Homeland security officials on Monday defended heightened airport security screening measures but said they would consider adjustments to new rigorous patdowns after complaints from travelers.
With the busy holiday travel season about to begin, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made it clear that new full-body scan checks would become the routine as hundreds of the machines are installed at U.S. airports and that the alternative would be physical patdowns.
“If there are adjustments we need to make to these procedures as we move forward, we have an open ear; we will listen,” she told reporters during a news conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
