TSA Chief Defends Body Imaging, (Falsely) Asserts It Would Have Foiled Christmas Bomber

On Wednesday, TSA Director John Pistole testified before two Congressional committees. Citizen backlash at whole body imaging (WBI) screening and aggressive physical searches made its way into his testimony. Media continue to report claims made by government officials without advising the reader than the official is, to be polite, severely stretching the truth.

I have documented the claim as reported by the LAT and then refuted it with data from GAO and others, on a site called Storify. I operated on the assumption that the LA Times has accurately portrayed the testimony.

Q: Did the LA Times challenge that claim in its reporting?

A: No.

Therefore, I find this news story an egregious example of poor public service. How long did it take me to find these three reports? Less than five minutes with Google.

I have also uploaded a copy of the written testimony to Scribd.

Links:

• Storify
• Scribd
• The two combined into one story at IWillOptOut.org

The copyrighted cartoon by Parker, Florida Today, is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.