Obama administration shows lack of respect for privacy (Rep. Jason Chaffetz)

By seeking to peer deeper and deeper into personal and
private aspects of American’s lives (often literally), the Obama Administration
has dangerously eroded civil liberties. 
These unwarranted intrusions come at the same time the Administration is
shuttering public review and scrutiny of its own actions.

Since Congress voted by the hundreds to express concerns
about the graphic images produced by airport whole body imaging machines,
privacy concerns have only grown. 
The federal government assured Congress that such images could not be
stored or transferred.  Yet we have
since learned that US Marshalls at a federal courthouse in Florida admitted
storing over 35,000 images of members of the public – not suspects or criminals
– who passed through one of the controversial machines to enter the
courthouse.  These revelations only
came to light because the Justice Department was compelled by a Freedom of
Information Act request.

The problem is not limited to the use of whole body
imaging scanners.  Airports in
Boston and Las Vegas have employed a new “enhanced pat-down” technique which
passengers describe as being “groped” by TSA screeners.  The new palms-first, slide-down search
technique is being tested to replace the former back-of-the-hand pat-down.

I question the value of the more intrusive technique.  What evidence exists to suggest that
the new technique is demonstrably more effective at detecting potential
security risks than the less invasive technique?  I am particularly concerned that this technique not be used
as a punitive effort to coerce or intimidate individuals who, entirely within
their rights, opt out of WBI screening in favor of magnetometers and a
reasonable pat-down search.

As a Member of Congress, I am normally on an airplane at
least twice a week. I am vitally interested in the safety and security of our
air transportation.  However, the
belief that security can only be maintained through ever-increasing violations
of personal privacy is misguided. 
Subjecting travelers to humiliating and invasive security screening
processes is both unnecessary and inappropriate.

Unfortunately, privacy threats are not limited to air
travelers.  Among the most
troubling reports are indications that the Obama Administration has acquired
and is deploying Z Backscatter Vans (ZBVs).  These vans carry similar technology to WBI machines, and
have the capacity to conduct searching scans through walls of buildings,
vehicles, and clothing.

Although passengers can opt not to fly, I can see no way
for Americans to opt out of being scanned by the ZBVs.  This should alarm us all.

Furthermore, I am extremely uneasy about the potential for
abuse with these systems. 
Americans have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their homes, to a
more limited extent in their vehicles, and certainly some measure in their
persons.  Should law-abiding gun
owners fear that ZBVs might be used to identify those who choose to exercise
individual Second Amendment rights? 
These ZBVs seem too capable of perpetuating violations of basic rights
to be free from undue government interference.

Even as the federal government’s encroachment on personal
privacy expands, this Administration’s willingness to honor promises of
transparency contracts.  In recent
months, the American people have seen and read numerous violations of those
promises:

·         Political
appointees at the Department of Homeland Security have been accused of vetting
and holding up FOIA requests.

·         The SEC has
reportedly made efforts to expand its exemptions to such requests even as it
claims to bring greater transparency to financial markets.

·         Even the liberal
Huffington Post reports that the Obama Administration is more often citing
exceptions to the nation’s open records laws than previous administrations.

·         Most Americans are
familiar with the process by which the mammoth health care overhaul was written
and debated largely behind closed doors and which, according to Speaker Pelosi,
we had to pass to find out what was in it.

·         A National Labor
Relations Board member, an unconfirmed recess appointment recently employed by
the major unions, refused to recuse himself from cases involving those unions
without explanation.

In an effort to demand greater transparency from this
Administration, I have written to President Obama, TSA Administrator John
Pistole, and Attorney General Eric Holder demanding answers to reasonable
questions about how and why specific technologies and procedures are being
used.  The world has become a more
dangerous place, and we all understand that some appropriate preservation of
national security secrets is necessary, as is a reasonable effort to identify
threats posed by individuals domestically.  But as Ben Franklin warned, let us ensure that we do not
give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety.  Doing so will, in the end, likely
deprive us of both.