Yesterday's post ("And This in America?") about the indecent harassment air travelers are being forced to endure was the only one I put on Vital Signs Blog. I did so in order to emphasize its importance and to encourage visitors to perhaps take the time otherwise spent in reading VS posts to e-mail a note to their Congressmen and an airlines or two.Did you?
Well, more and more are doing so -- like this terrific letter written by Michael S. Roberts in behalf of a group of airline pilots. It was sent via email to ExpressJet Airlines management in Houston. Here's an excerpt:
We are writing to express our disapproval and intentions regarding the TSA’s use of Whole Body Imaging (WBI) systems at airport security screening checkpoints for routine passenger/crewmember screening. As indicated in [a recent internal memo to pilots], TSA is increasing the use of these devices, which enable screeners to see beneath people’s clothing to an extremely graphic and intrusive level of detail (virtual strip searching). Travelers refusing this indignity may instead be physically frisked by a government security agent until the agent is satisfied to release them on their way. Our understanding is that these two alternatives will eventually become the only ‘options’ available to the traveling public, and we find them to be absolutely unacceptable and inconsistent with the undergirding principles of a free society.
The TSA has itself indicated that WBI is not a perfect solution, but one component of a multi-layered approach to air transportation security. While we take airline security very seriously, we do not believe the dubious benefits of these invasive measures justify the trade off in employee and passenger privacy and other rights and liberties. It is our view that reasonable levels of security within the air transportation system can and must be achieved without producing images of travelers’ naked bodies or subjecting them without cause to unwanted, unwelcome touching at the hands of federally employed airport security guards.
After careful examination, we believe the current program is likely to be in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the Privacy Act of 1974, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the Video Voyeurism Prevention Act of 2004. At any rate, it is an egregious advance on civil liberty and an affront to the human dignity of every patron of the National Air Transportation System...
Read the rest of the letter. Pass it on to friends, family and Facebook contacts. And then follow up with your own letters. (For more info, see also Monday's VS post, "Body Scans, Pat-Downs and Rude Rubes Playing Cops.")
And yes, I'll continue to report on the status of this very necessary revolution.
