TSA boosts security checks ahead of Christmas holiday

TSA will refuse some passengers from opting out of a full-body scan

A US Border Control agent (Reuters)

US transportation authorities will no longer allow “some passengers” to opt out of a full-body scan at an airport, they announced ahead of a Christmas holiday that is expected to draw an unprecedented number of travelers amid heightened safety concerns.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will deny the requests of some passengers to be patted down instead of undergoing a full-body scan.

"Generally, passengers undergoing screening will have the option to decline AIT screening in favor of physical screening. However, some passengers will be required to undergo AIT screening if warranted by security considerations in order to safeguard transportation security,” a TSA spokesperson told The Independent. The change will be in effect indefinitely, until "new technology is in place or the threat picture changes".

“This will occur in a very limited number of circumstances where enhanced screening is required. The vast majority of passengers will not be affected."

A Privacy Impact Assessment for the heightened security regulation seen by The Independent did not indicate how TSA staff at airports would determine which passengers would be ineligible to opt out of the full body scan.

Communities of colour — particularly American Middle Easterners and Latinos — in the United States charge that they are the victims of racial profiling at airports and border control checkpoints.

But a TSA spokesperson said that “it's not how someone looks, its about the data we have on them.”

“Contrary to popular belief, racial profiling is counter to our philosophy. We use counterterrorism data to make decisions on who we scrutinize and how we do it,” the spokesperson said.

“The vast majority of people will still be able to opt out.”

“The vast majority of people will still be able to opt out.”

A gun attack in San Bernardino, California earlier this month that left 14 people dead has put US officials and communities on edge. The perpetrators of the massacre, Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, are believed to have been inspired by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) armed group.

The incident has incensed some in the US against American Muslims, particularly after Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said, in the aftermath of the attack, that the US should ban Muslims.