This is *not* a defense of the TSA

A weapons search that doesn't approximate sexual assault isn't a weapons search. If you exclude the underpants area from weapons searches, then people can hide things in their underpants, which defeats the entire point of doing the search.

This is not a defense of the TSA because the idea that every person who flies in a public airplane in the United States has to subject themselves to either public nudity or a weapons search is stark barking insane.