Nazia Hassan

Prof Beatty
English 1010
November 23, 2015
Position Paper
TSA
After the events on that day in September of 2001, the world changed. The United States
of America started to change laws and introduce new laws that restricted personal freedom and
even change the way people conducted themselves. There was the creation of the Department of
Homeland Security, a bureau so large it was the epitome of big brother government.

It

swallowed under its mandate agencies like the United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services, Customs and Border Patrol, FEMA and others. One of them is the Transportation
Safety Administration (TSA), this agency has authority over the security of the public in regards
to transportation safety. The United States Government did a good job by taking immediate
action at the time and handling the situation, since then we have not had any other terroristic
incidents; however the gross invasion of privacy as well as the trampling of Constitutional Rights
and the Taxpayer expense should require TSA to reconsider certain ways they do things. Through
my own experience and experiences of others one can see how the TSA is institutionally
prejudiced against minorities, especially towards people from a certain part of the world with
certain kinds of names, and certain skin tones.

The nature of Security is that when nothing happens and all is smooth the goals have
been accomplished. If there is something that happens the terrorist or the threat is whisked off
behind the scenes out of the public eye, on the other hand if something should go wrong and a
terrorist or threat should be missed then that is out for all to witness and comment upon. All the
work in intelligence gathering, background checks, prescreens is not even considered; the people
can only see the TSA personnel who is violating their privacy with the wand. The TSA is there
to protect people but their unchecked powers caused a violation of privacy.
The airport security system is made for public safety and security, but they are harming
the public by violating their privacy. First of all they have scanners, which show your body
naked, is it in our laws that you can make a person get naked to search them for traveling? The
second thing is they are judging people by their ethnicity and race as well as minor insignificant
behaviors. Just because someone seems nervous or is whistling or staring or making repetitive
motions, that does not mean they are a terrorist. According to this logic, if someone is smiling
they are not terrorists and if someone is having a bad day or has some stressful worry on their
mind that they are thinking about they would be a terrorist. This is precisely what the TSA tells
their employees to do, it is called The SPOT program, which profiles behaviors, and former TSA
Employee Jason E Harrington writes on his blog about the programs ineffectiveness seeing it
from the eyes of those who are administering this institutionally racist program (Harrington).
For example most TSA officers write on the back of their badged the names of countries they are
automatically supposed to pull aside and check for, Syria, Algeria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran,
Yemen, Cuba, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and People's Republic of North Korea
(Harrington). This is only what has been revealed to the people. Mr. Harrington also tells us that
these behaviors can get anyone pulled to the side for additional screening, behaviors like the

innocent wide eyes, repetitive grooming gestures, throat clearing, looking down, the childish
complaining about security procedures, and of course the most comically absurd face pale from
recent shaving of beard (Harrington).
The TSA says that checks are random, but every time I travel I get scrutinized. One day
just a few weeks ago I was traveling to Washington DC with my husband and 18 month old
child. It was approximately one in the morning and I had my baby in my arms wrapped in a
blanket as she was sleeping. When we got to the security screening not only did they make us
take off our shoes and outer garments they unwrapped my sleeping baby woke her up and made
us both walk through the radioactive ineffective x-ray machine but they also swiped me AND my
18 month old childs hands as well. The swiping of the hands is to test for traces of explosives or
gunpowder. For Gods Sake can anyone think an 18 month old hold a gun or mix explosives
before they board the plane. This behavior of TSA really scared me and gave me the feeling that
they are indirectly telling me we gave you paper of citizenship but you are not really a citizen.
We can get you at any time even if you are not doing anything wrong. But thats not just my
story; every minority has the same story, because of their extreme behavior the TSA is building
hatred in the hearts of minorities. The government is supposed to protect its citizens and their
freedoms, not be the violators.
The most strong reason against TSA is that what TSA does directly violates the
Constitution and in particular the 4th amendment. The amendment reads The right of the people
to be secure in their persons, houses, paper, and effects, against unreasonable searches and
seizures, shall not be violated and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause supported by
oath and affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or
things to be seized. The Constitution as we all know was the founding fathers document to

protect our country and provide a framework so we do not become a colony again but also to
prevent the United States Government from being too powerful. This is the reason for checks
and balances. In the original document there were only ten amendments. These ten amendments
were put in as check to those in power that they would not be able to amass power to the point
they became unstoppable. The first one is directly for the people and amendments 2 and 3 are in
direct retaliation to the monarch system of government and the 4 th is to ensure that government
doesnt abuse its entrusted position of power. Now the SPOT program is almost a textbook
definition of how the TSA violates the 4 th amendment right to be secure in our persons. How
secure can we be in our persons with people looking at naked images of our bodies? Images that
cannot differentiate between explosives and body fat (Harrington).
As if the invasion of privacy and ineffectiveness of TSA Procedure was not enough, when
you see the budget of the TSA and what is accomplished with that budget, it makes you want to
cry. The annual budget for TSA is approximately 7 billion dollars. What are they doing with 7
billion dollars? That sounds like enough to cover everyone with universal healthcare. The TSA
is doing nothing close to seven billion dollars; they are just checking normal people and judging
minorities by their ethnicity, religion, location, language, and appearance. Since the inception
the government has been funding the TSA almost blindly not looking at results, the TSA has not
caught any terrorists using their SPOT Procedures or found any bombs with the x ray machines.
A 2013 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report showed a twenty six percent increase in
misconduct amongst TSA Employees. The same GAO report also showed that there is no
evidence that screening passengers by observation technique (SPOT) behavioral detection
program with an annual budget of millions of dollars is effective (GAO). The Ex TSA Employee
Mr. Harrington stated that the x ray scanners cannot differentiate between explosives and body

fat (Harrington). We all know there arent that many passengers traveling with bombs, but how
many of us travel with our love handles? In one of his many interviews Mr. Harrington tells us
of a time when after the training given to them by the X ray machine provider he asked the
trainer what he thought the effectiveness was and that person who was training them to the use of
the machine told them it was not effective in the least, then shrugged and looked at the ground
(Harrington). It seems to be the perfect snapshot of how TSA is handling its massive budget of 7
billion dollars on Pseudo Science and snake oil technology. Amitai Etzioni, author of the book
How Patriotic is the Patriot Act? Freedom Vs Security in the Age of Terrorism cited the
American Civil Liberties Union stating the Governments Insatiable appetite, characterized
by government secrecy, a lack of transparency, rejection of equality under the law, and a disdain
and outright removal of checks and balances. (Pg 9, Etzioni) This power grab to take the
citizens rights away has resulted in a deterioration of what made America a shining beacon of
light to people from other countries, people who looked up to the United States as a model of
how accepting and for all a country should be towards its citizens.
People realize that security is a necessary procedure when traveling but there should be a
more common sensed approach. Seven billion dollars can be better spent on more efficient and
less intrusive ways to screen people who are using the public transport systems. The current
system is bloated with no oversight in spending but that would be the tip of the iceberg as the
trampling of Constitutional Rights and lack of accountability in violating personal rights has cost
America more than any overgrown bureaucracy budget.

Works Cited

1) Harrington, Jason E. Takingsenseaway.wordpress.com. 10/2012. Web. Wordpress.com.

November 2015.
2) Etzioni, Amitai. How Patriotic is the Patriot Act? Freedom Versus Security in

the

Age of Terrorism. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print. November 2015.

3) Grover, Jennifer. Aviation Security: TSA has taken steps to improve oversight of Key

Programs, but Additional Actions Are Needed. GAO.gov. 5th May, 2015. Web. November
2015.