AIT machines |

TSA, USA cont’d

February 22, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

While last fall’s firestorm around TSA’s search procedures seems to have simmered down, one US politician recently took a stand against being patted down: State Rep. Sharon Cissna will return to Juneau by ferry after declining to undergo a pat-down at a Seattle airport. Michelle Scannell, Cissna’s chief of staff, said that the TSA called for the pat-down because scanners showed Cissna had had a mastectomy. Scannell called the search “intrusive” but didn’t explicitly say why the lawmaker — who […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: Air travel, Airport security, AIT machines, Sharon Cissna, Transportation Security Administration, TSA

The Sikh Coalition revises their Sikh Air Travellers Guide

January 13, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The Sikh Coalition has announced an update to their Sikh Air Travellers Guide: Significantly, Sikhs should now expect to be secondarily screened 100 percent of the time at American airports, even after passing through so-called Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines. Although TSA publicly asserts on its website that such machines can see through “layers of clothing,” the TSA has made clear in both word and practice that such machines are not powerful enough to see through Sikh turbans. This means that, […]

Categories: Civil Rights, Politics • Tags: Air travel, Airport security, AIT machines, Bobby Scott, Judy Chu, Melvin Watt, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Sikh Coalition, Transportation Security Administration, TSA

TSA, USA cont’d

December 24, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The TSA is finding itself under increasing scrutiny. When not even a Sikh diplomat was spared from the demand to remove his turban at a US airport, the SGPC (the Sikhs’ representative body that manages Sikh shrines in India) held a demonstration outside the US Embassy in New Delhi to protest to the alleged targeting of Sikh turbans by the TSA. However, the TSA is receiving heat not just from abroad, but also from home.

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: Air travel, Airport security, AIT machines, California, Federal Flight Deck Officer, FFDO, Sacramento, SGPC, Transportation Security Administration, TSA, whistleblower

TSA, USA cont’d

December 22, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In the Washington Post, the Sikh Coalition‘s Rajdeep Singh brings up the dubious claims of effectiveness of TSA’s AIT machines: “The TSA and [Department of Homeland Security] sort of intimated to us that if these machines were to be used as a primary form of screening and if they were so powerful that they could detect beads of perspiration, that it would obviate the need for a human screener and setting Sikhs aside for secondary screening,” he said. “But they’re […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits, Politics • Tags: Air travel, Airport security, AIT machines, GAO, Government Accountability Office, L-3 Communications, Lobbying, Sikh Coalition, Transportation Security Administration

Are Sikhs taking it too personally?

November 23, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Should clothing now be sold with a “TSA-Approved” label? You can’t wear white after Labor Day, and now you have to dress appropriately when you travel: Travel experts say the new scrutiny underscores the need for better airport fashion choices that can help people breeze through screenings with their dignity intact. Clothes loaded with metal studs are suddenly a no-no, as are bras with underwires. Slacks instead of skirts are preferred. Any baggy clothing can require extra inspection. This presumably includes […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: Air travel, Airport security, AIT machines, SALDEF, Sikh Coalition, TSA, United Sikhs

Why the TSA’s searching procedures pose a problem for Sikhs

November 22, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

For Sikhs, the turban is an internationally-accepted article of faith. Having it removed or handled in public is humiliating for any Sikh, however many Sikhs have compromised and thus far have acceded to the TSA’s pat downs and screening. It has not always gone well: His son passed this test, but the officers told Bawa he had set off an alarm and called the police, who checked his records in Maryland, he said. He was tested again and came away clear, but was […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: Air travel, Airport security, AIT machines, Gurdeep Singh Bawa, TSA

Lobbying away our rights

November 17, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

“…the lobbying contracts of the major distributors of the full-body scanners show a network of lobbyists deeply connected in Washington. For instance, L-3 Communications hired former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.) who was once on the Commission on Aviation Security under President George H.W. Bush.” At the risk of turning this blog’s focus too much at the TSA, the interesting post quoted above from opensecrets.org details the lobby groups behind the installation of AIT machines at American airports. W.C. Varones goes further […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits, Politics • Tags: Air travel, Airport security, AIT machines, Alfonse D'Amato, Lobbying, Michael Chertoff, TSA, United States

TSA: Turbans, Skirts and the AIT

November 16, 2010 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

“She said ‘spread your legs.’ And then she took her full palms and started at my neck and ran all the way down my body, full palms, constant contact. And when she got down to my feet, she was in constant contact from my ankles all the way up to my groin, across my groin, and down the other leg. And she did that twice,” Gigliotti said. The TSA allegedly finds skirts as suspicious as turbans, according to a recently-searched […]

Categories: Civil Rights, News Bits • Tags: Air travel, Airport security, AIT machines, California, Department of Homeland Security, Sacramento, SALDEF, Sikh Coalition, TSA, United Sikhs

Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Tag: AIT machines

TSA, USA cont’d

The Sikh Coalition revises their Sikh Air Travellers Guide

Top 5 Sikh American Stories of 2010

TSA, USA cont’d

TSA, USA cont’d

Are Sikhs taking it too personally?

Why the TSA’s searching procedures pose a problem for Sikhs

Lobbying away our rights

TSA: Turbans, Skirts and the AIT