Airport Security Stops Joe Jonas

Singer Joe Jonas was trying to board a flight out of Abu Dhabi with girlfriend Ashley Greene of Twilight fame, he was stopped by security who were suspicious of something in his carryon luggage. Turns out the squeaky clean pop-star had placed a set of knives he'd purchased into his carryon bag, instead of his checked luggage. Bystanders said his response to the mistake was, "Whoopsies." When Jonas was approached by security they simply took the knives away and stored them with the checked luggage. If he'd been stopped in the U.S.--with all the new TSA procedures--who knows what sort of ordeal he'd have to go through. Probably some groping or an intense body scan.hat sort of ordeal he'd have to go through. Probably some groping or an intense body scan.

TSA Offers an iPhone App to Help Travelers

The TSA has come under fire recently, so they have released an iPhone app that will try to ease the pain of air travel by offering guidance on prohibited items, security wait times and packing tips.

No word if there will be info on how now to let a TSA screener touch your junk.

Young Boy Strip Searched at Salt Lake City Airport (Video)

This boy went through a metal detector and didn't set it off but was somehow selected for a pat down. The little boy didn't understand why he was being singled out, so the TSA couldn't complete the full pat on the young boy.

The boy's father tried several times to just hold the boys arms out for the TSA agent but  it didn't end up being enough for the guy.

The enraged father pulled his son shirt off and gave it to the TSA agent to search, thats when this video begins.

What security threat could this little boy pose at the Salt Lake City Airport?  This is a travesty and not necessary.  Hopefully a Utah Congressman or Senator sees this and calls for action. 

Holiday Travelers Worried Over TSA Body Scans

As the high-travel Thanksgiving holiday approaches, travelers and lawmakers in Washingtonare up in arms over airport security measures.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the U.S. Travel Association have been getting thousands of complaints. Facebook and Twitter are smoking with posted outrage. And the talk at the airports is not about canceled or delayed flights, it's about security sceenings and touching of one's "junk."

In response to terrorist threats, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) now gives airline passengers two choices: Get a full-body scan using low-dose radiation that shows a naked image – everything from head to toe – which may or not be harmful to one’s health, depending on the expert cited. Or refuse the scan and have a stranger run his or her hands over every part of your body.  What a choice!

"With the holiday travel season fast approaching, we need to make sure that security measures are in place that actually make us more secure without compromising passenger privacy," says the ACLU, which is urging people to sign its petition to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

In Washington, meanwhile, Rep. Ron Paul (R) of Texas has introduced the "American Traveler Dignity Act."

"It removes the immunity from anybody in the federal government that does anything that you or I can’t do," says Paul. "If you can’t grope another person and if you can’t X-ray people and endanger them with possible X-rays, you can’t take nude photographs of individuals, why do we allow the government to do it?"

The congressional concern reaches across the aisle.

Reps. Bennie Thompson (D) of Mississippi and Sheila Jackson Lee (D) of Texas (who chair the Committee on Homeland Security and the transportation security and infrastructure subcommittee, respectively) have asked the TSA for detailed information on the new enhanced security system and how the agency is handling complaints.

This Wednesday has been designated "National Opt-Out Day" in which travelers have been asked to refuse the relatively quick X-ray scan, which means that already long lines could become even longer as people wait to be patted down – a sort of slowdown meant to jam up the security system but which could also cause thousands of passengers to miss flights.

On its web site and Facebook page, the U.S. Travel Association (which represents some 1,700 travel businesses) is surveying travelers’ personal experiences, which it is forwarding to Congress and the White House.

As the debate continues, the use of the controversial scanners around the country is increasing each and every day.

"The number of scanners jumped from 40 at the start of this year to 373 installed at 68 airports across the USA as of last week," reports USA today. "The TSA is scheduled to have deployed 500 scanners, which cost roughly $170,000 each, by Dec. 31, and a total of 1,000 by the end of 2011."

Secretary Napolitano has asked for patience with the new enhanced security system.

The holiday season will be a major test of the system – and of travelers’ and airport workers patience.

The AAA estimates that 42.2 million Americans will be traveling – 1.6 million in the air.

From "Groin Check" to Don't Touch My Junk", What do we do Now?

"Don't touch my junk" is now a phrase that entered the lexicon over the weekend, when passenger John Tyner refused to undergo a full-body scan - or a patdown that included a "groin check" at the San Diego airport.

He told a TSA officer: "If you touch my junk, I am gonna have you arrested."

Of course, he captured it all on his cell phone, and it burned through the Internet like the swine flu all day Monday.

The security checks are a necessary evil, but many law-abiding Americans like the 31-year-old software engineer resent having to go through a full-body scanner or a patdown.

Secretary Janet Napolitano defended the Department of Homeland Security's use of full-body scanners and pat-downs as essential to "match the changing threat environment that we inhabit."

"This is all being done as a process to make sure that the traveling public is safe," she said, adding that officials would "have an open ear" if adjustments to the new rules needed to be made.

Beyond the scanning process, passengers will also be subject to greater scrutiny of their luggage and personal identification and stricter enforcement of long-standing rules like the ban on carry-on liquids over three ounces.

Us travelers really have no choice. If we re going to be flying this holiday season, we have to be ready for whatever the TSA is going to throw at us.