In a surprising vote, the House Appropriations Committee’s Homeland Security subcommittee voted down the TSA request for more more funds for purchase more scanners and train more TSA officers to staff them. This is a watershed moment. For the first time, those who control the purse strings have said, “Enough.”
Unfortunately, this doesn’t roll back the purchase of almost 500 machines that TSA has already committed to, but it is a significant start. Another nuance that casual DC watchers may miss — Many of the press stories that announced the denial of “$76 million request for an additional 275 of the scanners,” referred to these scanners not in the TSA-designated vernacular of “advanced imaging technology,” but as the more descriptive, “full-body scanners.” Maybe TSA is losing their “I don’t want to be seen as soft on terrorism” grip on our legislators and the media.
The house subcommittee panel that sliced this funding from the budget proposal finally acknowledged that the new systems and their software have not been properly tested. GAO has pointed this out repeatedly. However, TSA has been moving ahead with installation of the whole-body scanners rapidly, even without full testing. It is a test-as-you-go mentality. “We have to do something, even if it doesn’t work,” seems to be the operational mentality.
This time the decision came down to money. Maybe when the technology is proven, these machines that only show stick figures rather than revealing human anatomy will be revisited. (The big problem according to sources at DHS is the excessive rate of false positives generated by the this new stick-figure scanning software.)
Draft legislation released Thursday by the Appropriations homeland security subcommittee denies the Obama administration’s $76 million request for an additional 275 of the scanners, which many travelers dislike because TSA employees can view full body images of travelers.
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Panel chairman Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., said his move was sparked by budgetary factors rather than protests from privacy advocates. And it comes as the TSA is trying hard to modify the machines so that they won’t produce revealing images. Instead, the agency is trying out new software that would have the machines read the images and alert airport screeners when there’s a potential weapon or other threat. The screener would then see the location of the threat is shown on a stick figure of the body.
That technology hasn’t been proven yet, and with the new privacy software showing uneven results, Aderholt is refusing the fund additional machines.
Common sense is showing a bit of a glimmer on Capitol Hill.
The Republican measure would give the TSA a small funding boost for fiscal 2012, USD$125 million over the current fiscal year to USD$7.8 billion, but that was below Obama’s USD$8.1 billion request. Fiscal 2012 begins on October 1.
Meanwhile, at the state level, backlash against TSA has been increasing. The Texas House has just passed legislation making groping at the airport a crime.
The measure’s author, Republican David Simpson, said: “Indecent groping searches when innocent travelers are seeking access to airports and public buildings would be outlawed under this bill.”
The bill needs a final vote from the House before it would go to the Senate.
“This has to do with dignity in travel,” Simpson said.
TSA spokesman Luis Casanova said he could not comment on pending legislation. He said just 3 percent of the traveling public is subjected to pat-downs.
TSA pat-downs have drawn some high-profile criticism, including from former Miss USA Susie Castillo, who said in a widely-viewed online video. that she felt “molested” by a pat-down at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport last month.
Other states are considering anti-pat-down laws.
“What’s going on is a trampling of the Constitution,” says New Jersey state Sen. Michael Doherty , one of the lawmakers from four states who’ve introduced legislation that would restrict federal security personnel from conducting controversial pat-downs of passengers or bar the body scanners.
In addition to New Jersey, similar legislation was introduced in Texas, Hawaii and New Hampshire. Alaska in March passed a resolution calling on the TSA to ease up on its screening. Similar non-binding resolutions have been introduced in six other states.
Photo: ©Leocha
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
