I got an answer from TSA. Figures, they get the airport wrong....


I am writing in response to your email of March 17, 2011 to
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Customer Support for
Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. We regret you found your screening
experience unsatisfactory. While the screening process and your
security is very important, we also seek to provide the highest level of
customer support to all who pass through our checkpoints. I am very
sorry that you felt we demonstrated unprofessional conduct by being rude
and demeaning. Our policies focus on ensuring that all passengers,
regardless of their personal situations and needs, are treated with
dignity, respect, and courtesy.


You have also expressed concern regarding the use of discrimination as a
screening factor at our security checkpoints. Let me assure you, TSA is
committed to ensuring that airline passengers are not subjected to
additional screening based on discriminatory factors. Absent specific
intelligence information, TSA does not include as a screening factor any
passenger traits that may be directly associated with race; color;
national or ethnic origin, such as a passenger's name or mode of dress;
religion; or gender. TSO training stresses these points. A variety of
security measures are applied at the security checkpoint, and none of
these measures, including the additional screening you experienced, are
conducted based on profiling. Profiling is also generally prohibited by
the U.S. Constitution and Federal antidiscrimination laws. TSA wants to
assure you that application of secondary screening is based on objective
factors unrelated to the identity of an individual or that person's
personal attributes.


Passengers may be selected for secondary screening for different
reasons: (1) to clear an alarm, (2) to address an irregularity or
anomaly in the passenger's clothing outline, or (3) random selection.
The selection of passengers for additional screening may appear
inconsistent and arbitrary. The intensive nature of additional
screening also may seem to indicate that an individual is regarded as
high risk or a security threat. Neither impression is accurate. The
random selection of passengers for additional screening adds a layer of
protection and a degree of unpredictability to the screening process.
The random element prevents terrorists from undermining aviation
security by learning how the system operates. Random selection for
secondary screening prevents terrorists from using the predictability of
security measures to their advantage. TSA continues to explore
different security measures that make security screening more effective
and unpredictable.


Again, I do apologize that we may not have given due consideration to
your flight schedule and were rude. TSO's are required to be sensitive
and considerate and certainly should have done so. Last, I recommend
and have found many of our passengers find it helpful to engage with our
blog staff at http://blog.tsa.gov/ to discuss ongoing threats against
aviation, innovations in security, new technology and the checkpoint
screening processes. I sincerely hope your next trip through PHX is a
more positive one.


Wendy
Customer Service/Quality Improvement Manager