I also find it hard to believe that even the dumbest TSA person would require anyone to actually strip down to underwear whilst in full public view. Whilst I have observed them asking people to remove jackets, belts and shoes, no one has ever had to literally strip without the protection of a screen of some sort.
I had the pleasure of going through MIA twice in the last week and the TSA people were their usual efficient mode... NOT. On Sunday evening I was in a queue to go through the TSA check for a flight to the Caribbean and an elderly gentleman a few places ahead of me in the line had to remove his jacket, belt and shoes. He had quite a bit of hand baggage and a lot of junk in his pockets. As I passed through the screen only sans belt I observed the old man getting the 3rd degree from a grossly overweight TSA woman. He must have been in his 80's and appeard to be feeble as he was having great difficulty organising all his belongings and threading his belt was achieved with great difficulty. The fat TSA woman made no effort to assit the old man and the others were milling around, chatting to a Miami policeman.
It was inefficient and pathetic as they had randomly 'selected' the old man, probably because he was the 10th since the last random check or some dumb reason like that. I was a lone male in my 40's (but much younger looking
) travelling with only hand baggage and much more likely to fit any 'profile' than the old man. At no time was my ticket checked by any TSA agent and no questions were asked.
As I returned through MIA on Friday the person who checked me in advised me to use the gate 'B' security checkpoint to avoid problems using the gate 'A' one and to pass between terminals after security. Whilst I appreciated the advice and had no problems getting through, I thought to myself that if there can be such disparity between checkers at different gates that it doesn't say much for the system they have in use. No profiling whatsoever and just random detailed searches. In other words... cosmetic.
Another thing that I found suprising was that TSA agents didn't appear to have a staff room for their breaks. They were observed sitting in groups near the departure gates drinking their coffee and eating their Big Macs or wandering around the duty free shops. In the Miami Deli food court area of Gate A departures one TSA agent was ordering some food. The amount ordered would have fed a small army but this woman took it all to a table and started to lay into it with gusto. Mind you, she obviously had room to put it all away as I reckon she must have weighed close to 250lbs and whilst she would not be very good at sprinting she would make an effective blocker should they have to close off the airport in a hurry. As to her intelligence, I have no idea but her fitness would have caused me to have doubts for her role as a uniformed TSA agent. Whilst my comments may be unPC to the horizontally challenged, they are my own very recent observations and show to me, that the role being played out by the TSA is not particularly efficient.
As for the original post, I would have my doubts about the extent of the 'stripping' described but I certainly wouldn't put it beyond reality. The level of personality required to become a TSA agent doesn't appear to be high on the list of priorities but you would have thought that they would at least require some humanity and self respect.
