[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17606]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              FULL BODY SCANNERS VIOLATE FOURTH AMENDMENT

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, a trip to the airport these days 
leaves Americans with embarrassing choices. Law-abiding citizens can 
bare it all through a peekaboo body scanner--or they can get groped in 
a pat-down search by a Federal employee. Now that's a real choice.
  There is no evidence these new body scanners make us more secure. But 
there is evidence that former Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff 
made money hawking these full body scanners.
  The underwear bomber tried to blow up a plane over Detroit last 
Christmas. Shortly thereafter, Chertoff went on a media tour promoting 
the full body scanners. This former Homeland Security chief told 
everyone we had to have the full body scanners at airports to be safe. 
Too bad he didn't disclose he was getting paid to sell these intrusive 
devices. Isn't that lovely?
  Meanwhile, the populace is giving up more rights in the name of 
alleged security. These body scanners are a violation of the Fourth 
Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures. There must 
be a better way to have security at airports than taking pornographic 
photographs of our citizens, including children, and then giving 
apparent kickbacks to political hacks.
  And that's just the way it is.

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