I'm skeptical too, just in general, but let me remind you that several TSA and LEO-type posters have indicated here that once you approach the WTMD, you can NOT just withdraw your consent to screening and leave if they decide to make you a selectee, search your bag, pat you down, etc. The usual example is that if you realize the patdown/bag-search will find a gun, you can't just walk away scott free.

So under that logic, if they decided to strip/probe you, you couldn't back out.

I still strongly doubt there is any official TSA policy about doing cavity searches and suspect that if it is happening, it is limited to a few overzealous checkpoints. I also suspect that if it is happening, it will make the news very very soon, probably prior to Christmas.

I hope the perpetrators of any such policy go to jail, and the victims of any such policy get every penny of the personal $ and property of any screener/supervisor that "made up" any such unofficial policy.

Or exaggerate perhaps ? What I/we consider to be a body cavity search may not in fact be what took place. I certainly do not disbelieve that rogue TSA screeners could do such a thing, but until something more tangible than hearsay is presented, I'll reserve judgment.

I think that is an eminently reasonable point of view. One of the reasons I posted this story, depsite it being hearsay, was that I was hoping others might be able to shed some light on this subject. From a purely selfish standpoint, I would like to be reassured that this is a very out-of-the-ordinary experience and that I have no reason to expect to be searched in this manner when I try to board an airplane. So, if nobody else posts a similar story, I would chalk it up to a very bad TSA agent, and not be worried the next time I fly. Conversely, if lots of other people post that they have been subjected to body cavity searches, then I think we should all be worried.

I don't think either of the people who were searched would have exaggerated the story, or would have a different definition of body-cavity search than the rest of us. But, like I said, I don't expect people to take my word for it, I'm just some random person on the internet.

I have no problem believing it happened, and I am truly outraged that it was done by the TSA - the ACLU needs to be on this fast! Are body-cavity searches part of the 'secret' TSA SOP that no one is suppose to know about? What authority is granted the TSA or law enforcement to hold someone for a search if they refuse one?

In another thread I mentioned the experience of a friend of mine at ATL a number of years ago (well pre-9/11). Upon checking in at the DL counter for a reserved-but-not-paid one-way ticket, the agent refused the credit card because of the limited time to departure and insisted on cash (the fare was only $75). When my friend paid cash, she picked up the phone and called the ATL police who took him away to a back room, illegally searched his bags and performed a strip-search (including a cavity exam) before escorting him to the plane. I was so enraged, I wouldn't quit hollering until he agreed to hire a lawyer. The lawyer was too much of a chicken-sh$$ to sue the police, but he did sue Delta, and the issue was settled out of court.

This type of activity has been going on for a long time - about the only thing that allows it to continue is the submissive behavior of its victims. People need to learn to say "no!".

I call upon the ACLU to begin gathering data on this activity and prepare the appropriate legal challenges, and I would also like to ask Joe Sharkey to begin looking into this for a potential report in the NYT.

Just speculating, but there may have been some procedural issues barring the suit against the police in the situation you described. It's a lot easier to sue a corporate entity than it is to sue a government entity (yes, I went to law school). Not to say that the lawyer wasn't also cowardly, I mean, I wasn't part of this situation so I can't say.

My understanding is that the ACLU is already working on this issue (along with the pat-down search issues that others have raised), so you don't have to worry about calling on them to take action. As for the NYT, I don't know if they're working on a story or not. I have no connections in the media.