WICHITA—U.S. Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) issued the following statement about ongoing privacy concerns related to the invasive Transportation Security Administration (TSA) procedures on passengers this Thanksgiving holiday season.

“The TSA needs to back off these intrusive and offensive passenger searches on U.S. citizens and start deploying screening procedures similar to Israel’s successful model,” said Tiahrt. “Instead of searching elderly veterans and young children using invasive measures, the TSA should use aggressive terrorist profiling, interviews and enhanced K-9 units.

“Americans expect the federal government to keep our homeland safe, but we will not tolerate the unnecessary loss of personal liberty and privacy when other viable security measures are available. The real issue is that the Obama administration and the TSA are unwilling to engage in terrorist profiling out of fear of offending someone. Instead of balancing security and personal freedom, the administration is enraging millions of Americans who are fed up with the TSA treating young children, senior citizens, veterans and other patriotic Americans as a security threat.

“I applaud Americans who are expressing their outrage at these new TSA invasive procedures. If Israel can balance tight security with individual liberty and common sense, the United States should be able to do no less.”

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