If you read the whole article, the TSA comes across as stupid. Amazingly enough the Sikh Diplomat ASKED for TSA guidelines to be followed. What makes this a joke is that the TSA did not know their own guidelines. They had to call it in and found out in the affirmative 30 minutes later.
So, here is how this went down:
1. Sikh Diplomat goes through metal detector WITHOUT beeping
2. TSA guy still selects him for a “random” check
3. TSA guy is polite to Sikh
4. Sikh in turn is polite back to TSA
5. TSA says..I want to pat your turban (whoa! buy him some dinner first!)
6. Sikh guy says “Hey.. your OWN TSA guidelines allow me to pat my turban with my bare hands and you to test my hands for residue”
7. TSA guy says “What! Never heard of such a thing”
8. Sikh guy says “Dude! I just read it”
9. TSA guy says “OK.. I am going to call it in”
10. Sikh guy cools his heels for 30 minutes
11. TSA guy shows up 30 minutes later and says “Dude! You were so right! You should work for the TSA!”
12. Sikh guy says “Dude! I don’t like feeling up little children”
13. They both laugh
14. TSA guy says “Hey! Wait a minute! That ain’t funny!”
All in all, training is missing in the TSA. However, jokes aside, the Sikh guy did say that NO ONE was impolite to him. He is just a bit miffed that as a foreigner he knows more about US Law than our front line personnnel