Persuasive Essay On Airport Security

There are obvious pros and cons of the scanner, which in my opinion does not come down to our naked images. This is America after all, home of Hue Hefner, and playboy. I don’t see the big deal with one hidden person taking a scanned image of a body that lasts only a few seconds then moves on to the next customer. These scanners are not meant to harass or annoy people rather, save lives.

The TSA maintains a screening Performance Management Information System (PMIS) where recorded complaints are logged. Operations research analysis teams and federal security directors review complaints logged in the database to track trends and identify areas of concern and take appropriate actions, including possible disciplinary actions, to resolve specific issues. Complaints involving allegations of discrimination based on color, race, gender, religion, or national or ethnic origin are forwarded to the TSA’s Office of Civil Rights for further investigation. Despite considerable concern raised by some regarding inappropriate behavior during pat-down screening procedures, the DHS found no problems with the technique.

Khan, Azeem. "Airport Profiling: A Familiar Story for Muslims." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 May 2013. Web. 3 Dec. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/azeem-khan/racial-profiling-muslim_b_3303582.html>.

Another measure TSA took was to add body scanners to security. These scanners can see what a person is carrying underneath their clothes. There have been a few different designs to this machine due to some lawsuits in the past brought up because the TSA agents were making fun of a man’s gentile size or certain passengers would feel embarrassed because someone can see their bodies. Now what the TSA agent sees is an outline of the passenger’s body and whatever is on the body. The body scanner does not show a naked person anymore.

The federal government assured the public that pictures would not be recorded and saved from these machines.  That is not the case.  The scanner that was uses in a Florid courthouse showed the actual “people side-by-side with their X-rayed selves” (Allahpundit).  Why did the government outright lie to the public?  To save their own asses, of course.  This is in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.  The amendment gives people the right to be secure in their persons against unreasonable searches.  I believe the scanning of humans and taking pictures of their faces violates this.   Shockingly, former TSA security director, Mo McGowan, openly stated on fox news that “Nobody likes to have their 4th Amendment violated going through a security line, but the truth of the matter is, we’re going to have to do it” (Left Coast Rebel).  Excuse me? Did this man actually say this in public?  It’s not shocking that he’s no longer the security director.

Still, many people choose not to go through the 3D scanner and opt to receive a pat-down instead. Many horror stories of overly invasive pat-downs make the news. In one instance, a 95-year-old cancer patient was forced to remove her adult diaper, traumatizing her. In response to the news coverage, the TSA maintains that they acted respectfully and professionally[4]. In another instance, a baby was given a thorough pat-down[5]. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri said after a certain pat-down: "When you have the traveling public tell you that sometimes these pat-downs are unacceptable, trust me, they are not exaggerating. There are many times that women put hands on me in a way that if it was your daughter or your sister or your wife you would be upset."[6] Such incidents make the public wary of the TSA's privacy policies and intentions.

If you have ever traveled on an airplane before, you would be familiar with the Transportation Security Administration, or more commonly known as the TSA. Founded in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks initially under the Department of Transportation and later placed under the Department of Homeland Security all in the name of making air travel safer for Americans. They are most commonly known for making you take off your shoes, separate your liquids, and walk through body scanners. Keep in mind that those are only the least invasive things that you may be subjected to while passing under their watchful (or perhaps not-so watchful) gaze. Many Americans will gladly accept these invasions of privacy as a necessity on the path to safer travel for themselves and their fellow travelers through thwarting potential terrorists. But the harsh reality of it is that the TSA does not

The current screening method is the body scanner which has been reported on multiple times by the news as it is consider invasive in nature. The screener is able to see the passenger’s nude image, but software updates have eliminated this providing only detection of metallic and nonmetallic threats. The prior method of a metal detector which did not alarm staff if nonmetallic threats existed allowed C-4 explosive (a clay type of explosive) to board the plan. The body scanners are quicker than the former methods of a “pat down”, which every passenger had to endure and were less invasive. This system will be used by the TSA until a better method is discovered, which will provide faster screening, more privacy to passengers and better detection of threats. The cost of this has rising over the years but it was the initial setup of the TSA in 2002 which cost the most since there was not an agency within this realm that completed these duties.

Until recently, the Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”) has been singling out African-American women and giving them arbitrary hair searches due to inconsistencies within their policies. TSA agents are charged with applying subjective rules to ambiguous (and

As with any government organization the TSA has taken much criticism on its security practices.

At many airports around the country, TSA is now using full body scanner machines and also much more invasive

According to Travel Weekly (2013), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) developed what we see today as a three-tier system for passenger and baggage screening at U.S. airports. The three preselected levels are “expedited, standard or enhanced” screening at the airport security checkpoint. This system, which requires the passenger not to do anything different according to Travel Weekly, since the system relies on data in the existing Secure Flight system that matches passenger reservations with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) watch list. Secure Flight is a TSA program that requires booking systems to include the passenger’s full name, gender, date of birth redress or Known Traveler number if applicable, and is a behind-the-scenes

The Transportation Safety Administration better known as the TSA is a government body that requires socials reforms. The TSA is a government agency created in response to the 911 attacks they screen passengers and luggage for air travel while also maintaining the security of “highways, railroads, buses, mass transit systems, pipelines and ports”(1). They protect all main forms of transportation from terrorist threats and enforcing other laws- but the TSA’s main concern is with air travel. They employee around 47,000 employees that focus on the screening of airline passengers, luggage, and assorted goods(2). Utilizing screening systems and canine units they check for explosives and contraband that harms Americans or break their laws. With these expectations and a massive $7.6 billion budget (3), the TSA lags behind

We live in a world today, in which technology moves at a very rapid pace. Many of these technological advances can be used to make our everyday lives easier and safer. One of these new technologies is Biometrics. Biometrics is the process of measuring a person’s physical properties. This would include measuring things like fingerprints, retinas, odor, vein structure on the back of the hand and many other things. Biometrics is a very important topic because it would create better security precautions for certain places that need to be secure. Biometrics will make our society safer by only allowing authorized people out of secure facilities and by keeping the unauthorized people out. Throughout the rest of this

Some say that the key to success on preventing terrorism, or any crime for that matter, is the use of massive surveillance enforcement (Someone's Watching). For instance, airlines have used the Computer Assisted Pre-Screening System (CAPS) to spot any dangerous passengers that have checked into the airline. Additionally, metal detectors are heavily used in airlines to check for any weapons that a terrorist might use. Video cameras that capture faces and license plates found all throughout the airport are now equipped with a software that allows images to be recognized and matched with several databases (Public Places Have Eyes). Cameras in general are present in every corner of the airport to monitor all irregular activities. Some also believe that "having a floating eye in the sky could prove to be a major deterrent in the war on terror" when talking about aerial surveillance (Surveillance Tech). Moreover, these surveillance tools are not only used in airlines to prevent crime. These surveillance gadgets can also be used to prevent other crimes such as robberies, trespassing, assaults, and shopliftings everywhere. In fact, with the help of aerial cameras, the Tampa Florida Police Aviation Unit was able to perform 500 arrests in the year of 2003 (Surveillance Tech). As for metal detectors, they are found at the entrances of almost every store we go to as well as school premises that push for a weapon free