As I traveled through the San Francisco airport, I got pulled out of line and was told I did not need to go through the metal detector. "That won't be necessary," the screener said.
"You need to step over here instead."
So I was instructed to walk through the full body scanner and "raise your hands above your head" like a common criminal.
I had to take off my shoes AND my belt!
Then it was just a matter of waiting to be cleared by security. One agent, sitting in a hidden room, called the agent standing in front of me on his ear plug phone, and I heard him say, "Male all clear."
Well, duh, I'm not a terrorist. And I did not have any weapons on my person.
Then I heard, "Male subject, check back right pocket." The agent with the ear piece turned to me and said, "We need to check your right back pocket."
"It's my wallet," I said.
"We need you to take it out."
"Where is your warrant?" I wanted to ask. But I didn't.
I took out my wallet and showed it to me.
"Why is it so thick?" he asked me.
"It's a pocket bomb, duh!" I wanted to say.
But I told the truth. "I have a lot of pictures of my children. That's why it is so bulky."
"You'll have to open it to show me if you want to get on the plane," he said.
So I did. Then I was cleared to board the plane, after I gathered my things, put my belt and shoes back on, and walked away feeling like a criminal.
Does it makes us safer?
No.
And I knew it then. Because of the three lines of passengers, only two were even subject to the scanners. So a terrorist just has to get in the right line, which he easily could just by watching for a moment where the lines move.
And only about every fifth person in the two lines was being screened.
It doesn't matter if this technology does not work.
This is the America where there is no longer a 4th Amendment.
http://www.truth-out.org/385-million-tsa-program-fails-detect-terrorists66213
