Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officals treated Sen. Rand Paul “appropriately” today, when the senator was prevented from boarding a plane to Washington, D.C., after Paul refused to allow the TSA to subject him to a pat-down today.

“Passengers who refuse to complete the screening process can’t be granted access to the secure area,” the TSA wrote on its blog today. “This isn’t done to punish the passenger– it’s done to ensure that every person who gets on a plane is screened appropriately.” TSA explained that they wanted to do “a targeted patdown of the area” on Sen. Paul’s body that set off the alarm.