The new security procedures implemented by the TSA needs a real overview. It is obtrusive and probably would not significantly help us deterring terrorists in our airways. For the sake of argument, I will grant the following conditions, which are highly disputable, as true conditions for the benefit of the TSA: 1) the new machines have no health consequence to the scanned individuals, 2) no scanned images are stored in the long term, and 3) no TSA agent is and will act improperly when acting according to their duties.

Even if we let these conditions to be true, there is one principle argument that questions the new full body scanning/pat-down procedures: the federal government’s violation of human dignity to its citizens.

Sure, the courts might have ruled that under certain conditions the citizens have given implicit consent to search by the federal government, and I do think this applies in airports to a certain degree. However, looking at the naked bodies of individuals or feeling them even the most private parts violates the human dignity of all people who are traveling by air. Instead of viewing citizens as a proud member of society, the government objectifies them into a broad category of potential criminals, and they view the flier’s body as a potential mean for concealing terror devices.

Sure, the Christmas Day bomber did show that the terrorists will hide dangerous explosives to even the most private parts of the body, and opponents to my thesis will say that these new security measures are a necessary response to prevent such terrorists from boarding an airplane again.

The problem with such strong counter example is that the Christmas Day bomber was successful to board the plane not because old TSA security procedures had problems. We must remember that it was the airport authorities in the Netherlands, who also admitted that they did not follow their own security procedures with the terrorist, were solely responsible in making sure that no explosive was carried inside the aircraft. Granted, the federal government could have prevented the incidents together if the CIA and the intelligence community got their acts together, but that is a different branch of the department of Homeland Security than the TSA.

The opponents to my thesis will then further argue that regardless of whatever information we have on national security, we must nevertheless obey the new TSA, because the government has certain intelligence that might require these new security procedures for the sake of public safety. Taking this hypothesis as true, I respond.

The opponents and the federal government in admitting the necessity of implementing these new security measures as a necessary response against credible terrorist threat must admit that the terrorists have effectively won. These security procedures are an abomination to the spirit of freedom and dignity that was bestowed by the Constitution to its citizens, i.e. it violates the principles of the Bills of Rights. If a real terrorist threat necessitates the foregoing of this Constitutional spirit, then the terrorists have won by destroying the core spirit of America into a more totalitarian color, i.e. destroying the American conception of freedom from our society.

This is the most dangerous outcome against our country, and I believe it is our duty to fight against these terrorists without abandoning the principles that our Constitution has (in principle) protected us for over two centuries. Abandoning these principles is affectively abandoning our core identity, which we must also admit that the terrorists were successful in implanting us with a new, ominous future.

I believe we are a strong nation to not abandon our core principle values even at the face of a formidable force, and I also believe our core principle values are strong enough to respond strongly against any threat that might come at us. The TSA needs to review their new security policy, because if the naked body scanners and extensive pat-downs continue to be part of our airport security, then our federal government has effectively abandoned the spirit of freedom and human dignity in favor of temporary expediency to public safety.