
It is virtually impossible for passengers to know ahead of time which security measures will be used. According to the TSA website, "You shouldn't expect to see the same security procedures at every airport. Our security measures are designed to be unpredictable and are constantly assessed and updated to address evolving threats." And once you have entered the security screening process, you are not permitted to opt out.
These measures do not make us safer. The government has stated it remains "unclear" if the full-body scanners would have detected the explosives carried by the 2009 underwear bomber. Additionally, the enhanced pat-down can easily be circumvented by terrorists who hide explosives in body cavities.
But whether these procedures make us safer is beside the point. A negligible increase in security is not worth the price in dignity and freedom. Full-body scanners and enhanced pat-downs subject average Americans to treatment usually reserved for suspected criminals who have been arrested with a warrant. These procedures are essentially premised on the notion that merely entering an airport makes you a suspect and results in a forfeiture of rights.
The cowards who support these new measures - who would see their 15-year-old daughters groped in front of them by government bureaucrats - need to man up and realize that living with risk is part and parcel of being free. After all, danger is inherent in freedom.
Those who cower at every shadow of a threat, who tremble at the mere mention of the word "terrorist," are ill-suited to the rugged life of the free citizen. Courage is a prerequisite for freedom.
The fact that these measures could even be considered acceptable in the United States is disheartening. Where is the spirit of vigor that once animated Americans? Patrick Henry's plea for liberty or death seems increasingly to fall on deaf ears. Janet Napolitano, Secretary of Homeland Security, said in defense of the measures: "It's all about security. It's all about everybody recognizing their role."
Napolitano does not get it. It is not all about security; it is about choosing to be free despite the fear of terrorists. It is about facing threats with courage and refusing to allow the terrorists - or despots like Napolitano - to steal our dignity and way of life. It is not Napolitano's job to tell me my role. This is a democracy, after all. It is the job of the American people to define her role.
What makes these humiliating procedures even more pathetic is the relative paucity of the threat. The average American is far more likely to drown in a swimming pool than to be killed by a terrorist. But government fear-mongering has escalated the terrorist bogeyman to astonishing proportions in the eyes of the public.
The situation, though, is difficult for those who oppose the measures. Air travel has become a necessary component of modern life and often it is not viable for passengers simply to reject the measures and be escorted from the airport.
Only a public outcry will halt the abuses of the TSA. Those opposed to full-body scans and enhanced pat-downs should contact their representatives and ask them to support Ron Paul's new bill, the American Traveler Dignity Act, which would prohibit the TSA from requiring passengers' submission to naked scanners or enhanced pat-downs as a precondition for flying.
Americans must reject this new encroachment as an intolerable abridgement of liberty and privacy. Our rapacious federal government must not be permitted to make physical molestation a standard component of its everyday interactions with American citizens.
Austin Raynor's column normally appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at a.raynor@cavalierdaily.com.
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