Why We Need TSA Pat-Downs

Amidts the outrage over the TSA airport pat-downs, it’s easy to lose sight of why they’re necessary in the first place: Over the past year, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has developed “body bombs,” or “butt bombs” if you prefer. In 2009, a Saudi terrorist flew on an airplane and passed through a metal detector before detonating an internal bomb before a Saudi prince, who survived the attack. Then, last Christmas, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate his underwear bomb on a Detroit-bound plane. Christopher Dickey of Newsweek writes, “The protesters demanding pat-downs to tie up Thanksgiving travel seem to have the idea the TSA is the enemy. That is a real mistake. There are bad guys out there, and they aim to hurt a lot of Americans, not only directly, but by forcing us all to take ever tougher and ever more costly security procedures. Until the public decides it can live with a certain level of risk, which could be pretty high, the TSA will continue to bend over backwards trying to figure out the best ways to keep passengers safe.”