Is the TSA Worried About Hijab Bombers, Too?

Could wearing an Islamic headscarf get you treated like an underwear bomber at your local airport? That's what may have already happened to one Muslim traveler at Washington Dulles International Airport, who was heading for her flight from Dulles to Los Angeles before being told by Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel that her Hijab would trigger additional security measures.

Those measures? Well, there's the removal of the Hijab, followed by a full-body, all-inclusive and very public pat down by your local TSA agent. Then there's the rummaging of all of your personal belongings, including your luggage, coat, shoes, laptop, and cell phone, to make sure that none of these items test positive for bomb-making chemicals. And then, for the dessert, there's a send-off comment from security personnel that "anyone wearing a head scarf must go through this type of search."

Sound like a little religious profiling? Sure does, unless the TSA is planning on implementing this policy for every nun that walks through security, too. That's why the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent a letter to TSA officials asking for clarification on whether the Hijab will trigger mandatory additional security efforts at all U.S. airports.

Everyone wants to be safe in the airport. But if there was ever a point where security efforts devolved into religious profiling, this seems to be it. If you agree, drop the TSA a line and ask them to clarify their position.

In his message to the TSA, CAIR's National Executive Director, Nihad Awad, wrote that if this head scarves policy is indeed true, it would send a tremendously offensive message to America's religious -- whether Jewish, Muslim or Christian.

"I would like to commend you on your efforts to maintain the safety of the travelling public. I would also like to offer the American Muslim community's cooperation and support in preserving that safety and security," Awad writes. "[But] if this troubling new policy is indeed in effect, it represents religious profiling in its most egregious form. We respectfully request that you clarify whether Islamic head scarves will now trigger automatic secondary screening for Muslim travelers."

Let's be clear -- our airports need to be safe and secure. But religious profiling isn't the recipe for safety. For starters, it kind of violates some of those sacred principles our country holds near and dear to its founding. But beyond that, there's just no credible evidence to suggest that religious profiling works to deter terrorist activity.

Dawud Walid, the Executive Director of the Council for American Islamic Relations in Michigan, delivered this point home in an op-ed in the Detroit News. Walid's take? Skip the religous profiling and head straight to better intelligence gathering to find terrorists.

"Behavior pattern recognition in conjunction with sharing of sound intelligence is the best method for stopping threats upon airline travelers," Walid writes. "If we target people simply because of ethnicity or religion, it will not make us safer. And if we compromise our principles, we are fighting against the spirit of the Constitution itself. Either way, our enemies would win, and we all would be the losers."

The truest statements always hit the hardest. After all, the Christmas Day terrorist attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had less to do with airport screening at U.S. airports, and much more to do with an error in intelligence gathering. Heck, even Ann Coulter agrees. Sort of.

Traveling down the road to religious profiling just isn't the way to go. Given the experience that this one Muslim traveler had in Washington, it's high time to figure out just where the TSA stands. Send them a message and ask them to clarify whether Islamic head scarves -- or any religious clothing for that matter -- now trigger additional security alerts at America's airports.

Photo: hyku