TSA Grounds Kentucky Senator Rand Paul
The Tea Party Senator of the Great State of Kentucky was prevented from boarding his flight in Nashville Tennessee on this day. As the story goes, the good Senator set off an alarm, while passing through the Body Scanner. After refusing the pleasure of a ‘Full Body Pat Down’, Senator Paul was escorted from the security area, causing him to miss his D.C. flight.
Senator Rand Paul is a boisterous advocate and proponent, as is his Presidential Candidate Dad, Ron Paul, of non invasion methods of assessing risk. The Senator has recommended the elimination of TSA Pat Downs as a security procedure. The current policy of ‘Body Scanners and Pat Downs’ have been a staple in the fabric of American air travel since 2010; which elicited a non partisan public backlash.
An interesting component of the back-story regarding Senator Paul and the TSA; in June of 2011, Rand Paul confronted TSA Administrator John Pistole regarding the random Pat Down of a Six Year Old Kentucky resident.
"This isn't to say that we don't believe in safety procedures," Paul said. "But I think I feel less safe because you're doing these invasive exams on a six-year-old. It makes me think you're clueless that you think she's going to attack our country and that you're not doing your research on the people who would attack our country."
Presidential Candidate and longtime Libertarian Congressman of Texas Ron Paul weighed in on the state of affairs. The TSA "gropes and grabs our kids and our seniors and does nothing to keep us safe" accusing security officials as part of an “out of Control Police State.”
The TSA operates checkpoints in more than 400 U.S. Airports. In excess of 650 million passengers fly on U.S. Airlines. The TSA defends its policy and procedures as a necessary element to protect and ensure the safety of passengers.
The good Senator was eventually rebooked and rescreened but the TSA could not say what triggered the Alarm in the first place.