Head of TSA, John Pistole, goes before a Senate Committee to discuss new changes to airport security, asserts that he will listen to concerns but nothing will likely change.
Head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), John Pistole, went before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, to deliver a statement and answer questions on new security initiatives--the full-body scanners ("porno-scanners") and pat-downs ("grope-a-dopes"). The Committee, which is responsible for oversight of the TSA, attempted to address criticism from civil liberties groups, pilot and flight attendant unions, and passengers.
The hearing with Pistole opened with a statement from the Chairman of the Committee, Sen. Jay D. Rockefeller (D-W. Va.), who has in his career, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), received nearly half a million dollars in campaign donations from the air transport industry. He attempted to talk about balancing the need to protect the public with citizens' rights to privacy but talked very little about whether the new procedures violated the Fourth Amendment or not.
Instead, Sen. Rockefeller mostly expressed his conviction that the "threats are very real and extremely ongoing and evolving every day and something hasn't happened because the intelligence has been so good and that won't always be the case. So, we've had kind of a lucky run here." This meant normal Fourth Amendment protections might not be able to be afforded. And, why the U.S. could not expect intelligence to always be good was not explained. This seemed to be Sen. Rockefeller's way of scaring anyone in the "traveling public" that dared to doubt the decisions behind adding the new procedures.
Sen. Rockefeller expressed great frustration, as he seemed to urge Pistole to have TSA be more totalitarian in their security.
"I don't like going out to Dulles Airport, walking onto an airplane. Not a pat-down, they don't even look at me," remarked Sen. Rockefeller.
Surely, each senator or congressman could probably get themselves a personal TSA agent to meet them at the gate every time they fly out. Like at a gentleman's club, they probably could get a favorite girl (or guy depending on whether the senator or congressman is suppressing homosexuality or not). They could run their hand up and down in a non-threatening but authoritative fashion and make sure the senators have peace of mind when traveling to their destination. If that's what Sen. Rockefeller would like to see happen, the Ministry of Love, I mean, Department of Homeland Security could probably do that.
A round of opening statements took place after Rockefeller completed his statement in defense of government violating your civil liberties (he even slipped in a jab at Democrats who didn't like "the FISA" because they said it violated privacy).
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