The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is implementing a more “comprehensive” procedure for pat-downs at airports, Bloomberg reported Friday.
A handful of different types of physical pat-downs have reportedly been replaced by a single approach.
“I would say people who in the past would have gotten a pat-down that wasn’t involved will notice that the [new] pat-down is more involved,” TSA spokesman Bruce Anderson told the publication.
{mosads}TSA said the procedure uses “enhanced security measures implemented several months ago, and does not involve any different areas of the body than were screened in the previous standard pat-down procedure,” according to the Record Searchlight.
“TSA continues to adjust and refine our systems and procedures to meet the evolving threat and to achieve the highest levels of transportation security.”
Bloomberg reported that the new procedures “will be more thorough and may involve an officer making more intimate contact than before,” according to a notice sent to employees at Denver International Airport.
Passengers are typically patted down if they set off security scanners, are selected for more advanced screening or choose not to go through the body scanning technology commonplace at TSA checkpoints.