Airport pat down of six-year-old helps spur call for reform

In the wake of a six-year-old girl getting an enhanced pat-down by the TSA at the New Orleans Armstrong International Airport, the lobbying group for the travel industry started a campaign aimed at urging Congress to create a “trusted traveler” program.
 

Critics have been blasting the TSA (Transportation Security Agency) for the incident which was caught on video and widely posted on YouTube. “The video of a small child being carefully frisked showcases the absurdity of the screening system,” said The Orlando Sentinel.
 

The girl’s father, Todd Drexel, says Anna was confused by the search and started crying afterward because she thought she’d done something wrong.
 

Mother Selena Drexel says most other passengers near them in the queue were able to pass through security normally.
 

"I did ask for alternatives. I did ask for her to be rescanned," Selena told the AP. "They just refused and said they were going to do what they were going to do."
 

The New York Daily News notes the agent shown in the video was professional and very "polite" to the child, though mother Selena tells ABC she was less happy with an off-camera TSA supervisor that balked at other options for Anna.
 

The TSA says its agents acted as they should have.
 

And on its agency blog, the TSA says:
 

“Recognizing that terrorists are willing to manipulate societal norms to evade detection, TSA has been actively assessing less invasive screening methods for low-risk populations, such as younger passengers, while still maintaining a high level of security.”
 

"A 6-year-old child shouldn’t be subjected to this kind of treatment in the first place if there’s no reason to suspect her or her parents of being criminals," Marjorie Esman, executive director of the ACLU Louisiana,
 

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, said he was “personally outraged and disgusted by yet another example of mistreatment of an innocent American at the hands of the TSA.This conduct is in clear violation of TSA’s explicit policy not to conduct thorough pat-downs on children under the age of 13."
 

The US Travel Association’s “Be Trusted” campaign has been described as a “national grassroots” effort advocating the US Congress to implement a “trusted traveler” program. The campaign will include advertisements in newspapers and airports, social media, events at airports, an advocacy website and a toll-free number for to connect with their elected representatives.
 

The organization says eighty percent of travelers surveyed say there should be a nationwide trusted traveler program that provides alternative screening at airports for American citizens who submit to background checks and meet other criteria.
 

"Travelers encounter too much hassle at our nation’s airports, and it’s time for Congress to act," said Roger Dow, president and CEO of the US Travel Association. "A one-size-fits-all approach to security is inefficient. If Congress implements a trusted traveler program, we’ll see more Americans traveling – and that will create more American jobs."
 

Travelers would take an average of two to three more trips a year if the hassle could be reduced without compromising security effectiveness. These additional trips could add US$84.6 billion in spending and 888,000 more jobs.
 

A trusted traveler program that utilizes true risk management is a key recommendation of US Travel’s recent report on aviation security.
 

Tom Ridge, former secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and co-chair of the U.S. Travel Association’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Aviation Security said in the report:
 

"We’ve been talking for years about establishing a screening system that takes risk into account. Creating a trusted traveler program is, without a doubt, one of the best ways to control the cost of aviation security."
 

By David Wilkening