[Banfield:] A two-year-old video of a TSA agent patting down a three-year-old boy is stirring up some good old fashioned outrage across this country. It's only fair to point out that the procedures for screening children have changed dramatically in the two years since this incident. Our Lizzie O'Leary joins us now to talk about your rights regarding your children and yourself if you're headed to the airport. And, Lizzie, the first time I saw that, of course, I think I jumped in the outrage pool with everybody else thinking, oh, come on already. Is this serious? But things have really changed, haven't they, since this video actually was filmed two years ago?
[Lizzie O'leary, Cnn Correspondent:] Yes, they have changed. And that's really important to point out here. So, back in September, the TSA started changing the way it screens kids under 12. And essentially what's going on here is the goal is for fewer pat-downs so they don't get eliminated all together and kid can go twice through a screening machine if there's something that sets off a flag. They don't have to take off their shoes. We should bear in mind that, in this instance, this child was in a metal wheelchair, which would set off some of the detecting machines. So it's likely that he would have gotten some sort of limited pat-down or swabbing with those white pads. Those are for explosive trace detection. So that probably would have happened anyway. But the goal overall, as the TSA sees it, is to sort of take pools of people they see as less risky and screen them a little differently.
[Banfield:] So, real quick question because I have two little ones, not this little, but little enough that I could carry them if I wanted to. I know this little boy had a broken leg and maybe that's why he wasn't carried. But if you carried the boy through, he'd probably be in better shape than if you put him in the wheelchair that would beep.
[O'leary:] Well, because they'd be going through with you and the wheelchair wouldn't be beeping, exactly. That's part of this, TSA tries not to separate kids from their parents, they say. Certainly, that's something that raises parents' eyebrows, they don't want to see it. And the department understands that. They've got little lines you can call in before you take your kids on a trip.
[Banfield:] And just quickly. Get me up to speed again on the elderly as well. Didn't they change the rules about the elderly?
[O'leary:] Yes, they did. Yesterday so, we're talking limited screening here, too. People over 75 at a couple of airports, four of them at this point, can keep their shoes on, a light jacket, they can go through the metal detector or screening device again to try to avoid that pat-down. So again, this is part of eliminating those pools of risk as the TSA calls it.
[Banfield:] And that kinder, gentler trip for the rest of us. Lizzie O'Leary, very good to see you. Thanks so much, Lizzie.