Clinton: Make airport pat-downs be less intrusive

[November 22, 2010]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Would Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton like to submit to one of those security pat-downs at airports?

"Not if I could avoid it. No. I mean who would?" she told CBS' "Face the Nation" in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Echoing comments from President Barack Obama, she said administration officials should try to make the new airport security measures, including full body scans and intimate pat-downs, less intrusive.

"I think everyone, including our security experts, are looking for ways to diminish the impact on the traveling public," she told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"I mean obviously the vast, vast majority of people getting on these planes are law abiding citizens who are just trying to get from one place to another. But let's not kid ourselves. The terrorists are adaptable," she added.

"Striking the right balance is what this is about. And I am absolutely confident that our security experts are gonna keep trying to get it better and less intrusive and more precise."

For example, she said it might be possible to consider ways to limit the number of people who go through surveillance.

"Everybody is trying to do the right thing and I understand how difficult it is, and how offensive it must be for the people who are going through it," she said.

[Associated Press]

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