On his way to a religious fanatic anti-abortion hatefest, Sen. Rand Paul was detained today by TSA agents in Nashville after a scanner went off, and he then refused a pat down.

Now, in true Paul family fashion, Rand Paul is planning a formal Senate investigation to find out who’s behind the TSA scanner conspiracy.

Paul walked into the main terminal at Reagan National hours behind schedule, thanks to an incident at the airport in Nashville he said included him being “detained” by TSA agents for refusing a pat down after a scanner went off as he went through it. Paul said he was held “in a cubicle” at the Nashville airport and told he was not allowed to make any phone calls. Eventually, he told a gaggle of reporters at the DC airport, he left the screening area and was allowed to be re-scanned. The machine didn’t go off, and Paul caught his flight to DC.

The difference between those two scans — one triggering an alarm and one not — will lead to a formal Senate inquiry, Paul (who has been a strong critic of the TSA’s pat down policy) told me in the airport.

Paul questioned why the machine would go off once and then not a second time. He said he suspects the equipment is rigged to set off false positives that then allow the TSA to conduct random pat downs without having to pull a passenger aside.

“I think was mine probably random, I doubt I was picked on,” he said. “But I would like to know: does the screener have the ability to push the button and randomly get someone to set off a screener?”

Sure, that makes sense. Everyone knows TSA agents don’t have enough to do; they’re probably rigging the machines to avoid boredom. Whatever the reason, I’m sure Inspector Paul will get to the bottom of it.