A group of individuals that have been violated by TSA agents have put together the following Press Release:
Mitch Kominsky and Tom Alexander, two attorneys who work for the U.S. House of Reps. Oversight and Government Reform Committee under Congressman Darrell Issa (now the Ranking Member who will soon be the incoming Chairman of the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee), are actively pursuing statements from anyone who has had a negative experience with the TSA at any security checkpoint at a U.S. airport. This experience may have occurred anytime in the past up to the present day.
Kominsky and Alexander identified themselves as charged with collecting information about TSA abuse, and indicated their intention was to seek changes and penalties for violations of the law. They seemed quite eager to speak with anyone who fits into this category. They ask callers to write a concise paragraph or two about their experience that can be read or paraphrased to either over the phone. They also ask that callers have documentation on hand with dates, TSA employee names, etc. They will probably ask that supporting information then be e-mailed to them.
Mitch Kominsky’s and Tom Alexander’s phone number for reporting TSA abuse is 202-225-5074. The fax number is 202 225 3974.
Mitch Kominsky’s and Tom Alexander’s email address for sending documentation regarding TSA incidents of abuse: mitchell.kominsky@mail.house.gov
Lastly, we ask you to urge these gentlemen to add a category of “TSA civil rights violations” to the Oversight Committee’s list of investigations.
If you would like to tell your story on this blog, simply write to the following e-mail address:
TSA_Abuse@hotmail.com
Your story needs to be heard.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Sharon Cissna
The following is an article that was written by Daniel Rubin, a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, about Sharon Cissna.
Say 'No' to TSA - Alaska's Cissna tells House panel
March 17, 2011 | By Daniel Rubin, Inquirer Columnist
If the rallying cry of outraged air travelers last fall was "Don't touch my junk," a simpler and softer call has risen from an Alaska state representative and breast cancer survivor.
"No."
It's a powerful word, Sharon Cissna told a House subcommittee Wednesday. And each time she said it to a growing circle of TSA agents, airport workers, and police in Seattle last month, she felt more confident. "No," the Democrat from Anchorage recalled saying, "I will not be physically touched. I will leave the airport. There will be another way to return to the statehouse in Juneau."
She used the word horror to describe what happened in November, when she was returning from surgery and her prosthetic breast triggered a whole-body-imaging machine alarm. She likened the pat-down to a "feeling up."
As a girl, Cissna had been touched inappropriately, she told the panel, and as a mental-health counselor since 1962, she has tended victims of abuse. So when she learned that to get on the plane last month she would have to undergo another pat-down, she refused. She left the airport and traveled four days - by car, ferry, and small plane - to get home.
Cissna provided the most emotional moments during the first morning of testimony before a subcommittee that is probing the use of whole-body-imaging machines. The drama was provided by the jockeying between Democrats and Republicans over whether officials from the Transportation Security Administration would get to testify.
TSA officials objected Monday to having to sit next to the head of a privacy group that has sued the agency five times. Democrats were more sympathetic to the TSA's discomfort. Midway through the hearing, the TSA agreed to send two officials to answer questions, but with 45
minutes left before another panel needed the room, Subcommittee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, announced that the TSA would have to come another day. Ultimately, the chairman allowed the testimony.
Much pointed commentary emerged during a discussion of the new technology's safety and effectiveness. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said his group was battling the TSA to see 2,000 images of passengers' bodies it believes the agency has kept. The group contends that the machines can store the sensitive pictures when set in a training mode. The TSA denies the machines save such images.
Say 'No' to TSA - Alaska's Cissna tells House panel
March 17, 2011 | By Daniel Rubin, Inquirer Columnist
If the rallying cry of outraged air travelers last fall was "Don't touch my junk," a simpler and softer call has risen from an Alaska state representative and breast cancer survivor.
"No."
It's a powerful word, Sharon Cissna told a House subcommittee Wednesday. And each time she said it to a growing circle of TSA agents, airport workers, and police in Seattle last month, she felt more confident. "No," the Democrat from Anchorage recalled saying, "I will not be physically touched. I will leave the airport. There will be another way to return to the statehouse in Juneau."
She used the word horror to describe what happened in November, when she was returning from surgery and her prosthetic breast triggered a whole-body-imaging machine alarm. She likened the pat-down to a "feeling up."
