June 29, 2011 by Rich Cooper

Here is a piece I wrote for the Defense Media Network on the recent TSA incident involving a 95-year-old leukemia patient.

Please Explain This, TSA – Defense Media Network

Ever since I started writing on homeland security issues, I have tried to be fair when it comes to TSA screening. While I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to poke fun at them from time to time, I have tried to take a deep breath and do some additional fact-checking before passing any type of judgment on some of the screening controversies that have plagued the agency over the past few years. The men and women of TSA have an absolutely thankless job doing what they do. Regardless of the circumstance, they’re truly damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

That brings us to the latest story that has made the rounds of the news cycle about an elderly passenger that was forced to remove an adult diaper to complete the necessary screening procedures at a Florida airport before she could board her flight.

This instance, like some of the other eye-popping and jaw-dropping cases of the past few months and years raises a lot of questions that need to be answered, but I’ll start with a fundamental one first – I’d like to know where this woman, in her obvious feeble condition, ranked on the risk scale that warranted such a search?

Read the full piece on the Defense Media Network.