A Wisconsin Congressman is raising concerns about the new security screening steps at airports. Republican Tom Petri of Fond du Lac sent a letter to the leader of the Transportation Security Administration asking for a review the new security process and to get rid of the pat-downs of random passengers.
“There clearly needs to be a better balance between privacy rights and safety,” says the ranking GOP member of the House Aviation Subcommittee.
Petri calls the frisking “excessive” and an example of the government not thinking things through very clearly.
The Fond du Lac lawmaker tells WHBY federal officials should consider other countries’ policies concerning flights. For example, Israeli officials check the background of passengers when they buy their plane tickets and then examine potentially high-risk people. Petri thinks the pat-downs should be used as a secondary screening process when other red flags are raised.
Meantime, the TSA chief says he disregarded internal advice on pat-downs and decided not to tell the public in advance about the aggressive new screening procedures out of concern terrorists may exploit the information.