Airports consider replacing TSA with private security firms

Saturday, January 01, 2011 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: TSA, airports, health news

(NaturalNews) Mounting reports of abuse by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) against air travelers has prompted many airports to reconsider whether or not to even use TSA for security screening purposes. According to a recent report in the Washington Post, several airports, including San Francisco International Airport and Kansas City International Airport, have already contracted out their security to private firms, and many others may follow suit in the coming months as well.

The idea is to reduce the operational burden that TSA currently bears and essentially outsource the daily airport screening tasks to private companies. In the end, TSA will act more as a regulatory body that oversees the direct, day-to-day security operations being carried out by for-profit security companies at airports.

Though the idea may sound great in theory, not much will actually chance in terms of the invasive, Nazi-style tactics being used against innocent travelers, all in violation of their constitutional rights. Private security firms will still have to be approved by the TSA before being implemented, and they will also have to follow the same screening protocols, including the pornographic naked body X-rays and the intrusive full-body pat-downs.

"[A]s long as the scanners and pat-downs are in place, the experience is going to be the same," said Kate Hanni to reporters. Hanni runs Flyers Rights, a passenger advocacy group based in Napa, Calif. that has over 30,000 members.

The only aspect of security that could actually change for the better is the overall "customer service" of screeners, as private companies will have more of an incentive to treat travelers with respect and dignity or else face getting "fired". But either way, current airport security protocols are way out of line in terms of violating travelers' rights under the law, regardless of whether the ones violating them are government agents or private employees.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content...