As a girl, Cissna had been touched inappropriately, she told the panel, and as a mental-health counselor since 1962, she has tended victims of abuse. So when she learned that to get on the plane last month she would have to undergo another pat-down, she refused. She left the airport and traveled four days - by car, ferry, and small plane - to get home.
Cissna provided the most emotional moments during the first morning of testimony before a subcommittee that is probing the use of whole-body-imaging machines. The drama was provided by the jockeying between Democrats and Republicans over whether officials from the Transportation Security Administration would get to testify.
TSA officials objected Monday to having to sit next to the head of a privacy group that has sued the agency five times. Democrats were more sympathetic to the TSA's discomfort. Midway through the hearing, the TSA agreed to send two officials to answer questions, but with 45
minutes left before another panel needed the room, Subcommittee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Republican from Utah, announced that the TSA would have to come another day. Ultimately, the chairman allowed the testimony.
Much pointed commentary emerged during a discussion of the new technology's safety and effectiveness. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said his group was battling the TSA to see 2,000 images of passengers' bodies it believes the agency has kept. The group contends that the machines can store the sensitive pictures when set in a training mode. The TSA denies the machines save such images.
Lynn Fallon
Lynn Fallon was interviewed by an NBC correspondent regarding her molesting pat down experience. This interview can be viewed on the following website:
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/TSA_Goes_Too_Far_Philadelphia-119300269.html
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/TSA_Goes_Too_Far_Philadelphia-119300269.html
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Suzie Castillo
On April 27, 2011 Kurt Nimmo posted the following information on Alex Jones’ INFOWARS.COM about an incident that occurred with Suzie Castillo.
Miss USA Sexually Molested by TSA
Take a look at the following video:
In the video above, the former beauty queen who held the Miss USA title in 2003, Susie Castillo, says a TSA “screener” fondled her vagina during an intrusive pat-down.
Ms. Castillo was subjected to the groping after she refused to enter a naked body scanner at the airport in Dallas, Texas.
Castillo is currently a spokeswoman for Neutrogena and has appeared on a number of television shows, including the ABC Family reality television series, America’s Prom Queen. She also held the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen USA in 1998.
In late 2010, the TSA put in place new procedure guidelines instructing agents to use their “palms and fingers” to “probe” airline customer bodies for hidden weapons, including breasts and other private parts.
On April 15, CNN reported that people who complain about naked body scanners and intrusive airport pat-downs will be investigated as terrorists and criminals.
Lawmakers around the country have introduced legislation designed to rollback the pat-downs after the public and airline employees voiced complaints. In March, legislation was introduced into the Texas House of Representatives directly challenging the authority of the TSA in airports within the state and specifically aimed at criminalizing the use of naked body scanners and enhanced pat-downs.
In November of 2010, chief deputy DA and incoming DA of San Mateo County Steve Wagstaffe told the Alex Jones Show his office will prosecute TSA employees who engage in lewd and lascivious behavior while conducting pat-downs at the San Francisco International Airport. Wagstaffe told Alex Jones that county police will be sent into the San Francisco International Airport. If they witness TSA employees engaged in criminal conduct, they will make arrests and the DA’s office will prosecute.
In January, former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura launched a lawsuit against the TSA for subjecting him to humiliating pat-downs as he traveled for his work as the host of the popular TruTV show Conspiracy Theory. Ventura said that he would “no longer be forced by the TSA to prove he is not a criminal or terrorist.”
Earlier this week, Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, said the TSA had the authority to conduct an intrusive pat-down on a six year old girl. “Parts of the pat down, in another setting, clearly constituted the kind of inappropriate touching that, if done by anyone else, would have resulted in charges of child abuse and sexual assault. The pat down even caused the little girl to cry, her parents later said in televised interviews,” writes J. D. Heyes.
In November, an Alex Jones employee related her experience with the TSA in Denver. Her children were subjected to the intrusive pat-down procedure.
You can listen to her interview with Alex below:
.
Miss USA Sexually Molested by TSA
Take a look at the following video:
In the video above, the former beauty queen who held the Miss USA title in 2003, Susie Castillo, says a TSA “screener” fondled her vagina during an intrusive pat-down.
