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takyon writes:

TSA agents will soon conduct a more invasive patdown at U.S. airports:

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has declined to say exactly where—and how—employees will be touching air travelers as part of the more invasive physical pat-down procedure it recently ordered. But the agency does expect some passengers to consider the examination unusual. In fact, the TSA decided to inform local police in case anyone calls to report an "abnormal" federal frisking, according to a memo from an airport trade association obtained by Bloomberg News. The physical search, for those selected to have one, is what the agency described as a more "comprehensive" screening, replacing five separate kinds of pat-downs it previously used.

The decision to alert local and airport police raises a question of just how intimate the agency's employees may get. On its website, the TSA says employees "use the back of the hands for pat-downs over sensitive areas of the body. In limited cases, additional screening involving a sensitive area pat-down with the front of the hand may be needed to determine that a threat does not exist."

[...] The TSA's calls to police were an effort to provide local law enforcement "situational awareness" about the new pat-down method, Christopher Bidwell, ACI-NA's vice president of security, said in an interview Saturday. U.S. airports have not expressed any reservations or concerns about the pat-down change, the association said.

Also at Boing Boing, The Consumerist, NBC, and LA Times.

Original Submission