NPR interviewed Lee Kair, a TSA bureaucrat, the other day. They posed questions from their listening audience and asked him to respond. I’m glad that a question about children was clearly addressed:
INSKEEP: We have another question from Carla Atkinson, who says, What happens if I refuse to have my nine-year-old daughter scanned when we fly in December? Will they really pat down a child?
Mr. KAIR: Everyone who goes through the checkpoint has the option of opting out of our advanced imaging technology. They would be subjected to a pat down. For children, we have a little bit of a different procedure where we use some technology instead of the same way we use the pat down. So it would be a little bit different than it would be on an adult, but they would be subjected to a pat down..
INSKEEP: So the answer is sorry, yes, we’ve got to do something with this nine-year-old.
Mr. KAIR: Yes.
All children, whether under 12 or over, will be subject to the scanners. If the parent (or child) refuses and opts for the warrantless custodial search, then the 12-and-unders will get a milder grope that avoids genitals, but the over-12’s will get the full grope. How sensitive.
12:27 pm on November 25, 2010