Ms. Castillo was subjected to the groping after she refused to enter a naked body scanner at the airport in Dallas, Texas.
Castillo is currently a spokeswoman for Neutrogena and has appeared on a number of television shows, including the ABC Family reality television series, America’s Prom Queen. She also held the title of Miss Massachusetts Teen USA in 1998.
In late 2010, the TSA put in place new procedure guidelines instructing agents to use their “palms and fingers” to “probe” airline customer bodies for hidden weapons, including breasts and other private parts.
On April 15, CNN reported that people who complain about naked body scanners and intrusive airport pat-downs will be investigated as terrorists and criminals.
Lawmakers around the country have introduced legislation designed to rollback the pat-downs after the public and airline employees voiced complaints. In March, legislation was introduced into the Texas House of Representatives directly challenging the authority of the TSA in airports within the state and specifically aimed at criminalizing the use of naked body scanners and enhanced pat-downs.
In November of 2010, chief deputy DA and incoming DA of San Mateo County Steve Wagstaffe told the Alex Jones Show his office will prosecute TSA employees who engage in lewd and lascivious behavior while conducting pat-downs at the San Francisco International Airport. Wagstaffe told Alex Jones that county police will be sent into the San Francisco International Airport. If they witness TSA employees engaged in criminal conduct, they will make arrests and the DA’s office will prosecute.
In January, former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura launched a lawsuit against the TSA for subjecting him to humiliating pat-downs as he traveled for his work as the host of the popular TruTV show Conspiracy Theory. Ventura said that he would “no longer be forced by the TSA to prove he is not a criminal or terrorist.”
Earlier this week, Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, said the TSA had the authority to conduct an intrusive pat-down on a six year old girl. “Parts of the pat down, in another setting, clearly constituted the kind of inappropriate touching that, if done by anyone else, would have resulted in charges of child abuse and sexual assault. The pat down even caused the little girl to cry, her parents later said in televised interviews,” writes J. D. Heyes.
In November, an Alex Jones employee related her experience with the TSA in Denver. Her children were subjected to the intrusive pat-down procedure.
You can listen to her interview with Alex below:
.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Airport Security Hassles Are Not Just For Philly
On March 14, 2011 Daniel Ruben, with the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote the following article.
As tales of bizarre screenings kept coming from the Philadelphia International Airport, my biggest question was: Is this a Philly problem, or is the TSA troubling passengers everywhere?
With help from congressional investigators, I can finally say we are not alone. Staffers with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have combed through 9,500
pages of documents they requested from the Transportation Security Administration, and examined 3,500 complaints of misconduct between January 2009 and last June.
From that list the TSA identified 89 civil rights complaints. Only one case came from Philadelphia.
As tales of bizarre screenings kept coming from the Philadelphia International Airport, my biggest question was: Is this a Philly problem, or is the TSA troubling passengers everywhere?
With help from congressional investigators, I can finally say we are not alone. Staffers with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have combed through 9,500
pages of documents they requested from the Transportation Security Administration, and examined 3,500 complaints of misconduct between January 2009 and last June.
From that list the TSA identified 89 civil rights complaints. Only one case came from Philadelphia.
Friday, March 11, 2011
TSA Screenings Will Be Focus Of U.S. House Hearing
On March 11, 2011 Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, Daniel Ruben, wrote the following article:
A House panel will conduct a hearing on TSA screenings Wednesday, and a star witness is expected to be an Alaska state representative whose prosthetic breast set off alarms and repeatedly led to "humiliating" pat-downs.
Sharon Cissna, a Democratic state representative from Anchorage, has been invited to testify before the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee's national security subcommittee about her ordeals at security checkpoints. Cissna's prosthesis triggered an alert on a full-body scanner in the fall and again last month in Seattle.
The subcommittee is to examine the effectiveness and safety of imaging technology and consider privacy concerns. The hearing was prompted in part by two 2010 Daniel Rubin columns in The Inquirer about searches at Philadelphia International Airport that U.S. Rep.Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) cited in a letter last March to Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. One column reported the complaints of the father of a disabled 4-year-old boy who was made to walk through metal detectors without leg braces. The other told of a college student who was accused of packing a suspicious white powder,only to hear from the TSA employee that he was kidding. The worker was fired.
