By Kendra Nichols
Harrisburg attorney Justin McShane has video he says proves a TSA agent at Harrisburg International Airport in Middletown was running equipment she was not trained to use.
McShane recorded the video while going through TSA screening at the airport last year when his laptop was flagged and he was forced to go through an invasive pat down.
“That’s the very humiliating process where they take two fingers and they go all around your private area,” McShane said.
McShane has an extensive background in forensic science and says the passenger in front of him at the security screening was traveling with a bottle of contact lens solution which contains hydrogen peroxide.
“The problem was my computer came right after his testing was done and hydrogen peroxide can be mistaken for explosive related peroxides,” he said.
McShane says his patdown could have been avoided if the TSA agent running the screening device would have followed protocol and cleaned the area before screening his laptop.
The video shows McShane asking the TSA agent if she cleared the area before screening his laptop and she walks away without answering. McShane can be heard saying “I’ll take that as a yes.”
The video also captures the same TSA agent telling a colleague “I am only AIT.” McShane says the agent was referring to her training as an Advance Imagery Technician.
“She says clearly on the video that she is not ETD (explosive trace device), which is the ion scan device that she was using,” McShane said. There is no way she should have ever been able to use that device and I wonder is she is still using it today.”
A spokesperson with the regional TSA office said they cannot comment on training protocol.
An airport spokesman says more than 600,000 passengers safely flew out of HIA last year.
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