#TSA 10 Years Later

The pat-down became so invasive I voiced an objection. The TSA supervisor sneered, “Everyone gets treated the same.” But, not everyone was getting a two-against-one pat-down behind a closed door. I asked the TSA agent if she thought I looked like a terrorist (wasn’t that supposed to be the point of all this?).

That is when she threatened to turn me over to the police if I uttered one more word and she “guaranteed” the police would treat me worse than TSA did. Whatever I might say later, it would be the testimony of two TSA agents against mine. I took her at her word and silently submitted to the remainder of her groping.

At TSA security checkpoints, I used to seek the fastest-moving line. Now, I search for a line without a body scanner. Seeing no such line on a recent trip, I cued up, placed my carry-on possessions and articles of clothing onto the conveyor that moves items through X-ray and waited for the dreaded words, “Ma’am, step into the body scanner.” “No,” I replied.

Glancing at me with blatant annoyance, the TSA agent shouted, “Female pat-down!” Another TSA agent ordered me into a portable room enclosure. As I stepped inside the room, I noticed a sign taped to the door reminding TSA personnel, “Do not lock the door.” My anxiety grew as the TSA agent toyed with the lock, oddly pushing the button in and out numerous times, provoking my request for a supervisor. The supervisor arrived - a big supervisor. Big mistake. I assumed having a witness was to my benefit. I was wrong.

As a Daughter of the American Revolution, my lineage includes an ancestor who fought for our independence from a coercive tyranny. Today, we gradually surrender our freedoms to an insatiable federal government that feeds on our hard-earned dollars to accumulate more power to control our lives while eroding our liberties.

If we silently acquiesce to expanding federal government power that diminishes our rights as set forth in the U.S. Constitution, we are complicit in creating a society as oppressive as the one from which our forefathers chose to separate. Americans have a constitutional right to travel freely without unreasonable constraints.

The Privileges and Immunities Clause of the U.S. Constitution governs freedom of movement in America. The Supreme Court recognizes freedom of movement as similar to our First Amendment rights to freedom of association and freedom of expression.

Gail A. Jaquish is a founder of the Jaquish & Kenninger Foundation and of Jurix. She is a member of the Hoover Institution Board of Overseers and a former vice chairman of the U.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors.