Hunting trip cancelled

A man's experience with airport security here in San Diego has blown up like a bad pun about terrorism. Local yokle John Tyner recorded his encounter with TSA officials after objecting to a full-body x-ray scan and refusing an admittedly intrusive pat-down. After a few minutes of squabbling, he was escorted off of the premises and faces a potential fine of $11,000.00. Tyner has since posted the recording on his blog, which is presumably less interesting than mine.

Tyner's experience and the TSA's refusal to sympathize with the fact that his hunting trip is totally ruined raises two questions in particular, both of which are easily answerable and not all that interesting.

First, are the security measures imposed on airline passengers an invasion of privacy? Of course they are not. You have neither a right nor a duty to fly; thus, any hoops that you might have to jump through to get onboard a plane are as strictly voluntary as getting on a plane in the first place. It's very fashionable to cry "invasion fo privacy" whenever security procedures are heightened, but it seems clear to me that airports and airplanes are a unique and special circumstance and that the TSA really has its hands full already.

Next, should we really be fining someone for refusing the security screening when the ultimate result is that they don't end up on an airplane? Absolutely not. An individual should have every right to refuse the screening, just as the TSA has every right to prevent him from flying when he does so. Also, Tyner needs that money to buy a bus ticket to South Dakota.

The justification for the mandatory nature of the security procedures is flimsy at best: to apprehend terrorists who might try to back out of their plot at the last minute. To me, that totally misses the mark. The TSA's job is not to catch terrorists -- that's up to the FBI and CIA -- it is to keep us safe when we fly; if a bomber backs out of his plot because he doesn't want to chance going through security, it has done it's job. No reason to punish bashful non-terrorists in the process.

Ironically, $11,000 is exactly the amount that I was planning to offer the TSA for a copy of Tyner's nude x-ray image.