Ron Paul Calls for Privatizing TSA: ‘These Are Not the Most Reputable People’

Rep. Ron Paul fired off a rhetorical salvo at the TSA Tuesday, decrying its air travel security policies and calling for TSA's replacement by private security forces. It's a position he's come to champion over the last few weeks.

Rep. Paul made his case while on the Tom Sullivan Show that the TSA is invasive, unnecessary, and ineffective. He rejected the underlying premise of the TSA wholesale- that federal bureaucrats will keep us safer than private enterprises with direct interest in the safety (and satisfaction) of their customers.

On the heavy pat-down policies implemented over the past year, Paul said "these are not the most reputable people...we would be arrested if we did this."

The Congressman went on to catalog the long history of federal failures to avert terrorist attacks, even going as far to state that federal policies -- no guns on the plane, no resistance to hijackers -- created an atmosphere that encouraged terrorists to target planes. He cited an overall big government tendency to demand "submissiveness" as the root cause of our troubles with the TSA, as well as a host of other federal overreaches.

After unleashing fierce criticisms of the current TSA-controlled system, Paul suggested a privatized security framework for airports and planes. Citing chemical plants and armored car services, contended that federal bureaucrats are less able to provide intelligent security than private owners.

Watch the full interview below:

Paul first mentioned the idea over the Fourth of July weekend, using strong language then to make his point clear.

"The press reports are horrifying," Paul said, according to The Hill. "Ninety-five-year-old women humiliated, children molested, disabled people abused. Men and women subjected to unwarranted groping and touching of their most private areas, and involuntary radiation exposure.

“If the perpetrators were a gang of criminals, their headquarters would be raided by SWAT teams and armed federal agents," he continued. "Unfortunately in this case, the perpetrators are armed federal agents."