By DHS: New airport security policy for kids under 12
Washington, D.C. – Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
says the government will be rolling out a different airport
pat-down policy for children under 12 in the coming months, and
these children will no longer have to take off their shoes to be
screened.
Napolitano says the traveling public can expect to see some of
these changes in the coming months.
Some travelers and privacy advocates have complained that
children, who don't appear to pose terror threats, are subject to
intimate pat-downs that involve Transportation Security
Administration screeners touching private areas. Children under 12
will also be spared the hassle of taking off their shoes as they go
through check point security, Napolitano said.
Napolitano was speaking at a Senate hearing Tuesday on the
terror threat to the United States.