TSA San Diego March 15th

FLIGHT TO HOUSTON:

I was forced to wait ten minutes for a pat down, as TSA was unable to handle the request of 1 person to OPT OUT. When 2 people in a row opted out, they were completely overwhelmed.

Regardless of the fact that we now have to report to the airport an hour earlier to accommodate the TSA process, they are still obligated by duty to be able to perform their forced measures in a timely and courteous manner.

When a passenger rightly asks after 5 minutes, what is the delay, the TSA has no just cause to respond by saying we don’t have a right to ask and that our unprofessional delay is due to our decision to opt out. Instead, they need to give a reasonable timeline of expectation for when the pat down will occur, and they need to be able to explain why they are delaying, as staffing or shift change can be an issue at times. But most importantly, after 10 minutes of inability on their part to do their job, they should simply allow the passenger to go through the metal detector and be on their way, you know, the old fashioned way?

Their manager, Candi Jeffries, was trying to be helpful and I could see her working hard at all stations to make things work, but they were understaffed and needed to convey that to an inquiring passenger. But in no way does the TSA have any right to delay passengers due to their own inability to perform their function. In all cases, the rights of the passenger (also, still considered a law biding “innocent until proven guilty” and “tax paying” citizen, with all the rights guaranteed us by our constitution) should be treated with dignity and respect by the TSA otherwise, they become not only bullies, but as well, in their violation of our constitutional rights assured us by law, the TSA also becomes the criminal.

Know your rights. Speak up. The Citizens of this Nation should not be afraid because of the intimidating Gestapo tactics the TSA actively employs every day against it’s own people by threatening them with the power of the law just because the TSA in unable to cope with it’s own deficiencies. I have spent my entire professional life fighting for the oppressed as a member of America’s Green Berets and it would seem I now have to keep up the fight at home. But I, for one, will not give away my freedoms easily.

If the TSA intends to continue to be the attacker on the American people, I aim to misbehave…