Congressman claims harassment by TSA

A Utah lawmaker opposed to full-body scans accusses TSA workers of harassing him during a search at Salt Lake City Airport.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told the Deseret News that TSA personnel "harass[ed]" him after he refused a to walk through a full-body scanner upon request.

In June, the congressman proposed an amendment to a TSA authorization bill that would prevent security workers from using the whole-body scanners as a primary search method. The amendment passed but the Senate has yet to vote on it.

After refusing the scan, Chaffetz, who believes the machines are too intrusive, was then allowed to pass through a normal metal detector and did so without incident. But a TSA worker then asked him to submit to a pat-down.

According to Chaffetz, he began to tell the worker he was a congressman, to which the worker replied "we know exactly who you are."

"I thought, 'My gosh, those guys are just harassing me,'" Chaffetz said.

Chaffetz told the paper that he believes the worker singled him out because of the scanner amendment and "last week I voted in committee against their ability to form a union … it still passed."

"I'm sure they're not my biggest fans," he added.

After he confronted the officers about the search, Chaffetz said they began laughing.

"You can laugh about this, but I'm serious," he said, then walked away.

The involved officers told the paper that Chaffetz behaved obnoxiously toward them, grabbing their badges and throwing his business card at them. The congressman deined that characterization of his actions but did admit to touching one of the officer's badge.

"This incident will be reviewed and TSA will respond directly to the congressman if he has concerns," the TSA said in a statement to the paper.

(h/t Deseret News)