Kissinger at a summit in Beijing, June 25, 2011. (Andy Wong/AP)
Henry Kissinger was searched by the Transportation Security Administration at New York's LaGuardia Airport on Monday.
Matthew Cole, a freelance reporter for The Washington Post, recognized the former secretary of state, who was in a wheelchair, at a security checkpoint. The 88-year-old Kissinger, Cole said, got a "full pat-down."
"He stood with his suit jacket off, and he was wearing suspenders," Cole told the Post's "In the Loop" blog. "They gave him the full pat-down. None of the agents seemed to know who he was."
In March, the TSA said it would begin testing a program that would allow passengers 75 and older to keep their shoes and light jackets on as they pass through security. But the TSA said that older passengers may still be subject to normal screening procedures if the full-body scanners detect any anomalies.
"It may not be the most egregious violation of privacy [by] the agency," the Atlantic Wire's Eric Randall wrote, "but certainly another high profile example of their less-than-stellar record for singling out comically unlikely suspects."
In January, Sen. Rand Paul claimed he was detained by the TSA in Nashville, Tenn., after refusing a pat-down. The TSA, though, refuted Paul's account.
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