Nader: 'The TSA is a Basketcase' (Karin Zeitvogel)

US Officials Say Airport Scanners 'Erode Rights'

January 07, 2011 -- WASHINGTON (AFP) – Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader on Thursday said the body scans and enhanced security pat-downs at US airports are eating away at Americans' freedoms and called the agency that conducts them a "basketcase."

"The TSA is a basketcase, collectively," Nader said at the first US conference on controversial new security measures that are being rolled out at airports around the United States.

These include X-ray scanners that produce a graphic image of a person's naked body, genitalia and all, and body searches including a frisk of the private parts of travelers who refuse to go through the scanners.

Some travelers have complained that the scanners are too revealing, while others, including a pilot, have said they felt violated after being frisked by a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agent.

READ MORE: AFP