Washington, January 07: Former US presidential candidate Ralph Nader has criticized the controversial security measures applied at airports across the United States.
At a conference called “The Stripping of Freedom” on Thursday, Nader said body scans and enhanced security pat-downs violate American freedoms and waste taxpayers’ money.
“What’s happening is, we are incrementally losing our freedoms,” Nader said, quoted by AFP.
Nader described Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that conducts such searches at airports as “a basket case.”
The new airport security measures include the use of X-ray scanners that take a graphic image of a person’s naked body.
Those passengers who refuse to pass through the scanner must undergo a full-body search.
Some travelers argue that the scanners are too revealing while those who have been frisked by TSA agents say they feel violated after the search.
Last month, US Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said full-body scanning and invasive pat-downs at airports will stay in force despite mounting criticism over the measures.
The methods have set off an uproar in the Unites States, with opponents of the new practice arguing that the stepping into an X-ray scanner before flights would be tantamount to encroachment of human rights and makes flying even more of a hassle.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union — an organization advocating and supporting individual rights and liberties in the US — said that in November alone, more than 900 complaints have been filed by airline passengers who were subjected to TSA’s new security procedures.
——–Agencies