Hands off: Airport checkpoint revolt.

• Author: Sullum, Jacob
• Position: Citings - Brief article

"I JUST WANT to be able to go to work and not be harassed or molested," Michael Roberts told the Memphis Commercial Appeal. "I'm just not comfortable being physically manhandled ... every time I go to work." So on a Friday in mid-October, the pilot finally took a stand against the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

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Roberts, a first officer for ExpressJet Airlines, refused to submit to a full-body scan at the Memphis International Airport. He also declined the alternative pat-down. Since the TSA would not let him through the security checkpoint without one or the other, he was unable to fly to his duty base in Houston. Later he called the TSA a "make-work" program that does little to enhance the safety of air travel. "I don't believe this...