A House panel will conduct a hearing on TSA screenings Wednesday, and a star witness is expected to be an Alaska state representative whose prosthetic breast set off alarms and repeatedly led to "humiliating" pat-downs.
Sharon Cissna, a Democratic state representative from Anchorage, has been invited to testify before the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee's national security subcommittee about her ordeals at security checkpoints. Cissna's prosthesis triggered an alert on a full-body scanner in the fall and again last month in Seattle.
The subcommittee is to examine the effectiveness and safety of imaging technology and consider privacy concerns. The hearing was prompted in part by two 2010 Daniel Rubin columns in The Inquirer about searches at Philadelphia International Airport that U.S. Rep.Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) cited in a letter last March to Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. One column reported the complaints of the father of a disabled 4-year-old boy who was made to walk through metal detectors without leg braces. The other told of a college student who was accused of packing a suspicious white powder,only to hear from the TSA employee that he was kidding. The worker was fired.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Lynsie Murley
The Smoking Gun printed the following article on January 13, 2011 about Lynsie Murley’s hellacious experience with TSA in Corpus Cristi back in 2008.
TSA Pays Off In Breast Exposure Suit
Texas woman, 24, receives “nominal” settlement
The settlement was disclosed in documents filed last week in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, where Lynsie Murley last year filed a lawsuit accusing the TSA of negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress in connection with the May 2008 incident at the Corpus Christi airport.
Murley’s lawyer, Jerry McLaughlin, declined to disclose the exact amount of money that his client is receiving, but termed the payout a “nominal settlement.” Asked if the amount hit six figures, McLaughlin laughed loudly and said the negotiated payment was “way less than that. It wasn’t a whole lot of money.” Murley, he said, “was never interested in the money,” and would not have filed a lawsuit if TSA officials had simply sent her a letter of apology.
Murley is pictured above in a photo from her Facebook page.
The 24 year old Murley alleged that after being “singled out for extended search procedures,” a TSA agent frisked her and “pulled Plaintiff’s blouse completely down, exposing Plaintiff’s reasts to everyone in the area.” Her complaint noted that, “as would be expected,” Murley was “extremely embarrassed and humiliated.”
Murley charged that TSA employees “joked and laughed about the incident for an extended period of time.” After leaving the security line to be “consoled by an acquaintance who had brought her to the airport,” Murley returned to the line, where a male TSA worker said that he had wished he was there when she first passed through. The employee, Murley recalled, added that “he would just have to watch the video.”
The court settlement was reached shortly after government lawyers deposed Murley. The agreement, McLaughlin said, “got her some justice.”
TSA Pays Off In Breast Exposure Suit
Texas woman, 24, receives “nominal” settlement
The settlement was disclosed in documents filed last week in U.S. District Court in Amarillo, where Lynsie Murley last year filed a lawsuit accusing the TSA of negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress in connection with the May 2008 incident at the Corpus Christi airport.
Murley’s lawyer, Jerry McLaughlin, declined to disclose the exact amount of money that his client is receiving, but termed the payout a “nominal settlement.” Asked if the amount hit six figures, McLaughlin laughed loudly and said the negotiated payment was “way less than that. It wasn’t a whole lot of money.” Murley, he said, “was never interested in the money,” and would not have filed a lawsuit if TSA officials had simply sent her a letter of apology.
Murley is pictured above in a photo from her Facebook page.
The 24 year old Murley alleged that after being “singled out for extended search procedures,” a TSA agent frisked her and “pulled Plaintiff’s blouse completely down, exposing Plaintiff’s reasts to everyone in the area.” Her complaint noted that, “as would be expected,” Murley was “extremely embarrassed and humiliated.”
Murley charged that TSA employees “joked and laughed about the incident for an extended period of time.” After leaving the security line to be “consoled by an acquaintance who had brought her to the airport,” Murley returned to the line, where a male TSA worker said that he had wished he was there when she first passed through. The employee, Murley recalled, added that “he would just have to watch the video.”
The court settlement was reached shortly after government lawyers deposed Murley. The agreement, McLaughlin said, “got her some justice.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)