My daughter and her husband have three beautiful young children. They live nearby. The other grandparents live some distance away. A few months ago my daughter's family were invited to visit. Since then:

1) My daughter was outraged when she viewed the pat-down of the 6-year old in New Orleans.

2) She and her husband were furious to discover that the TSA defended the pat-down as being proper.

3) With the arrest of TSO Gordon in Philly, they both realized that the "pat down" could have been much worse.

4) They also spoke to others and discovered that if a parent intervenes, they could be threatened with fines for "interfering with the screening process", and possibly arrest. It's basically their word against the screener; the screener may be crafty enough to avoid the surveillance cameras, and their children are too young to testify.

5) They read the discussion thread on the Gordon arrest, and discovered that the TSA should not be expected to protect their children from the TSA's employees.

Given the above, they made the only rational decision -- risk avoidance. They will be driving the long distance to the other grandparents instead of flying.

Thank you TSA. You've made our lives so much safer!

I think that it is senseless to expect TSA to recognize terrorists when they can't even find the disgusting people in their own organization.

I'm shocked and amazed the BDOs didn't pick them out! Oh wait, I forgot that shite doesn't work. /sarcasm

+100000000000000000

I can't "up vote" that one enough.

I think you have it backwards. "Disgusting" is apparently part of their hiring criteria, given what's been stated by Bloghdad Bob about the pat-downs.

Therefore, not only do they recognize such - they hire them for that exact reason.