When does airport security become physical assault?

When does airport security become physical assault?:

"With the holiday season underway, intimate security checks at American airports are continuing to upset travellers.

When passengers refuse the full body scanners they may be submitted to what authorities are calling an enhanced pat-down.

Politicians are calling for them to be outlawed but the department of justice has threatened that flights whose passengers are not screened will be cancelled.

Nancy Campbell, a 33-year-old from Brooklyn, compared the experience to being 'sexually assaulted'.

...

enhanced pat-downs could prove counterproductive: 'There's encouragement from the government to have our eyes on the ground and help make our country safer but if the government abuses the authority towards its citizens - are we all going to feel like one big team?

'Right now I feel accosted, I feel randomly plucked and embarrassed and abused.'

(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ..."