Alaska State Representative Sharon Cissna was the star witness at a U.S. House hearing today (Wednesday) about TSA oversight. The Transportation Security Administration was under scrutiny in Washington for its use of full body scans and hands-on examinations. Cissna told members of a House Oversight subcommittee about her experience getting what she describes as an invasive pat-down at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport last month.

Cissna is a breast cancer survivor and has scars from a mastectomy that showed up in a full body scan. When a T-S-A worker insisted on touching her, Cissna refused. She was not allowed to fly, so she left the airport and made the long trip to Alaska by road and ferry instead.

Cissna told the committee that the innocent phrase “pat down” didn’t begin to describe what she went through the first time she had to get a body search after her scars registered on a scanner.