Poll: Do New TSA Airport Screens Go Too Far?

Revealing full-body scans and genital-touching pat-downs are poised to become a regular fixture of airline travel in the U.S., and people are hopping mad about it.

There have been accusations on both sides of fear mongering, insider profiting scandals and abuse.

Some of the effects of this two month-old change in the way airline passengers are screened are already being felt:

• CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg warns that the most immediate effect of these new security procedures will be longer lines and even travel delays, perhaps in no small part because even airline pilots have come out vehemently against them.

• There are several reports, some disputed, of dust-ups with Transportation and Security Administration agents not really offering promised alternatives to the scans.

• Some reports claim TSA agents are simply booting passengers and pilots from airports for refusing to take part, something the TSA notes is its right to do after a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling.

A surprising effect of the scans may eventually be a decline in air travel, according to an online Reuters poll. Reuters' readers were asked whether or not they would change their travel plans to avoid the invasive scans and pat-downs, and a whopping 96 percent (65,708 of 68,513) have thus far said yes.

Those numbers could be skewed because one of the plethora of online opponents to the new scanning procedures may have asked readers to go to the site and vote.

In contrast, a new CBS News Poll released Monday found 81 percent of Americans think airports should use these new machines -- including a majority of both men and women, Americans of all age groups, and Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. Fifteen percent said airports should not use them.

For her part, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says in a USA Today opinion piece that body scanners used at many airports are safe and the images viewed in private.

Health Blog: Should John Tyner Should Worry about More Than His Junk?

[AKWall]

Funny...CBS News keeps reporting that 80% of Americans approve the body scanners and/or enhanced pat downs, but when I saw the results of *this* poll, it was 83% *opposed* to the new screenings.

As for me...the 4th Amendment says it all: no unreasonable searches without probable cause. Buying a ticket isn't probable cause, so screw off, TSA!

[robbyr2]

The difference between the polls is pretty simple to understand, CBS. We may not be happy about showing our "junk" on screen, but apparently a majority of us can handle that. Its an entirely different thing from a caressing-down. And we aren't so stupid as to think the caressing-down is anything but a coercive attempt to make us take the x-ray route.

[slh294ever]

I am a Corrections Officer and in the course of my day I do many pat searches. We are NOT allowed to pat their inner thigh or groin area. This is against policy regarding the offenders privacy, and anyone found doing such pats are terminated. Please justify why an American Citizen has less rights to privacy than an incarcerated individual, when they go through airport security. This is definitely a violation to the 4th amendment

[OmegaWolf747]

It's a sad day when convicted felons have more rights than regular citizens who just want to fly from point A to point B.

[evolv]

Ok so these polls show that a 4/5 people are against the new TSA procedures and that they are a violation of our civil liberties. How come they are telling me on television the exact opposite?

[TyroneHoglegg]

Aw come on you bunch of whiny wimps....Obviously none of you have ever met/or shall I say encountered my proctologist Dr. Brownfinger....Because if you had, a TSA screen would be like a walk in the park.

[Hosheen]

Obviously, you have missed the entire point of the issue. It's about the loss of American Freedoms for no real reason. None of this makes anyone safer. It only provides jobs for people too stupid to even work in the fast food industry.

[USAF1962]

Am I the only one to notice but,these enhanced security measures are only in the US and not on any foreign soil. That all problems have come from foreign countries, and yet we continue these screenings on domestic flights. WHY?

[ScottxSmith]

I don't want to get cancer or sexually molested, just so I can go on vacation.

[ChefL]

1. What evidence is there that this is an effective deterrent to terrorism? Too many actions taken by police agencies in the past have not been showed to have the desired outcomes, and often are an abuse of power.
2. I'm not going to take my 13 year old daughter to Disney World next summer if it means the TSA gets to look at "naked" pictures of her, or feel her up. Not acceptable. More abuse of power by a bunch of pervs.

[robbyr2]

I for one am more concerned with the idea that most airline maintenance in done in Central America now with little or no oversight by the FAA than that the TSA will find the one in 100 million passengers with a plastic weapon up his you know what.

TSA is just worried about being one of the agencies to lose 10% of their workforce thanks to the Tea Party types.

[rickwreck]

The TSA keeps talking about the images not being saved but all you need is a security technician with a cell phone camera............and don't think that they won't....