BINGO. These guys are running tests for things on everyone assuming that they will find one of the very few who may have a problem. This is akin to testing everyone for a disease with a a very invasive procedure regardless of whether or not you have displayed any of the symptoms or risk profiles of someone who actually does have the disease. They could actually learn something from the medical field if they chose to.

thanks much for the welcome exbayern. Yet is it not the case that it isn't the thread that is absurd, but rather it is the recent behavior of the TSA in this area that is simply incomprehensible. I no longer fly as a result of their invasive policies. My college age "children" (ok they're now young adults) take trains to and from college on semester breaks (a LOOOONG train ride, btw) because they, being female don't want to be felt up or looked at naked by some creep in a booth and endure radiation whose safety is not even known yet. No matter how much people like Dr. Eyecue claim to be clinically disinterested, just like your gynecologist. That's rich.

Now, I don't want to beat up Eyecue just because he has an opinion different than mine. I just want him to know how violated I and my family feel, and that is a pain that will probably never go away even after he and his kind STOP. And I want him and his kind to know how firmly we are resolved to stop these filthy practices of the TSA. Napolitano and Pistole claim travelers are "Getting used" to it. WE will never accept it.

Virtually everyone that wears a bra also has a vagina that could easily conceal something of that size.

You're putting a major lock on a glass door.

And many of them wear underpants, or socks, or stockings as well as a bra.

This actually makes sense. It's a standard ploy to fake an emergency of some kind in order to draw security people away from their job.

But many of the people wearing underpants or socks don't have a vagina.

I do agree that the other areas are also possible hiding places although it would tend to cause a more obvious bump in such areas.

I do agree the primary motivation is punishment of opt-outs, though.

But those same people are handling people with medical issues and handling or removing (or damaging) medical devices or dressings. They obviously don't have the knowledge or the skills, as also evidenced here.

The policy on dealing with emergencies may make sense but the knowledge level required to handle those customers and those devices is not sufficient. There are many reports of TSOs causing more harm and pain to customers due to their lack of knowledge or lack of interest or concern.

That is exactly what's happening. Probing for postage stamps in bras draws the security people away from the real threats.

I'll bet you've found lots of joints and roaches this way. Oh, that's right -- you're not looking for drugs.

1/2 inch x 3/16 inch is smaller than a 'regular' size paperclip. WHAT in heavens name could I do with something that small to threaten the security of the plane? Heck, I'd just put it right under my underwire (that has at times alarmed the WTMD) - since that's wider than 3/16"!

oh please. You want to know where a soft target at the airport is?

The TSA check point itself.

When TSA has hundreds of people lined up to get groped and irradated, that entire area is as soft as it gets.

And if the day ever comes that a TSA agent does actually find a bomb on a person, you should fully expect that this person will detonate it the moment it is detected killing the TSA agent that finds it, plus the other hundreds of innocents standing around waiting.

That my friend is a soft target and with the cross hairs directly on you.

I suppose...
But we must watch out for cashews tucked away in bras, too!

Merry Christmas, my friend! Safe and unmolested travels! I'm almost done for the year, and will probably switch my next trip to a drive. More due to flight timing than TSA, but that is an additional factor.

Spot on.

Pretty hard to post a meaningful rebuttal to this statement.

Such a scenario will, IMO, occur at some point and then we get the extra, Israeli-type screening at all public entrances which will, in effect, shut-down American commerce as we know it.

And the terrorists will win once again.

Yup - smaller than a tampon (or a suppository for the men). I can guarantee you I regularly insert objects larger than that into my vagina, and walk around all day effortlessly, but I would consider it very uncomfortable to stash anything in my bra. If TSA is not doing cavity searches, what is the point of searching for objects this size? That's like putting iron bars across the windows and leaving the front door wide open. (or the back door )

I had a fleeting image of stashing some gummy worms in my bra for my next airport trip.

TSO: What is this?
JD: Oh I wondered where those went. <pops one in mouth> Want one?

People can hide stuff anywhere on their body. I think that most of the people on here don't realize just how cunning and creative people can be if they really are intent on smuggling something past security and it's not just bombs and explosive which are highly unlikely but more than likely would be illegal substances.

No need to be creative when there are body cavities. No doubt - but TSA should only be concerned with threats that could bring down a plane. Sure I can hide a joint in several places on my person, but that doesn't mean TSA has any business finding it, or designing searches that detect contraband other than weapons, incendiaries, and explosives (WEI).