Do corporate travel managers support body scans and pat-downs?

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find anyone who supports the Transportation Security Administration’s controversial body scan and pat-down procedures. But this morning, it seemed as if I had: corporate travel managers.

Travel managers are the folks who manage multi-million dollar travel programs for big companies. They are represented by the National Business Travel Association (NBTA), which bills itself as the “world’s premier business travel and corporate meetings organization.”

In a press release issued today, the NBTA announced that it had met with TSA Administrator John Pistole and expressed “its support for the security measures the TSA has introduced over the last several weeks.”

Oh really?

I wanted to make sure I wasn’t misreading what NBTA was saying. I have a great deal of respect for the work of the organization, and believe corporate travel managers perform a vital function in the travel industry.

So here’s what NBTA said in context:

NBTA recognizes that security is the single most important role of the TSA. It reiterated its support for the security measures the TSA has introduced over the last several weeks.

However, as members of the NBTA community have reported discrepancies in deployment of TSA security measures at airports across the country, NBTA reiterated that TSA must maintain open lines of communications so that the traveling public can report on inconsistencies in security implementations.

In other words, travel managers don’t mind the scans and pat-downs — after all, those are the most high-profile of the new security measures that have been put into place in recent weeks — but the agency needs to do a better job of communicating.

Is that really what travel managers are saying?

That’s debatable. Travel managers are calling their lawyers. They think the TSA has gone too far. And a survey conducted of TSA’s own membership describes managers as “concerned” and not specifically accepting of scans and pat-downs.

So I contacted the organization and asked what it meant when it said it supported TSAs security measures. Did it mean that in a general sense, including less hotbutton initiatives such as its Secure Flight requirements and its Global Entry program? Or did it mean corporate travel managers support TSA’s scans and pat-downs, which have been widely criticized as being invasive and unconstitutional?

Much to its credit, I heard back from an NBTA spokeswoman almost immediately. She said NBTA only supports the “general” security policies.

Phew. I would say the world is safe for democracy again, but that might be a little bit of an exaggeration.

Good for NBTA for meeting with the TSA and conveying the feelings of its membership regarding scans and pat-downs.

I hope the government is listening.

  • cjr

    So, basically, NBTA doesn’t have the guts to be honest unless they’re prodded into being just as vague with a comment as they are with their initial statement?

    I’m sorry, but this comes across as more like talking out of both ends without having to take a real stand.

  • DJP

    There is some backroom deal in the works where the enhanced system is only for infrequent travelers but this business organization members will get to be in some sort of prescreening security system which would allow business travelers to bypass much of this security screening or go through a special grope-free line.

  • http://www.cogitamusblog.com/2010/12/in-a-perfect-melding-of-the-keystone-kops-meetobrien-janet-napolitano-is-coming-to-a-walmart-near-you-her-video-urging-if.html Lisa Simeone

    DJP writes: “There is some backroom deal in the works where the enhanced system is only for infrequent travelers but this business organization members will get to be in some sort of prescreening security system which would allow business travelers to bypass much of this security screening or go through a special grope-free line.”

    Exactly. It’s going to be a two-tier system — just like the rest of the country — where the rich, powerful, and connected get to bypass the abuse that the hoi polloi have to put up with. It’s unjust. And I refuse to fly because of it. Even though I’m one of those people who could probably get on an “approved” list, it’s not fair to the millions of other citizens who will continue to be treated like criminals.

    We have to stand up for ourselves — and for others. We have to demand that the TSA and DHS stop trashing the 4th Amendment. If our rights are taken away from us, it’s because we allow it.

  • Dave Cochran

    I boarded at Spokane airport recently, one of the TSA staff thought he was in charge and ordered me to put my wallet in a container through the X-ray. He even made me put my boarding pass in a bin. I said it’s not metal he replied that I was going through a body scanner (it looked like the plain old metal detector to me). Since they have the power to detain I quit arguing.

  • cjr

    “Since they have the power to detain I quit arguing.”

    Which means TSA will continue to get exactly what they want, and do whatever they want, since you are so willing to be compliant.

  • http://www.cogitamusblog.com/2010/12/in-a-perfect-melding-of-the-keystone-kops-meetobrien-janet-napolitano-is-coming-to-a-walmart-near-you-her-video-urging-if.html Lisa Simeone

    As Dave Cochran points out, they do have the power to detain us — there go yet more of our rights.

    I think Chris may have posted this link in another thread, but I can’t remember. It’s similar to John Tyner’s experience, though with a better outcome. But the noteworthy difference is that this man, Matt Kernan, was told he had to be scanned/groped while coming back into the country. The TSA is indeed taking over:

    Man Upholds His Constitutional Rights; Allowed to Pass Without Backscatter or Groping

    http://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/man-upholds-his-constitutional-rights-allowed-to-pass-without-backscatter-or-groping_11232010

  • cjr

    The latest alert is now for thermoses. While TSA has yet to actually ban them, I suppose it’s only a matter of time.

    I can’t wait to see what TSA has to be reactionary to next.

  • http://www.cogitamusblog.com/2010/12/rape-victim-refuses-tsa-breast-grope-handcuffed-arrested-by-police.html Lisa Simeone

    I know — than thermos & foam cup ban — hilarious!! The Keystone Kops are running our lives. Or perhaps I should say the inmates are running the asylum. On second thought, no, that’s insulting to inmates.

    Did you see that woman in Austin, rape survivor, who refused to acquiesce to getting groped, so the TSA called the cops, who promptly handcuffed and arrested her. Dragged her out of the airport. Video all over the web. Or click my name above to see it.

  • Ann in Texas

    Lisa, you need to correct your info, there. Austin-Bergstrom doesn’t have the body scanners; the airport floor can’t accommodate their weight, and the city passed a resolution on Dec 14 saying they won’t accept them even if the facility is upgraded. ABA has only magnetometers (as you can see in the video you yourself posted), and internal pacemaker-type devices aren’t affected by those. Claire Hirschkind had passed through security in ABA at Thanksgiving with no trouble, going through the magnetometer. On the day in question, she refused the magnetometer, not the body scan. This woman went to the airport with the intention of a raising a fuss about a device that doesn’t even exist there; she called attention to herself on purpose when she could easily have gone through the normal, non-invasive screening. She wanted to make a point and she chose the wrong place to do it. If you want to protest the porno-scanners, do it in a city that hasn’t already banned them.

    I’m rabidly opposed to the porno-scans and the patdowns, but you don’t help anything when you spread misinformation. This incident could not have happened as you describe it in the place you claim it happened.