Argument: In Fall 2010, the Transportation Security Administration

stepped up its security efforts in U.S. airports by incorporating random

full-body searches as part of its counter-terrorism efforts. These full-body
searches were a response to the refusal of some people to accept the use
of full-body scanners, which were judged by some to be excessively
revealing. The Chief of TSA and the Secretary of State both came forward
to say that, while they acknowledge every citizen's desire for privacy, this
desire must be held in balance with safety measures. However, these
safety measures are not a reasonable trade for the invasion of privacy
that citizens must now suffer, so the TSA must abandon such measures.
Write a response in which you consider what questions would need to be
answered to determine whether or not the above criticism of the policy is
reasonable. Discuss the potential impact the answers to these questions
could have on the criticism.
Response: The author questions the criticism of the measures adopted by the TSA
to ensure the safety of its citizens on board flights. Whether or not the criticism of
these measures is justified shall be evaluated in the following paragraphs. The
questions that need to be addressed before taking a stand for what is right and
what is wrong are as follows.
The first and the most significant question would be that is invasion of peoples
privacy as considered by some people, of greater concern than national security?
The TSA adopted the methods of full body checks to be absolutely sure that no
terrorism incidents occur which ultimately cause a huge loss of human life as well as
financial and emotional setbacks. If a suspect is to get on a plane because of laxed
security measures in case the abandoning of full body searches is enforced, the
very same people who cried foul for invasion of privacy will now in turn question
the counter-terrorism security measures adopted.
Secondly, people saying that the full body checks are revealing is too vague a
statement to be believed. Who are these people that have been quoted? There is no
official record or a designated survey that was conducted where peoples opinions
about these security checks were recorded and then the results were evaluated.
There is no concrete data suggesting that the people who were asked about this
were really bothered by the full body checks that that had to pass through. It might
just have been a case where a celebrity, who was late for a flight and could not
bypass the security measures, expressed his dissent made a statement of this sort.
Such things are easy to catch on and people oblige even though there is no
evidence suggesting the truth of such an occurrence.
Also, the statement that these measures are an invasion of privacy of the citizens is
invalid. There is no record of any citizen quoting such a statement or having said so
in an interview or a survey that was carried out by the government.

Thus I would like to concur by saying that questioning the security measures
adopted by the TSA is uncalled for and if people find the security measures an
invasion of their privacy then they have the option to choose other modes of
transport even if it is not cost effective but in conjugation with their principles, its a
choice they will have to make and abandoning the measures in its entirety is not a
viable option if terrorism is to be contained.