That's another one of the many things that tells you that even the TSA doesn't think the children they are bodysearching have anything about to go kaboom on them other than their diapers.

Here's the decision tree:
1) Do you think this child is being used as a weapon?
a - NO: If so, keep your hands off his body.
b - YES: If so, immediately marshal all of the resources of our society in his behalf.

+1. Pistole has shown himself to be absolute scum in his handling in all of this. Then he goes a step further and lies, to Congress, thinking he is above the law. I listened to the hearing and the comments about children and elderly by Pistole. He knows he's getting put behind the 8 ball more and more, so now he'll "sacrifice safety" a little by changing the procedures for children. It just shows what a sham airport security is.

You get a +1!

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Wow. Tough crowd. Seems like no matter what TSA does, it's not good enough. On the one hand, TSA is wrong for screening children by using thd same methods used for adults. But if the process is modified for children, then TSA is wrong for not screening everyone the same way. TSA is criticized for not being responsive to public demands, but is now just as wrong for listening to what critics have said.

By the way, IF this is a change, then it hasn't reached the instructor level yet. But I do welcome it if true. I think this is a good step toward true risk management....finally! Not ready to say we're there, but I do see this as a step in the right direction.

I think you might have misunderstood the objection. What people are objecting to is not whether adults and children are screened alike or differently. What people are objecting to is THIS screening method. For everyone.

This! Why is it so hard to understand this? Many on this board have stated this over and over. The pat downs are insulting, inappropriate and are pretty much assault.

Well, to be fair to the denizens of FT ... most who post here would claim that TSA's current level of screening is universally too invasive. Modifying the screening procedures for children is probably a good thing, but it doesn't change the desire to reduce the screening level for everyone else, too.

We do, unfortunately, seem to be setting up some rather odd tiers of screening. TSA started by performing a fairly high (invasive?) screening of everyone. Fairly quickly, airport employees were exempted. And, of course, TSOs are exempted (except perhaps at beginning of shift). And then diplomats are exempted (if they have the right credentials). And then air crews complained mightily and got their screening requirements reduced substantially.

Now, we're talking about exempting "children" from invasive screening (though it'll be interesting to see how Pistole et. al. define "child"). And, there's long-term discussion of exempting others from invasive screening in exchange for providing detailed background information.

Seems, to this uninformed observer, like TSA is putting so many exceptions to screening in place that it's hard to see what the overall philosophy is.

Maybe, just maybe, if those low-levels of screening granted to folks in those categories is really good enough for them, it might be good enough for the rest of us.

But I'll be the first to admit that I'm not trained in risk management.

Pistole's comments have started a discussion thread over on The Consumerist.

And someone there told me they'd support me if I ran for office.

Frankly, I, too, think you should.

Well, that's certainly one way to twist everyone's words.

Here's the issue: so long as everyone, er apparently now most people, must prove their innocence, instead of having the government (that's TSA in this case) prove the peoples' guilt, yeah, I for one am not going to be happy.

The Law clearly states that we are protected from our government by unreasonable search of our persons. Period. It's a pretty simple thing to comprehend.

The spirit of that law is a long tradition, going back even further than the founding of our own country, that everyone, every. one., visitor, resident, citizen, is innocent until proven guilty.

What TSA is currently doing is assuming everyone, well as of today not everyone, to prove their innocence. Nope. Not gonna fly. TSA does this because, as an organization, it has proven itself entirely inept at performing the function for which it was created. For its failures it punishes the people.

When TSA stops abusing the spirit of the law, when TSA stops treating everyone as if they are a criminal, then, and only then will I be happy.

Is it really that difficult to understand?

Uh, no.

Based on the example in the cite, it seems as though TSA staffers will run a kid multiple times through the x ray if they don't get a good image the first time.

That's a good public health move.

Hey, I would, too (with my vote...not with my money)!!

Even Pistole says "We need to use common sense."

I guess common sense is anything but common.