The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has subjected travelers to increasingly invasive scanning and searches, the security benefits of which are far from clear. In June, a leaked report revealed that TSA screening procedures had failed 67 out of 70 times when “red team” investigators sought to get potential weapons through airport checkpoints.

Four years ago, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the agency had failed to follow legally required administrative procedures when setting its policy of using whole-body imaging scanners for primary screening at our nation’s airports. The Department of Homeland Security has still not finalized its regulation, and in July the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a lawsuit asking the court to force the agency to do so. Once the regulation is finalized, it can be challenged in court—an important step toward bringing the TSA to heel and getting coherent policies that secure our nation’s airports.

Please join us for a discussion of the TSA’s strip-search machine policy and how the agency can be brought under control.