This post by Stewart Baker has apparently riled up the Internet for two reasons. One is because he is a supporter of the TSA, and lots of people have a problem with that, and are looking for an opportunity to attack him for it. The second reason is because he makes the mistake of framing his analysis in the context of sex, and for some reason everyone has taken that a bit too seriously.

In fact, there is a lot of pressure to be efficient when negotiating the TSA security line. That pressure isn't sexual. The people behind you will be annoyed with you if you move too slowly through the line. The agents will scream at you if you do something wrong. Although these pressures aren't about sex, they are real, and it makes sense to discuss their impact on people's perceptions of the TSA.

I totally agree with Barker's conclusions in this article, even though I disagree with him about a great many other things.

The agency should avoid any hint that it is judging our performance from on high. How about a sign on the way to the belt that says, “Forty of the forty-two TSA officers now on duty have forgotten their cell phones at least once while walking through the scanner. We’re hoping this sign will help you avoid our mistake”? Or one that says, “We change our protocols from time to time to make life harder for terrorists. We know it makes life harder for you too, and we’re sorry. If you’ve got questions about the new procedures, just ask”?

I have been yelled at by TSA agents before, for messing up the procedures of the security line. TSA agents should never assume that travelers understand the procedures of the security line. TSA agents should never yell at travelers. Whats worse is in this case my knowledge of the procedures was correct and the TSA agent was wrong.

I have an 11 inch Macbook Air. Although TSA regs require laptops to be taken out of your bag for screening, the 11 inch Macbook Air is so small that the TSA doesn't consider it a laptop - it is a personal electronics device, like a video game system or mp3 player, and it can stay in the bag.

However, the person operating the X-ray machine has the right to ask that any device be removed from the bag and rescreened. Unfortunately, in this case the x-ray screener didn't tell the agents to remove the electronics device from my bag - she said "Laptop in bag!" at which point I had a TSA agent confronting me about the fact that there was a laptop in my bag and explaining forcefully that all laptops must be removed from bags prior to screening.

While I removed the laptop from the bag I tried to explain that the device was not a laptop per the TSA's regs. This really pissed the agent off - "Does it have a keyboard on it!? Then it must come out! ALL LAPTOPS MUST BE REMOVED FROM BAGS PRIOR TO SCREENING!!"

Eventually several other TSA agents joined in the argument and in the end they explained to me that I had made an incorrect assumption about what the first agent had said. In my mind the meaning of "Does it have a keyboard on it?" is crystal clear.

Stewart Baker is absolutely right - the TSA could use an attitude adjustment. There is no reason to scream at people who are trying to comply with the policies. It is unfortunate that this point seems to have been lost among all the hand wringing over the fact that he framed the issue in sexual terms.

You can't talk to Americans about sex. We're too conservative. We can't take it.

The Volokh Conspiracy » Sex Secrets of the Security Line