The Atlantic?s Jeffrey Goldberg was told by a TSA agent directly that pat downs were made increasingly invasive not for any genuine security reason, but to make the experience so uncomfortable for the traveler that they would prefer to use the body scanner.
"I asked him if he was looking forward to conducting the full-on pat-downs. Nobody?s going to do it, he said, once they find out that we?re going to do.
In other words, people, when faced with a choice, will inevitably choose the Dick-Measuring Device over molestation? That?s what we?re hoping for. We?re trying to get everyone into the machine. He called over a colleague. Tell him what you call the back-scatter, he said. The Dick-Measuring Device, I said. That?s the truth, the other officer responded."