The "If-you-touch-my-junk, I'm-gonna-have-you-arrested" forewarning by air passenger John Tyner against a full-body pat-down by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers at San Diego airport in California went down as one of the top quotes of 2010. For many American travellers, the quote articulated their anger over the new full-body invasive scanners installed at airports in the United States and the "thorough pat-downs" given by airport security staff to those who refused to go through the scanners.
Even though Tyner's call died down among mainstream Americans, it still resonates among the South Asian community in the US where India's sari-clad ambassador Meera Shankar was subjected to a full-body pat-down by a TSA agent on December 4 at Jackson-Evers International Airport in Mississippi.
In an earlier incident on November 13, TSA agents at Austin airport in Texas told Hardeep Singh Puri, India's permanent representative to the United Nations, that they would like to inspect his turban. Puri, a turban-clad Sikh, refused to comply with this demand and reminded the checkers of TSA's own regulations that allowed a passenger to pat down his own turban to avoid intrusive searches and then have his hands chemically tested for possible explosives.
The US State Department, keen to avoid a diplomatic row, expressed "regrets", falling short of an apology, over the incidents. Asked if the two incidents could provoke Indian authorities to retaliate by subjecting American diplomats to similar checks in India, a State Department official told Weekend Review, on condition of anonymity, that the bedrock of Indo-American partnership was "too solid" for either side to get upset because of the incidents.
Although some Indian community leaders in the US were outraged by the incidents, there were also some who calmly analysed the incidents. Ravi Batra, a prominent New York-based attorney who chairs the National Advisory Council on South Asian affairs, put things in perspective.
He said after the two incidents that people have the right to be treated fairly equally under law and in a non-discriminatory manner under traditional legal principles.
In Batra's view, the full-body scanner is an answer to terrorists hiding bombs in their underwear or in a body cavity or even implanting in the body. Pat-downs are for those refusing the scan and then having their undergarments checked to make sure there are no external accessories in them other than the parts of the human biology. Batra contends that air travel is not a right but a privilege, much like driving.
Many Indians are not pleased with the Indian government's attitude on the subject. Although Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna described the treatment of Shankar and Puri, because of their high-profile positions, as "unacceptable", New Delhi prefers to look the other way when it comes to the humiliation faced by its citizens in the US.
Americans, too, are becoming impatient with the TSA's demands. The TSA, established after the September 11 terror attacks, had started out with a huge reservoir of public goodwill, with Americans willing to "do anything" to be safe when boarding aeroplanes. However, over a period of time, the TSA's increasingly overbearing posturing created an impression that it was run by a bunch of security-obsessed people willing to ditch democratic norms.
Many Americans felt that paranoia and not rationality dictated the actions of the TSA, which, it would seem, saw in every traveller the avatar of a terrorist — from the handicapped, wheelchair-bound grandmother to the newborn infant whose milk bottle and Pampers needed to be examined. Although the TSA has, no doubt, done a good job in preventing terrorists from carrying out their nefarious designs, its transition from a provider of safety to a strong terrorist-centric agency that views every passenger with suspicion has depleted the initial public goodwill. Insensitive comments or actions of individual TSA officials at airports — many of whom are ill-trained and ignorant of foreign cultures and traditions — have also not helped the TSA's image in the public eye.
"Every foreigner leaving a US airport carries a deep impression of the treatment given to him. He may carry fond memories of many nice things he experienced and enjoyed in the US but he also will not forget the rude and high-handed treatment he received at the airport," says one New York-based tourism expert.
The US Travel Association, the industry group, claimed it had received more than 1,000 calls and e-mails from the public complaining about the body scanners and pat-downs.
James Fallows, writing in The Atlantic, under the caption "What's Under that Sari?" felt that the Indian diplomat was subjected to the "enhanced" pat-down procedures at the airport in Jackson, Mississippi, apparently because security officials were suspicious of what might be under her sari.
Puri "was not required to remove his turban and our officers worked with him to complete screening according to established procedures", said TSA spokesperson Nicholas Kimball.
"We will continue working with our officers to reinforce all established policies," the spokesperson added. Kimball also said that a review of Shankar's pat-down confirmed that the TSA agents had been following "proper procedure".
In the middle of the hullabaloo over Shankar and Puri, another former Indian ambassador, T.P. Sreenivasan, reminded that the security culture in the US is vastly different from that in India.
The security culture in the US could be characterised as paranoia but then that is precisely the reason no terrorist attack has taken place in the country since September 11. Americans take no chances at all, not even with ambassadors or Nobel Peace Prize winners such as Mohammad Al Baradei who was accosted by a "pat-down" expert at Boston airport weeks after he won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Critics say that Indian diplomats come with the mindset of a VIP and expect privileges all the time. In India it is normal, much to the annoyance of the common Indian, to see elected representatives, ministers and celebrities and their relatives breeze through airport security and other checks.
But there is also the bright side of the story. Despite the unpleasant experiences of many air travellers while landing or departing at US airports, visits by foreign travellers have actually increased, including from India. The latest figures released by the US Department of Commerce suggest that international visitors in the US spent an estimated $11.9 billion (Dh44 billion) on travel and other tourism-related activities in October 2010, an 18 per cent (or, in absolute figures, some $1.8 billion) increase over the year-earlier month.
Foreign travellers spent a whopping $111.5 billion on US travel and tourism-related goods and services during the first ten months of the year — January to October — an 11 per cent increase over the year-earlier period.
Manik Mehta is a commentator on Asian affairs.
