Imperial TSA admits to screening, molesting more than 638 million air travelers in 2013

Wednesday, February 05, 2014 by: Ethan A. Huff, staff writer
Tags: TSA, molestation, air travelers

(NaturalNews) The most repressive airport security force in the civilized world, the TSA (Transportation Security Administration), recently published a summary on its blog of all the "accomplishments" it achieved in 2013. And listed as a bragging right are the more than 638 million air travelers that TSA screeners ushered through naked body scanners or molested with full-body pat-downs at U.S. airports throughout the year.

In an apparent attempt to legitimize its very existence, the TSA boasts that its thousands of screeners successfully groped or viewed naked imagery of more than 1.7 million air travelers per day in 2013. This collectively adds up to 638,705,790 air travelers who had their Fourth Amendment rights violated by federal employees throughout the year, which is 1,123,668 more than the number who had their rights infringed the previous year.

Somehow, these figures, which come from the TSA's "Year in Review: 2013" report, are supposed to comfort Americans and make them feel safer. The TSA even alludes to this directly, suggesting that the agency is the "public face of our nation's security" and that TSA screeners perform "difficult work" that requires "patience, stamina, and great attention to detail."

But what these figures actually show is that the TSA is simply furthering its legacy of trampling the rights of the American people by searching them and seizing their personal property without due cause or suspicion. Every single person who wishes to travel via air in the U.S. is required to submit to the TSA's draconian security protocols, which continue to be the most oppressive in the First World.

"[B]oasting about the 600 million [plus] constitutional violations in order to steal personal property does not exactly equate to making everyone safer," was one commenter's take on the TSA report. "Your [agency's] attempt to justify your jobs and budget are feeble at best. ... How many old folks, handicapped people, and young children have been searched/molested [during] those 600 million [plus] searches?"

Crimes committed by TSA screeners up 26 percent in 2013

These are valid questions to which the TSA has yet to provide any answers. The agency has also failed to address the uptick in crimes committed by TSA screeners during the same year. A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released last fall revealed a 26 percent increase in TSA misconduct during 2013, the highest level in more than three years.

According to CNN, such offenses include TSA screeners stealing money from passengers' checked and carry-on luggage, failing to properly monitor items passing through the X-ray scanners, taking bribes from drug dealers and even sleeping on the job. TSA screeners have also been caught sneaking friends and family members past checkpoints, doing drugs on the job and helping move deadly weapons through security.

"There's not even a way to properly report some of the offenses," says Florida Representative John Mica, who has previously requested an audit of the TSA, as quoted by CNN. "This may be just the tip of the iceberg of some of the offenses."

Everything from asking inappropriate questions about travelers' personal lives to making unwelcome sexual advances during "advanced" screening protocols are well-documented as TSA offenses that have gone unaddressed by the failed agency. Rather than take a step backwards and reevaluate its role as a supposed champion of freedom and safety, the TSA is instead keeping a tight lid on the hamper holding its mountain of dirty laundry.

"The TSA, and [its] parent agency Homeland Security, is the prelude to an American police state," adds another commenter on the TSA blog. "They are meant to be the foundation of an American Gestapo, or if you prefer, national secret police. Airline security should be left up to the airlines, and each individual airport."

Sources for this article include:

http://blog.tsa.gov

http://www.cnn.com

http://tsanewsblog.com