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For Immediate Release: November 16, 2010 The Rutherford Institute Defends Airline Pilots, Sues Dept. of Homeland Security & TSA Over Scanners, Virtual Strip Searches & Full-Body 'Rub-Downs' WASHINGTON, DC -- In a case involving the continuing encroachment of modern technology upon personal privacy, The Rutherford Institute has filed a Fourth Amendment lawsuit in federal court against Janet Napolitano, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and John Pistole, administrator of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA), on behalf of two airline pilots who refused to submit to airport security screening which relies on advanced imaging technology that exposes intimate details of a person's body to government agents. In opting out of being put through the Whole Body Imaging (WBI) scanners, the pilots, Michael Roberts and Ann Poe, both veterans of the commercial airline industry, also refused to be subjected to the alternative--enhanced, full-body pat- or rub-downs by Transportation Security Agency (TSA) agents. Insisting that the procedures violate the Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures found in the U.S. Constitution, The Rutherford Institute's lawsuit asks the court to prohibit DHS and TSA from continuing to unlawfully use WBI technology and newly-implemented enhanced pat-down procedures as the first line of airport security screening in the United States. The complaint in Michael Roberts, et al., v. Janet Napolitano, et al. is available at www.rutherford.org <http://www.rutherford.org/pdf/2010/11-16-2010_Roberts_v_Napolitano.pdf> . "Forcing Americans to undergo a virtual strip search as a matter of course in reporting to work or boarding an airplane when there is no suspicion of wrongdoing is a grotesque violation of our civil liberties, undermining our right to privacy and to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures by government agents," said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. "Indeed, TSA is forcing travelers to consent to a virtual strip search or allow an unknown officer to literally place his or her hands in your pants." As airports across the country continue to install the controversial devices, a growing number of Americans are voicing concerns about the impact of the scanners on their privacy rights and the risks they pose to travelers' health. Collectively, Michael Roberts, a pilot for ExpressJet Airlines, Inc., and Ann Poe, a pilot on the Boeing 777 for Continental Airlines and one of the first 100 women commercial airline pilots in the United States, have more than 50 years of piloting experience and thousands of hours of combined flight time. In two separate incidents taking place on Oct. 15, 2010, and Nov. 4, 2010, respectively, TSA screeners asked Roberts and Poe, who were on their way to work, to submit to WBI scanning or be subjected to a full pat-down frisk of their persons. Upon refusing, both pilots were prevented from passing through security, and unable to report to work on the days in question and since then. The only alternative to a WBI scan, which has been likened to a "virtual strip-search," is an enhanced pat-down in which TSA screeners press their "open hands and fingers over most parts of an individual's body including the breasts, and uses the back of the hands when touching the buttocks. Additionally, officers slide their hands all the way from the inner thigh up to the groin until the hand cannot venture any higher because it is literally stopped by the person's groin." The complaint alleges that these procedures, which are described as "profane, degrading, intrusive, and indecent," besides being "patently unreasonable," amount to an unreasonable search and seizure of airline employees and travelers passing through security. DHS continues to rapidly deploy WBI scanners throughout U.S. airports, with 491 machines to be deployed by December 2010, and an additional 500 machines in 2011. <https://www.donation-net.net/Rutherford/donate.cfm?dn=1034&commID=10924362&ID=81200> <http://www.rutherford.org/> Under the regulations of the United States Internal Revenue Service, The Rutherford Institute is incorporated as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization. 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