You can now comment on the TSA’s proposed rule regarding its use of strip‐​search machines on American travelers at our nation’s airports.


Under a July 2011 court order requiring it to do so, the TSA finally proposed the rule that explains its airport procedures with respect to strip‐​search machines. You can now know your rights and obligations in that process, how to opt‐​out of the strip‐​search machines, and where to register complaints if you feel you’ve been treated badly.


Just kidding!


This is the two‐​sentence statement it proposed to add to existing language about passenger screening:

(d) The screening and inspection described in (a) may include the use of advanced imaging technology. For purposes of this section, advanced imaging technology is defined as screening technology used to detect concealed anomalies without requiring physical contact with the individual being screened.

It took 20 months to produce these two sentences, which allow the TSA to do whatever it wants. My initial thoughts were to find TSA contemptuous of the court’s order and wronly using secrecy to hide the analysis of its policies.


We’ll be discussing the proposal at a Cato policy forum next Tuesday, April 2nd, called “Travel Surveillance, Traveler Intrusion,” starting at noon Eastern. Like most Cato events, it will be live‐​streamed.


The event is a two‐​fer. Not only will we hear from Ginger McCall of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the organization that brought the suit that finally produced this rulemaking. We’ll also hear from Ed Hasbrouck, whose research reveals just how intensively the U.S. government monitors the air travel of every American.


Feel free to move about the country? Just wait until you learn how your movements are tracked—before and after you get your digital strip‐​search or prison‐​style pat‐​down.


Register now!