Backscatters Use X-ray Imaging To See Through Clothes at Airports

New York Times reports that the Homeland Security Department is preparing to install and test high-tech machines at airport checkpoints known as backscatters that use X-ray imaging technology to allow a screener to scan a body. And yes, the body image is detailed.

Some excerpts from the article -
“Federal airport screeners using metal-detecting magnetometers did a miserable job identifying weapons concealed in carry-on bags or on the bodies of undercover agents.”

Is it fail proof? The article says -
“Because of concerns about radiation, body scanners are designed not to penetrate the skin. All that’s needed is someone heavily overweight to go through the system, he said. ….. a weapon or explosives pack could be tucked into flabby body folds that won’t be penetrated by the scanner.”

“The use of these more thorough examination procedures has been protested by passengers and interest groups, and have already been refined” by the Transportation Security Administration, Richard L. Skinner, the acting inspector general of the Homeland Security Department, told a Senate committee in January. Mr. Skinner said then that the T.S.A. was ramping up tests of new technologies like backscatter imaging.”

Its is a security requirement, but why is the public concerned? The article goes on to quote -
“I have a beautiful 29-year-old daughter and a beautiful wife, and I don’t want some screeners to be looking at them through their clothes, plain and simple,” he said.

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