Airport Security - A True Story, Part 2

Having contacted my congressmen the evening I posted the original blog regarding my treatment at the hands (literally) of the TSA, today I received a reply - from one of them.

Congressman Mo Brooks, 5th District, Alabama, sent me the following email:

Dear Mrs. Osborn:

Thank you for contacting me to share your views concerning the Aircraft Passenger Whole-Body Imaging Limitations Act of 2011, H.R. 1279. I welcome the opportunity to respond.

As you may know, Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah introduced H.R. 1279 on March 31, 2011. This legislation would limit on the use of advanced imaging technology for aircraft passenger screening. H.R. 1279 has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee for review and consideration. As a member of the Homeland Security Committee, please be assured I will keep your views in mind should this bill come before the Homeland Security Committee or to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote.

Please feel free to contact me again in the future. You may wish to visit my website at http://brooks.house.gov/ for additional information about issues and legislation before Congress.


Sincerely,
Mo Brooks
Member of Congress

MB/

Note also that Mr. Brooks wrote this himself and did not dictate it.

Unfortunately my attempt to reply to Mr. Brooks was bounced back. It would have read as follows:

Thank you, sir. So far you are the ONLY one of my congressmen who has replied to me on this issue. I am glad and appreciative you took the time to read my complaint and my blog, and even more appreciative that you will do something about it. For whatever it's worth, I put in my time as a government contractor, both for NASA on numerous Shuttle flights and ISS increments, and for DoD. I held a government clearance, and the safety of astronauts - and the populace - was entrusted to my hands. I was a volunteer/reserve police officer for a Native American community as well. Now I write full time as a novelist, but that does not negate the innate moral stance which allowed me to perform those jobs any more than retiring from the military negates a soldier's inherent morality or patriotism. I do NOT object to the safety and security of our nation, but feel it must be done with an eye to avoid eroding our freedoms and the inalienable rights guaranteed us as a free and independent people. The current procedures do not meet my standards of safety AND freedom.

Thank you for your time, and please stay in touch.

Mr. Brooks and other congressmen, I do hope you read this and DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. It is shameful the way our citizens are being treated. May I respectfully suggest, as have many of my Facebook friends who have read my original blog on the event, that we emulate a country with highly successful, efficient, and non-invasive security measures such as Israel? They have no choice but to be the most efficient they can be, or they would not survive. They also do not abrogate the rights of their citizens in the process. This business of, "We must be politically correct and screen everyone, regardless of background, lest we offend someone," grows not only tiresome, but dangerous. May I remind you that the terrorists have no such compunctions.