Call Congress about the nude-o-scopes: Monday, November 15

Congress is returning for a lame duck session beginning tomorrow.  Those of us active in the Travel Safety and Security forum over at FlyerTalk have developed a targeted list of Congressman to contact and voice our objections.  This will have maximum impact if we do it on the same day.  There’s also a TSA oversight hearing scheduled for Wednesday the 17th at 10:00am by the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security (members listed below).  When you call please voice your objections to the naked scanners and sexual assault pat downs, and ask that these issues be discussed at the oversight hearing.  I have also put some suggested talking points below to use in your discussion with the Congressional staffers.

House Committee on Homeland Security
Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection

Sheila Jackson-Lee, Chairwoman (future Ranking Member?)
(202) 225-3816

Charlie Dent, Ranking Member (future Chair?)
(202) 225-6411

Emanuel Cleaver
(202) 225-4535

Jim Himes
(202) 225-5541

Dan Lungren
(202) 225-5716

Pete Olson
(202) 225-5951

Candice Miller
(202) 225-2106

Steve Austria
(202) 225-4324

Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security

Byron Dorgan, Chairman
(202) 224-2551

Jim DeMint, Ranking Member
(202) 224-6121

Maria Cantwell
(202) 224-3441

John Ensign
(202) 224-6244

Claire McCaskill
(202) 224-6154

Mark Warner
(202) 224-2023

Mike Johanns
(202) 224-4224

John Thune
(202) 224-2321

Suggested talking points:

* Health concerns, especially for cancer survivors. TSA refused to release the methodology used to determine how they deemed these machines “safe”.
* Privacy: a strip search or genital touching should not be required to board an airplane.
* The machines don’t provide any great security advantage. An explosive concealed in a body cavity would not be detected by either a naked scan or a pat down. They are expensive peep show booths, nothing more.
* If you’re a parent, do you want a government agent in a booth looking at pictures of your teenage daughter?

A common refrain from the establishment is that they are looking out for the traveling public’s best interests, and they’ll predictably cite 9/11 and ask “don’t you want to be safe?”  In response, of course we support security, but effective security can be accomplished without sacrificing privacy, dignity and human rights: by x-raying bags, using metal detectors and random swabbing for explosives. This combination would provide more security against explosive threats than all the naked scanners Michael Chertoff’s consulting firm can sell.

  • joshua

    Have you looked at the IDIOTS who are on that list of Congressfolks…honestly…Sheila Jackson Lee can’t even SPELL correctly…Claire McCaskill??

    No wonder our airports are screwed up and AMTRAK runs at a loss.

    Teaparty to the Transportation Committee….CLEAN HOUSE!!!

  • Noir

    I thought the same joshua but Jim DeMint is also on the list and I will contact him. We must bring this insanity to an end folks because even 5 years ago this would have been unthinkable. And 5 years from now they will either be doing cavity searces or herding us naked through “security” lines.

    THE IRRADIATING AND GROPING OF OUR CHILDREN HAS GOT TO STOP!! Wake up Janet and TSA, it is Muslim terrorists who say every day that they want to blow up planes not our children. Your political correctness will get people killed as you drive terrorists to start hiding explosives in body cavities.

    And then what will you do?

    It is very attractive with the low $ to vacation and shop in the US and help the American economy…….but not with this crap going on.

  • Shop5049

    Thanks for this convenient list. The terrorists hate our freedom, and America responds by taking away our freedom (namely our fourth amendment rights). Way to go!!

    Thanks for standing up! Keep up the good work. I don’t ever want my teenage daughter groped or viewed by a stranger, even in the name of “safety.” Some things are just off limits.

  • todd

    i telephoned everyone on the list and left messages regarding my concerns over the policy. everyone who answered the phone was polite except for the person who answered for claire mccaskill who tried at first to tell me the TSA polices were not invasive or sexual assault and then asked me what i thought a better policy should be to address security today. i found him boorish and rude.

  • Anonymous

    Done and done! I called Dan Lungren’s office and Barbara Boxer’s office. They took my info and were polite.

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