Too bad the guards in Soviet gulags didn't have microphones and earpieces. Perhaps prisoners wouldn't have been as stressed there, either.

Posted By Bea on April 15, 2009, 6:14 AM

We just got back from a month-long trip to Australia. Flying domestic there, you don't take your shoes off, your liquids stay in your carry-on, and I was told I could bring a larger bottle of contact-lens solution on with me, so I did, with no problems! (Good thing, too--Qantas "lost" our luggage for 3 days) Leaving the country, there was more screening, but done in a nice, civilized manner, like being directed to chairs to sit in while taking off the shoes, which were inspected by hand. Then it was back to LAX...

Posted By Lisa Brothman on April 16, 2009, 10:11 AM

The full body scans are Xrays - what are the health impacts? Are the scans being used for medical research i.e. the request for sex and age - osteoporosis?

Posted By Janet Poley on April 16, 2009, 6:23 PM

Thanks to the TSA, we have taken quite a few more road trips the past two years, when we normally would fly everywhere, taking family trips about four times per year. Driving trips are less stressful, you can carry an entire bottle of shampoo with you, and you can carry your own cooler of sodas to save $$. I need to take a trip in a few weeks by flight (to Bangkok), and I am already dreading the "cattle call" to get through security. I don't think people realize what the TSA has done to travellers and families that travel. I have already cancelled a few trips for this summer, just so we don't have to deal with it all. Staying home looks better all the time!! My husband has also put a halt to more than half of his business travel each year, and he does not miss the travel, losing luggage, trying to get a rental car, etc. The invention of TSA has ruined travel in this country! Not only that, but we have had so much stuff taken from us, but they don't throw it away, they set it aside. To me this just seems like legalized theft. On one trip with my small child, they opened our small cooler, and the TSA agent took all the unopened yogurt that was in flavors she liked, but left me the opened (covered) yogurt and the plain yogurt. She also decided that my child only needed 8 oz. of milk (for a 12 hour trip) and took the rest. She only took the unopened cartons, which to me said she fully meant to eat/drink her "take" from my child. They also want to keep the TSA workers identity "secret" so they feel safer, but then you can't complain, and when you do, the TSA says there was no one working at that airport with the description given. My friend got pulled aside to be patted down, and when she finally got back to her purse, all her cash was missing. Once again, there were no names to report who took the money from her purse ($800). They should do away with the TSA. Instead of keeping fliers safer, they just make me fear flying, and I no longer fly with valuables, cash, or my children. Do they do any kind of background checks on TSA agents, or do they require them to take any honesty tests? TSA is just a scam in my opinion.

Posted By GA Mom of 5 on April 16, 2009, 6:50 PM

security........or death? give me security.......no matter how long it takes...as I am sure any person that was on a flight that crashed due to lack of security........will tell you.

Posted By leila on April 16, 2009, 9:28 PM

@"leila"

"Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one." - Benjamin Franklin

Posted By Rob on April 17, 2009, 11:30 AM

Readers might be interested in The New York Times article "Whole-Body Scans Pass First Airport Tests"
by Joe Sharkey. A couple of sentences gave me pause: "Still, the use of the equipment has its critics. Bruce Schneier, a security technology consultant, said the body-imaging machines are the equivalent of ''a physically invasive strip-search... The agency says that the images can be adjusted to distort faces and private body parts. The images, which have been described as photolike, will not be stored, and current machines do not have the capability to do so, Ms. Payne said...Mr. Schneier said he was not so sure. ''How do we know they're not going to be storing those images?'' he asked. ''We're taking their word for it.''[April 7, 2009 Tuesday Late Edition - Final, Section B; Column 0; Business/Financial Desk; ON THE ROAD; Pg. 6}

Posted By carol on April 17, 2009, 11:32 AM

leila says security or death and she chooses security. well I say Liberty or death, as Patrick Henry stated. and I choose Liberty. A few years ago my 16 year old daughter was practically strip searched right on the TSA line at the Dallas airport. Evidently some piece of metal on her clothing kept tripping the alarms. The TSA people were quite blase about it all as they kept having her remove items of clothing. In retrospect I wish now I'd raised a bigger fuss than I did at the time, but this incident just made me more aware of our rights being stripped from us all. Thanks GA mom for your story, it's all just gotten way out of hand.

