TSA Chief Digs in on Body Scans and Pat-Downs

The AP:

Pistole on Sunday noted the alleged attempt by a Nigerian with explosives in his underwear to try to bring down an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight last Christmas. “We all wish we lived in a world where security procedures at airports weren’t necessary,” he said, “but that just isn’t the case.”

So one man from Nigeria tries to pack a bomb in his underwear last year, and now we’re all subjected to invasive naked body scans and physical pat-downs. Keep in mind that this “underwear bomber” succeeded in destroying nothing other than his own genitals, and that experts agree that even if his bomb had worked as he intended, it wouldn’t have brought down the plane.

Here’s the question for Pistole, and anyone else who argues that these new TSA procedures are an appropriate response to that incident: What happens if the next guy hides his bomb up his ass?

★ Monday, 22 November 2010