PISTOLE: Well, the whole purpose is...
DORGAN: Did it make you uncomfortable? I mean, what was your impression personally?
PISTOLE: Yeah, yeah. It was more invasive than what I was used to. Of course, what is in my mind from almost 27 years with the FBI and all my counterterrorism work since 9/11 is what are the plot that are out there? And, how are we informed by the latest intelligence? And what do we have to do to assure the American people that we are being thorough? So, the answer is it is clearly more invasive. The purpose of that is to obviously detect those types of devices that we had not seen before, for example, last Christmas. I am very sensitive and concerned about people's privacy concerns. And, I want to work through that as best we can. The bottom line is, we need to provide for the best possible security. [emphasis added]
Again, in March the GAO indicated they were uncertain "porno-scanners" would have detected the condom bomb the underwear bomber set off. But, more importantly, the premise of this exchange is frightening because of what it attempts to establish. Sen. Dorgan, no matter his intention, is somehow under the impression if the top officials in Homeland Security understood what the new procedures feel like to passengers then passengers would be less angry. They'd be more willing to accept the procedures and not criticize them as violations of privacy.
One might remember how news personalities like Mancow or writers like Christopher Hitchens elected to be waterboarded to see if it was "torture." Political leaders were telling political leaders that didn't believe waterboarding was torture to go get waterboarded. News personality Rick Sanchez had someone test a taser on him. The reactions somehow were meant to illuminate whether society was reasonable or not to react the way it was to waterboarding or tasers. The public has cooled down overwhelmingly when it comes to tasers and waterboarding remains justifiable to many. And now, in this case, senators, representatives and top ranking Homeland Security officials are testing the demeaning procedure known as a "pat-down" on their selves to prove they can take it and the assumption is, if they can handle it, the public can too.
What this all seems to suggest is if people cannot get in line and get with the program and cooperate, they're overreacting and, in some cases, may need to be dealt with for obstructing law and order (e.g. John Tyner whom TSA threatened with a civil suit and an $11,000 fine). It suggests that in some cases the people who have the most influence on public debate can decide whether the Fourth Amendment matters or doesn't matter. The new and repulsive is normalized with the aim of deadening one's revulsion at the thought of being touched in an invasive way before boarding an airplane.
But, perhaps, the final part of Dorgan's questioning is what said the most about the unfolding conflict between the public and the TSA:
DORGAN: And my understanding is that the October change went from using the back of a hand gliding across a person to a different approach. You might describe that--
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