Posted By KC on April 18, 2009, 8:33 PM

Enhancing the carry-on baggage X-ray machines to eliminate the restrictions on size and storage of liquids is a great idea.

IFF the full body X-ray machines actually were nearly as efficient as the metal detectors, I wouldn't mind them - I'm fairly comfortable that the way the machines work will not pose a meaningful health hazard; I personally don't care who sees my body image; and just as the TSA already must do for people with strong religious or cultural reasons, people who strongly oppose the full body imagers may request other types of screening.

My problem with the full body X-ray machines is that they require removing more objects from my pockets than the metal detectors do, which both slows me down more, and requires me to give up for example my passport which I really try to never let off my person for obvious reasons.

There is some truth to the liberty vs security / liberty vs death arguments: any liberty we willingly give up MUST be counter-balanced by real security, but to me more importantly (if crassly) must be measured in total cost: how much aggregate time do changes in security measures save/cost? What is the aggregate economic value of that time? What is the economic expected reduction in security event cost earned by that security time cost? Does it really make sense, or is it just "do something! we can't be seen to be doing nothing!"

We must remember that sometimes doing nothing is economically the right security move at a particular time.

Back to the drawing board on the full body X-ray machines, please, TSA...

Posted By Jay Libove, CISSP, CIPP on April 20, 2009, 7:28 AM

Several commentors seem to cut to the chase on the increasingly in your face government practices. This is not good and the stated reasons are suspect. First as for any security this is not borne out by practical experience. On a recent flight I'd forgotten to take out a long handled and long bladed pair of scissors that I'd been cutting newspaper clippings with. The scissors and I went crosscountry IN THE PLANE CABIN in my carryon tote bag without my knowledge and apparently not the so called security tag team of TSA, either. This shows the absurdity. TSA takes away brand new little $95 French army knives left on a key chain by mistake(a nice GIFT for themselves or one of their friends and relatives) and little plastic knives, but serious scissors go through. Asinine. As for the restrictions on liquids and food, we can only wonder which political friends and families get the airport profits for these overpriced replacement concessions. As for the quality of the TSA employees, this is also paying off campaign debts to pet unions and the low quality of the employees shows that. I have no doubt that the woman's story of $800 cash taken is true. I openly watch these people like a hawk and the fact I do this has gotten me and my items through rather quickly most of the time. As for the scanners and DOB info be very wary. Do you think real security threats will have their true DOB? No they will have fake credentials and only the law abiding citizens will be caught up in this net. As for the total politics of this do you suppose that the fact that the travelling public has meekly accepted this bad joke and expensive system and tacking of freedom (and more junk fees for security etc)like penned sheep and with no protest has gone unnoticed? Of course not. It is 1984 and it is creepy. As for the winners while you lose it is the wealthy politician and business classes because as several write here, the little people are fed up and have cut back or stopped air travel. That was also the point to clear up the skies and the sky lanes to be friendly to the elites. Since no one has the courage to tell the politicians with their vote, Bah-humbug, everyone will continue to go Bah, bah, bah as they bleat the way through this money grab and person invasion for nothing. Today it is money and dignity and freedom taken. Tomorrow it is anyones guess and it is not good.

Posted By Give Me Liberty on April 21, 2009, 5:26 AM

I also refuse to fly. The hassles of flying, security, body scanning, removing of shoes, taking out laptops, having ID in hand experience is too much to add along with the apprehension of whether the plane will crash due to a faulty engine or a bird is enough to put me behind the wheel. I have a vacation planned in FL this summer and guess what? My son and I will drive there from MI so screw TSA and the airlines. Next year, we're taking Amtrak to CA for our vacation. I refuse to present my body and identity to the will of the airlines and government. They have taken all the joy from flying and the speed of flying doesn't measure up to the headache of flying.

Posted By Andrea on April 25, 2009, 6:21 PM

I don't mind being checked and scanned at the airlines, however, I wish the TSA people would get a full body scan before and after leaving there job--because one of them took a video camera from our suitcase and left our TSA key (throw it in our case) and the camera case behind as proof. But, the airlines (NWA) will not investigate it. Are these the people in charge of national security--yikes!

Posted By Jordan on May 27, 2009, 8:14 PM