TSA lunacy

“…Professionally, and according to proper procedure.” That’s how the TSA describes the way its agents acted recently when they forced a frail and ill 95-year-old woman to remove her adult diaper because they needed to inspect it.

I suppose this could serve as a warning for anyone considering a career with the TSA. It’s not all about looking at x-ray images of traveling supermodels.

But c’mon folks. How many more ridiculous and insulting stories like this will we have to endure before the federal government admits its “proper procedure” isn’t the best way to keep the skies safe?

I suppose al Qaida could have gotten to 95-year-old Lena Reppert during one of those moments when her daughter, who was pushing her wheelchair, was momentarily distracted, and stuck a bomb up her diaper. Or maybe Reppert herself might have been in cahoots with a terrorist, playing out her secret life-long wish to destroy Western civilization.

I’m just doubtful, that’s all.

Once and for all, the TSA should make its goal to inspect people, not things. Six-year-old girls on the way to Disneyland with their parents and 95-year-old women at the Northwest Regional Airport in Florida do not make likely suspects.

The underwear bomber started all this nonsense. He could have been detected through more sophisticated profiling techniques – such as, gee, I don’t know, listening to his dad, who told two CIA officers at the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, Nigeria, that his son had adopted extreme views and might be a security risk.

As it is, if you use a wheelchair you might as well stay away from the airport, considering all the alarm bells that will go off. That makes no sense. The TSA should be smart, not ridiculous.