Former Miss USA Complains TSA Pat Down Left Her Feeling "Violated"

Earlier this week, former Miss USA Susie Castillo posted a video on her blog that expresses how many of us feel after a TSA pat down. She’s gone through the process before, but after a particularly invasive search at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, she filmed this video and filed several complaints. She says that she almost didn’t post it because she wondered, “Am I just being a baby?” but she feels a TSA agent “molesting” her is unproductive and should be illegal. She writes:

I felt completely helpless and violated during the entire process (in fact, I still do), so I became extremely upset. If I wanted to get back to Los Angeles, I had no choice but to be violated, whether by radiation or a stranger. I just kept thinking, “What have I done to deserve this treatment as an upstanding, law-abiding American citizen?” Am I a threat to US security? I was Miss USA, for Pete’s sake!

Besides, is this procedure really protecting us? I remember hearing about an Al Qaeda terrorist successfully evading security detection by placing a bomb in his rectum. All in an attempt to assassinate Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef. So what if that happened in the US? Would we then be subjected to random rectal exams in addition to x-rays and being groped by strangers? How far is this going to go? More specifically, how far will WE let this go? As they say, if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. I think it’s time to stand up for our personal liberty.

It would be one thing if these procedures were actually making us safer, but as Castillo points out, someone who really wanted to get explosives or weapons onto a plane could figure out a way to do so without having them dangling out of their waistbands. One TSA agent even commiserated with Castillo, saying there are definitely “loop holes” in the procedure.

Castillo has started petitions on Twitter and Change.org, but a significant number of Americans already made it clear that they object to the new security measures when they debuted. We all know “security theater” isn’t really accomplishing anything except irritating and upsetting passengers, and it certainly feels like there’s nothing we can do about it.