Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior US officials are exempt from toughened new airport screening procedures when they fly commercially with government-approved federal security details.
Aviation security officials would not name those who can skip the controversial screening, but other officials said those VIPs range from top officials like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and FBI Director Robert Mueller to congressional leaders like incoming House Speaker John Boehner, who avoided security before a recent flight from Washington's Reagan National Airport.
The heightened new security procedures by the Transportation Security Administration, which involve either a scan by a full-body detector or an intimate personal pat-down, have spurred passenger outrage in the lead-up to the Thanksgiving holiday airport crush.
But while passengers have no choice but to submit to either the detector or what some complain is an intrusive pat-down, senior government officials can opt out if they fly accompanied by government security guards approved by the TSA.
"Government officials travelling with approved federal law enforcement security details are not required to undergo security screening," TSA spokesman Nicholas Kimball said, speaking about checkpoint security at airports. "TSA follows a specialised screening protocol for federal law enforcement officers and those under their control, which includes identity verification."
The TSA would not explain why it makes these exceptions. But many of the exempted government officials have gone through several levels of security clearances, including FBI background checks, and travel with armed law enforcement, eliminating the need for an additional layer of security at airports.
Armed law enforcement officials who travel commercially are also allowed to skip airport security after they fill out the proper paperwork at the airport.
A few politicians have called for investigations into the intimate pat-downs, and some refuse to go through the full-body imaging machines when they travel. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who has blasted the procedures, avoids the scanners but goes through security and takes the pat-down if it's required, according to his spokeswoman Alisia Essig.
The TSA's administrator, John Pistole, is treated like any other traveller when he flies, waiting in security lines and walking through X-ray machines, including the full-body imagers, his spokesman said.
Even as he has led a publicity campaign in recent days to urge cooperation from air travellers, Pistole's agency is preparing for long lines at airports Wednesday, the busiest travel day of the year.
Security checks at some US airports could be slowed this year by a loosely organised campaign for travellers to opt out of going through the full-body imaging machine, a 10-second process. By opting out, travellers would be choosing to undergo a pat-down which can take up to four minutes.
This year's pat-downs are different from last year. The new version includes a rigorous screening that includes agents running their hands inside a passenger's legs and along the cheek of the buttocks as well as direct contact with the groin area.
The terrorist threat to commercial aviation, including a failed attack on a Detroit-bound jet last Christmas, prompted the Obama administration to develop a more invasive pat-down on air travellers.
The American Civil Liberties Union has received more than 600 complaints over three weeks from passengers who say they were subjected to humiliating pat-downs at US airports, and the pace is accelerating, according to ACLU legislative counsel Christopher Calabrese.
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