A Confused TSA

The pressure must be getting to the head of the TSA:

The head of the agency responsible for airport security, facing protests from travelers and pressure from the White House, appeared to give ground Sunday on his position that there would be no change in policies regarding invasive passenger screening procedures.

Transportation Security Administration head John Pistole said in a statement that the agency would work to make screening methods "as minimally invasive as possible," although he gave no indication that screening changes were imminent.

The statement came just hours after Pistole, in a TV interview, said that while the full-body scans and pat-downs could be intrusive and uncomfortable, the high threat level required their use. "No, we're not changing the policies," he told CNN's "State of the Union."

Pistole said that, as in all nationwide security programs, "there is a continual process of refinement and adjustment to ensure that best practices are applied."

I'm sure there are a lot of travelers like me who are saying "wait a minute, it's not up to me to prove that I'm not a terrorist, it's up to you to prove that I am. That's the way the American system works. We don't give up ANY of our constitutional rights just because we buy an airline ticket."

And if there's any week in which a change in TSA procedures would be smart it's this week with the busiest travel day of the year occurring on Wednesday.  The set-up for disaster is pretty big - not a terrorist-generated disaster, but a disaster for travelers brought about by angry flyers, a petulant TSA, and overbooked airlines.  Throw in weather problems and we'll see some airport nightmares in the making.