DETROIT – An example of newly installed airport security standards didn't please one of Congress' senior members. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., was forced to strip to his skivvies before security guards at Washington Reagan National Airport before being allowed on his flight to Detroit.
"They felt me up and down like a prize steer," Dingell, 75, said. "I was very nice, but I probably showed I was displeased."
Private security guards at the Northwest Airlines terminal made Dingell remove his overcoat, suit coat, shoes and socks after triggering the metal detectors. When they couldn't find the source of the alarm, they asked him to go to a back room to remove his trousers.
The congressman had no metal on his person, but plenty of metal in him as he said he tried to explain to the guards. He has a metal replacement hip, which he received after a horse fell on him 20 years ago.
Dingell did not identify himself as a congressman, but has used his elevated authority to request U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to look into the incident to see if the guards handled the situation properly.
"I asked Norman to check to see if they treated me like they do everybody else," Dingell said. "I just wanted to be sure that what they did was necessary, that I got the same treatment, no better or no worse, than anyone else."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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