'I saw TSA pat down 'little old lady,'' child, but not Arab man

The Transportation Security Administration is too worried about "political correctness," according to a Republican lawmaker.

Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said TSA is too politically correct when it chooses which passengers to search at airport security checkpoints.



During a recent trip, Broun said he saw TSA pat down an elderly person and a child, but not a man he himself deemed suspicious.


"I walked through … right behind me there was a grandmother — little old lady, and she was was patted down," Broun said on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal."

"Right behind her was a little kid who was patted down. And then right behind him was a guy in Arabian dress who just walked right through. Why are we patting down grandma and kids?"

Broun did not specify any other reasons the man looked suspicious other than his dress.

Broun said in the interview that the TSA needs to focus "on those people who want to harm us.

"We have to identify those people — we do that through human intelligence, we do that by trying to get into the inner circle," he said. "Focus upon those individuals, not on the general public. Unfortunately, I think the Department of Homeland Security has been focusing on the general public and have been afraid of political correctness.

"We've got to forget political correctness," Broun continued. "We've got to start focusing on those people who want to harm us as a nation."