Frisking Henry Kissinger is a joke and doesn’t help make our airports safe

Prominent public figures getting dehumanizing pat downs at U.S. airports has become commonplace.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is the latest such well-known person to be subjected to a frisking by TSA agents.
I’ve been saying for some time that putting celebrities and other public figures through the same airport screening procedures as everybody else is idiotic. The TSA is so scared of being accused of racial profiling or any type of profiling that they will pat down people who pose virtually no risk – children, senior citizens and recognizable celebrities.
The current costly and time-wasting TSA screening methods need to be scrapped. Airport screening should be returned to private contractors and the process for air travelers needs to be sped up and simplified.
At my Tumblr blog Celebrities vs. the TSA, I’ve been documenting the lunacy of the TSA screening procedures. Check out the website for photos of TSA agents frisking the likes of Denise Richards, Jane Fonda, Sean Penn, Chaka Kahn, Mike Ditka and Anna Kournikova. (Update: Tumblr shut down my blog in mid-2013.)
In addition to Kissinger, other public figures who have endured recent TSA pat downs include U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, TV host Geraldo Rivera, supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio and singer and Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson.
Supermodel Bar Refaeli complained on Twitter about a rough, sexual feel-up by an airport security person, but didn’t identify whether it occurred at a U.S. airport. (She later replied to a tweet by Perez Hilton, who said it occurred in London.)

Photos: A TSA agent pats down singer-actress Jennifer Hudson (top). 

A TSA protest T-shirt from Zazzle (below).

Related stories:

Henry Kissinger gets TSA pat-down (Washington Post; May 14, 2012)

Henry Kissinger praises ‘professionalism and courtesy’ of TSA agents after pat down (The Hill; May 16, 2012)

Geraldo Details Graphic TSA Experience: ‘I Got Manually Raped by a Guy Who…Was Getting Off on it’ (The Blaze; May 11, 2012)

TSA gropes celebrity as revenge for speaking out? (Americans For Constitutional Government Reform; May 14, 2012)

Jennifer Hudson, Bar Refaeli not happy with airport screenings (MSNBC; April 18, 2012)

Bar Refaeli: An Airport Security Officer Groped Me (Huffington Post; April 18, 2012)

Israeli Supermodel Decries Woman Who Gave Airport Patdown: ‘Left No Doubt About Her Sexual Preferences’ (The Blaze; April 18, 2012)

Bar Refaeli Gets Felt Up & Patted Down At The Airport! (Coco Perez; April 17, 2012)