The Pros And Cons Of Airport Security Methods

In society today many citizens feel violated with the security methods taken by homeland security. “On September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States marked the beginning of the global war on terrorism. The methods used are justifiable as they provide protection against possible threats or attacks. This attack on U.S. soil increased surveillance of both American citizens and foreign nationals” (Andrew, C., & Walter,

decided to overhaul their security protocols and specifically upgrade the security involving airports and airplanes. The upgrade in security of airports, although in some cases helpful, has caused an unnecessary amount of problems for American civilians due to the invasive changes made by the American government. Not only is it harder to get through security in America, but many of the American’s privacies have been taken away by the government in the name of safety as David Lyon says in his article on security changes in airports: “after 9/11, various policies and even laws concerning matters such as privacy and confidentiality have been overridden by the concern with ‘national security’”(405). Under the claim of safety, American and foreign civilians’ rights and privacy have been abused and taken away, leading to many people being overall upset and angry with the

Just recently there has been uproar over airport security and the use of body scanners on passengers. After 9/11 many airlines have toughen up their security measures in order to prevent this tragic accident to ever occur again. In order to improve security and make our lives a lot safer airlines have implemented many different types of technology. Technology aids airline security to see what passengers are possibly carrying under their clothing. Making passengers go through X-Ray screenings can not only prevent passengers from boarding a plane with harmful equipment but it can also deter the thought of someone actually making an attempt to board while carrying a weapon. Other technological advancements such as surveillance cameras are being

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.

Nonetheless, privacy groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU), continue to express concern over potential intrusion on individual rights and alleged cases of sexual harassment and abuse of passengers, particularly female passengers, by TSA screeners. These concerns, however, raise a significant challenge for the TSA: to maintain high levels of security, which require resolving all alarms and screening in detail those passengers ascertained to pose an elevated security risk, while maintaining the privacy rights and dignity of passengers identified for these secondary

The Travel security agency, or the TSA, is an important agency whose job it is to protect our nation in airports and borders. Impressively, the Agency has stopped many weapons, and saved our citizens numerous times. According to several experts however, the TSA has never stopped a terrorist plot. Their methods have been questioned too. As our nation grows deeper and deeper in debt, the TSA is a huge cost that may need to be cut. In order to gain a clear understanding of the TSA, its successes, issues, and cost must be evaluated critically.

The FISA Act was formed to limit the power and capabilities of spies, but it is merely inadequate. This court created outrage and controversies with the subjective ways it deals with NSA warrants. The FISA court rejects only about .03 percent of warrants each year, which are mostly the local intelligence they leave to the local police (Cothran 164). The 99.97 percent of warrants accepted are based off of the heritage and nationality of a person rather than his activities. Consequently, this ethnic profiling creates a false sense of safety in the eyes of most Americans because it displays that the FISA court dishonestly accepts the false intelligence the NSA produces (Cothron 172). Although the NSA and FISA court is taking away civil liberties, the government has been doing the same all these years. Just like the FISA court falsely identifies someone, airport officials do the same when they see a “dangerous” ethnicity by inspecting them more thoroughly. Much like the biased actions of the FISA court, the NSA also conducts their research in an inappropriate

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, body scans and security checkpoints have become the norm for airports throughout America. Airports tell you what you’re allowed to have and they restrict small things such as scissors, pocket knives, too much

Shortly after 9/11 twelve years ago, the federal government created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to protect air travel and prevent similar attacks. In 2012, the TSA had a budget of $8.1 billion, and while it claims to improve airport security, it fails to do so. Additionally, their checkpoints are privacy-invasive and cumbersome, negatively impacting the air travel industry. For these reasons, the agency should be abolished.

Searching every person attempting to board a flight is easy compared to securing a huge land border. While national security is taken seriously concerning border crossings, it is also a contentious political subject. Politicians and business leaders have a large stake in keeping the border as open as possible and (I suppose) must balance this need with also defending the nation and meeting immigration laws. It is a mess that is made all the more difficult by the fourth amendment rights afforded every person from unreasonable search and seizure. The report “Protecting Our Perimeter: “Border Searches” under the Fourth Amendment” highlights the difficulties placed on border agents when it concerns searching people at or around the border. This coupled with the impossibility of searching 100% of all people entering or leaving the country by land, truly endangers national security as a whole. Where the fourth amendment is concerned, I feel the last sentence in the report really sums up the difficulty:

I believe that the pat-downs and full-body scans at the United States airports are too much. Many people oppose it and it is receiving negative reception. (Stellin) There is an issue of privacy when it comes to pat-downs and full-body scans. People do not want their body to be groped or scanned in a way which shows nude images of them. Another thing about this new security practice by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is that it is time consuming, so travelers have to go through the unpleasant chore of having to go through security longer. I believe that the Transportation Security Administration is violating traveler’s privacy and their solution in making the airways safe is too excessive. I looked at many articles, videos,

Many citizens find this wrong because it violates an individual’s freedom; however, what is the difference between this and airport security? In both circumstances an individual’s personal space and possession is being obstructed by the government. Both of these security technique are put in effect for citizens’ safety. People find that looking into personal information is a disturbance of privacy, but they find that airport security is different.

Are the civil liberties of the citizens of the United States sacrificed during the airport security checks with the use of body scanners for the sake of national security? This week thousands of Americans will board airplanes to head to their Thanksgiving destinations, and they will need to undergo several security checks in order to advance to their flight. Since September 11, 2001, the vulnerability and fear arose in the United States citizens about the security tactics in place to protect our nation. One area of concern was the airport security measures that allowed al-Qaeda and their associates to take control of United State’s airplanes to carry out their plan of attack. The fear of another terrorist attack taking place on the airplanes resulted in extraordinary security tactics immediately emerging to protect the citizens. Further instances of other threats required more advanced security equipment to be installed, such as the body scanners. Statistics revealed there were an estimated 793 scanners (full body scanners) in use in March 2016 in more than 157 airports in the United States (Jansen). All of these security measures have taken place with the expense of sacrificing civil liberties. Although, the body scanners were developed to protect the people, the civil liberties of the United States citizens are sacrificed for the sake of national security through invasion of privacy, inefficiencies, misuse, and expense.

“‘We are frequently reminded that our enemy is creative and willing to go to great lengths to evade detection,’ the director of the TSA, Kosketz said. ‘TSA utilizes the latest intelligence to inform the deployment of new technology and procedures, like the pat-down, in order to stay ahead of evolving threats’” (“Mad as Hell”).

Giving airline pilots firearms, reinforcing cockpit doors, better authentication for airport maintenance workers, armed air marshals traveling on flights, and teaching flight attendants are all examples of suggested security measures that have no effect on individual privacy or liberties. (Schneier 773)