Obama, Clinton ask TSA to make body screening less invasive

Speaking to the media on his visit to Lisbon, U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday informed that he has asked the department of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to look for less intrusive body screening rules.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also said in an interview to a news channel that TSA officials should ensure travel safety through “less intrusive and precise” security rules.

TSA’s latest security measures that include full-body scans producing a virtually naked image of passengers have been annoying travelers. Those who refuse to go through the scanner, have to face pat-downs that are described as 'humiliating' by the passengers.

TSA applied these airports screening rules ahead of the holiday season as a precautionary measure to avoid repeat of last Christmas when a Nigerian with explosives in his underwear tried to bring down an Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight.

“There's clearly a need for the tighter security. But the government should explore ways to limit the number of people who are going to be put through surveillance,” Clinton said.

Airlines industry fears cancellations of bookings during the holidays if same conditions persist. According to an American Automobile Association (AAA) survey, 94 percent of travelers or 39.7 million people will travel to their holiday destinations by road this year. While this is the record number of by-road transportation, some air-travelers are threatening a pre-Thanksgiving no-fly-day boycott.

Earlier this month, the Air Transport Association of America (ATA) had projected that about 24 million travelers will fly on US airlines during the 12-day Thanksgiving holiday season.