Enlarge By Joern Pollex, Getty Images A man demonstrates a check by a full body scanner at Hamburg Airport on Sept. 30. The USA's Homeland Security chief asked for air travelers' "cooperation and patience" with the scanners and pat downs this holiday season. The nation's Homeland Security chief asked for air travelers' "cooperation" and "patience" with full-body scanning and pat downs this holiday season amid a growing public backlash that the airport tactics are intrusive. "Each and every one of the security measures we implement serves an important goal," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano writes in a column for today's USA TODAY, which asks the public to be a partner in defending against terrorism. READ NAPOLITANO'S COLUMN: Scanners are safe, pat-downs discreet Yet some consumer, civil rights and pilots groups are protesting new Transportation Security Administration (TSA) methods they say go too far. "The public is done with their rights being violated," says Kate Hanni, executive director of the travel group flyersrights.org. "People are just furious" about the body scanners, which peer beneath clothing, and pat downs of their private areas if they refuse to be scanned. The group plans today to call on its 30,000 members to boycott the full-body scanners and insist any pat down by TSA staff be done in a private room and with a witness present. TSA Administrator John Pistole says organizing such boycotts is "irresponsible" because the scanners "may prevent an attack using non-metallic explosives." Last week, unions representing pilots at American Airlines and US Airways advised their 14,000 members to avoid the scanners, saying they are intrusive and could emit dangerous radiation. A Food and Drug Administration review found no health threat. The TSA says the images protect privacy. On Oct. 28, the TSA announced it was implementing new pat down procedures at checkpoints nationwide to help detect hidden items, such as the explosive packed into the underwear of a passenger aboard a Detroit-bound plane on Dec. 25. "Pat-downs have long been one of the many security measures used by the U.S. and (other) countries," Napolitano writes in her column, noting they're done by an officer of the same gender. The scanning machines "are safe, efficient and protect passenger privacy," Napolitano writes, noting that the images are viewed in a walled-off location. The attention to private parts is what has some fliers outraged. "I have never been more embarrassed and more humiliated and offended in my life," frequent flier Jennifer Rae, 37, of Tampa, says of her Oct. 29 pat down at a Detroit airport gate. John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties organization, is defending some pilots who have refused the scans. "I think people are saying, 'Enough is enough.' " Grass-roots efforts on the Web call on fliers to boycott scanners Nov. 24, the day before Thanksgiving. James Babb, co-founder of wewontfly.com, said the 2-week-old site gets 70,000 hits a day. Says Babb, who has daughters ages 4 and 8: "To think that they expect me to allow my girls to be photographed naked or to be fondled by government employees is just more than I could bear." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more