Something being SSI does not make it against federal law to document. The mere fact that this procedure is performed on a passenger breaks the SSI barrier - that passenger is free to communicate anything and everything about their experience and neither the TSA or any other federal agency can say jackspit about it.

Plus, just to be the ........ that I feel like being tonight, allow me to quote something stated here by eyecue merely for highlighting purposes:
So much for the assertion made by several of our TSA employee posters that "no TSO" will ever perform this procedure...

There is a Federal law that says that even if classified information is leaked, it is still considered classified until it is released by the government agency that classified it. That law is applied to SSI.
In regards to your other point. Depends on what patdown is being given and your definition of TSO. Everyone at a CP that is in uniform is a TSO. There are STSO, LTSO and TSO. If you are talking about the standard patdown then any of the above can give it. If you are talking about the resolution pat down then only TSO of higher rank can perform it. I took this thread to be about the standard patdown.

Funny, SSI does not exist in Executive Order 13526, Section 1.2, which describes the currently applicable standards for classified information in the federal government:
In particular, please pay attention to (3)(b) above. Claiming that SSI is governed under these rules is laughable. in addition, attempting to infer that the passenger receiving these procedures is required to keep them secret or be accused of creating a "leak" is also incredibly amusing.

Indeed, as I read the rules on SSI (part 1250), it seems to fairly explicitly unnumerate those to whom nondisclosure applies and, very unlike classified information, people to whom SSI is disclosed, other than the specific list of authorized recipients, seem to have no duty to protect the privacy of such information.

As to photographic documentation of pat-downs, the basic principle in the US is that if something is illegal, there must be some regulation making it so. Those who claim that it's illegal need to point to that regulation.

The lack of such regulation is sufficient in one-party states. For two-party states, if the TSO does not consent to such recording, then it would legally be the TSA that is declining to do further search and the passenger has completed the screening procedure and must be allowed into the sterile area.

Very well. The photography will be stills and and the identity of the clerks will not be shown, just their hand and the passenger. I would grant review of all photos and the clerks could delete any that do not comply. Still against the rules?

That's great - except that the patdown shouldn't be a standard *unless* there is probable cause. This is a 4th Amendment issue, and has been since the government took over passenger screening. A LEO cannot stop or otherwise detain someone without probable cause, and a warrant must be issued for a search.

If the *airline* wants to search passengers as a condition of flight passage, hey, have at it. If my GOVERNMENT wants to do so, then they need to do so within the confines of what's allowable by the Constitution. And I am by law to be secure in my person and property unless a warrant is issued for probable cause.

You wanna run me through the WTMD and X-ray my baggage? I'll grumble, but it's not terribly invasive. I alarm there? Fine. NOW you have probable cause.

You want to force ME into an X-ray being run by an unlicensed tech with little or no safety guarantees, and/or feel me up just because I want to fly? Get a warrant demonstrating the threat.

Why? That's the question. The NoS has been in use for a few months - how many weapons has it stopped in comparison to the number of passengers screened? Seriously - that information must be available somewhere.

Why is the picture being viewed hidden from the passenger being scanned? I should be able to see *exactly* what the monitor is seeing.

That should be changed. If I give consent to my screening being taped, as long as there is no identification of the LTSO or other party performing the screening, then I should be legally allowed to do so. Is the DHS/TSA taping secondary screenings? If not, how do they monitor to make sure that no violations of protocol are taking place? What independent group is watching out for the passengers in these situations?

We already see TSOs denying that what people subjected to these searches have said is happening - who's watching them? We know that it doesn't matter what Blogger Bob says, TSOs make up their own rules at the airport, and the flying public has NO recourse if they want to fly. You can complain after the fact, but then the TSOs just deny anything untoward has happened.

And you wonder why we don't trust the TSA and the TSOs? There is no consistency, we're told one thing on the official blog on the official website, but then told that those rules are at the discretion of the TSO. Put someone with a superiority complex in a $12/hr job that requires nothing more than a GED to get, and anyone is surprised? Have you seen the security personnel in airports overseas? Those are folks I wouldn't want to mess with. Some of the TSOs in my home airport couldn't run 100 yards if they HAD to.

Instead of using invasive techniques, why not dogs?

If the patdown is warranted, that's fine. Simply refusing to be x-rayed should not warrant a patdown absent probable cause.

So...these terrorists that want to bring down our planes don't even have to learn to fly. Just get a job at a funeral home, pack a coffin full of explosives, slap a sticker on it, and you can run every passenger on the plane through NoS and subject them to invasive patdowns, and it won't prevent a thing.

That's safety for ya. Oh - and while I may not be able to file charges, I can certainly institute a civil suit. My time & money, but the government will have to answer for the actions of their employees in forcing victims to relive sexual assault for no valid reason. Hubby has decided he will probably fly in his kilt, the traditional way, in the future. Someone on another board I frequent suggested spreading mayonnaise on the privates before going through security. That could be fun.

Let me ask this question about video taping the "resolution" pat down:

Is there a camera in the room taping the procedure? If so, I can demand the tape as soon as you are finished assaulting me.

(Oops, sorry did not see that the poster immediately before me asked about the camera in the punishment room.)

However, that leads me to another thought: someone needs to set up a situation wherein they get tagged for the resolution pat down. Then they need to ask to bring a witness into the room and that witness would be their attorney, who would immediately make a demand for the tape.

TSA is getting itself into some very deep water here and I believe this super-secret-off-to-a-private-room pat down will bring a heap of well-deserved trouble down on its head.

Are you mixing thoughts are stating that a person that Opts Out will have to be screened out of public view which would indicate the Resolution Screening?

I also wonder how the TSO would react if, upon refusing the NoS, I was directed to be felt up (you can call it 'pat down' all you want) and I take off my shirt & pants. After all, if a monitor can see me completely naked without my having a valid concern, certainly the TSO performing the secondary should have no problem with me stripping down in public in the security line, right?

And what about kids? What if a child screams when they are being touched completely inappropriately in the airport? As a parent, I sure as heck wouldn't discipline any child who yelled that they were being touched in their private parts by a TSO. In fact, I would TELL my kids to yell as loud as they can if someone touches them inappropriately.

What "higher" level of TSA employee is authorized to perform an "enhanced" pat down?

superclerk - they get to re-ink the stamppad...

Think they call them leads and supervisors. Truly misnomers when talking things TSA.

This picking the fly s_it out of the pepper by TSA employees is really disingenuous.

I, for one, am getting hopelessly confused as to which pat-down is which and what it's for. Since the recent changes seem intended to decrease the number of types of pat-downs, this confusion is all the more confusing!

You have the wrong EO try 12958. I will verify that at work.

JObeth66, your husband just became one of my heroes. (and my husband just went to the attic to start looking for his kilt...) ^