Thaindian News

November 21, 2010 (Pen Men at Work): The electorally beleaguered American President, Barack Obama, has mentioned at a press convention in Lisbon during the NATO conference that certain segments of the American populace have dissatisfaction due to being subjected to scans and pat-downs involving the entire body at the American airports. However, he vocalized that these advanced security measures, notwithstanding their stringency and intrusiveness, were necessary to ensure security for the American population. Obama has voiced that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has been beneath colossal pressure to unearth more superior ways to detect detonators and other perilous products since the endeavored detonation in 2009 on Christmas Day of an American aircraft over Detroit. In that case, a voyager with connection to the terroristic Al-Qaeda had attempted to ignite the plastic explosives that had been hidden in his underwear.

Obama has divulged that he has consistently declared to the TSA that it needs to evaluate regularly whether its existing security measures are the only way to defend America from the menace of terrorism. Also, he has counseled the TSA about the importance of coming up with techniques that are less invasive. But Obama also remarked that the TSA’s bureaucrats, along with the counterterrorism specialists, have suggested to him that the safety procedures currently in operation are, as of now, the solitary effective way to enable safeness and peace in American airports against the sort of terrorism that was seen in Christmas in 2009. Obama was honest enough to confess that he, as the national President, does not have to experience complete pat-downs and other general security measures at the airports. Obama, who travels on Air Force One, has mentioned that the fight against the bloody terrorism has produced a safety apparatus that causes distress to all.

Among the travelers, the opponents of the pat-downs and full-body scanners have labeled it as offensive and mortifying. Recently, one infuriated female traveler, who had undergone breast cancer, was ordered to exhibit her prosthetic breast during a pat-down at a North Carolinian airport.

A fledgling movement in the cyber world in America is requesting the passengers to boycott the scanners, which engender an almost unclothed image of the human body, which can be observed by a screener in another location without seeing the traveler’s identity. America has approximately 400 of the advanced imaging equipments that have been positioned in 70 of its airports, with the desire of augmenting it to 1000 in 2011.

Those travelers, who refuse to adhere to body scans, can be compelled to experience bodily pat-downs, which could mount the queue of passengers during the Thanksgiving holiday’s travel weekend.

Meanwhile, the TSA consented on Friday to allow uniformed airline pilots miss the body scans and forceful pat-downs. Pilots must move across a metal detector at airport checkpoints and bequeath photo IDs that establish their identity. This transformation has come after a lobbying operation for 2 years by union bosses. Their endeavors were strengthened by Chesley Sullenberger, revered as a hero, who mentioned that the pilots should be looked at as trustworthy associates in the struggle against terrorism.