Intrusive New Airport Security Sceening

Explicit "full body scan" in place at six major US airports, including DIA

The Transportation Security Administration is at it again with an invasive new screening process. Denver International Airport (starting yesterday), Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport, Los Angeles International, New York's JFK International Airport, Baltimore-Washington International and Albuquerque International Sunport have installed L-3 Communications' millimeter-wave screening devices. These $158,000 machines bounce radio waves off the body to produce what has been described as "a graphic, whole-body image." While it is designed to reveal weapons and explosives that people might hide on their persons, it actually produces a controversial anatomically revealing image that is shockingly intrusive and invasive.

In a piece called "Airport Rolls Out Full-Body Scanning," Denver Post reporter Jeffrey Leib asked about travelers' legitimate privacy concerns:

"Travelers who do not want to submit to millimeter-wave screening can opt
for a pat-down search instead, [David] Bassett, [TSA's federal security director
in Denver] said. The new technology is 'less invasive' than the pat down,
he said. 'Some people don't want to be touched.'... To deal with privacy concerns, TSA is offering protections on whole-body scanning, including blurring the faces on images of passengers being screened, examining the images in a remote room and offering no possibility for images to be stored, printed, transmitted or reproduced, Bassett said.

"Whole-body imaging 'is an extremely high invasion of privacy,' although
TSA's effort to ensure that images are never made public is 'commendable,' said John Soma, a University of Denver law professor and executive director of the
Privacy Foundation. 'The compliance level has to be extremely high,' Soma said
of TSA's need to adhere to its rules in order to protect passengers' privacy. A
sign at the entrance of the millimeter-wave machine at DIA tells passengers to
'Remove everything from your pockets before entering. This includes all paper,
plastic items, pens and wallets.'

"As a passenger stands in the machine, it takes 2 seconds for the image to
be generated and 10 to 12 seconds for a screener in another room to interpret
the scan. On Wednesday, TSA employees stood in the machine to demonstrate its
capabilities. In a tiny, closed room at the back of the checkpoint, screener
Bill Whitlock scanned the image that appeared on his computer screen. It was
graphic and detailed, and the face was blurred. A shirt button, a belt buckle
and underwire in a bra were visible. Whitlock used a two-way radio to tell
another screener stationed at the millimeter-wave machine that the image had
been reviewed and the person could exit the machine. A sign on the door to the
small screening room says, 'Warning: Following items prohibited beyond this
point. — cellphones — video cameras — image-capturing devices. '

"Bassett said millimeter-wave screening will complement other technologies
already installed at checkpoints, including explosive-trace-detection portals,
or 'puffers,' that blow jets of air over a passenger's body and analyze air
samples for explosive residue. 'The puffer is sniffing; this is seeing,' Bassett
said of the millimeter-wave technology."

For a PG-13 version of how the system works, click here and follow the obvious links. The videos seem to be L-3 Communications', so they appear quite innocuous. The device works quickly and could, in theory, speed up the security process, but checking in has become such a long and tedious process that gaining a little time per passenger seems a high price to pay for this assult on personal privacy.

There are unpleasant side effects too. In addition to an intrusive new system inflicted on any one of us card-carrying Americans, our government now abuses our foreign visitors both coming and going. We fingerprint and photograph them when they enter the country as if they were under arrest, and we now can subject them them to a revealing full-body scan when they leave. Did I mention that this millimeter-wave scanning device is also being sold to "justice centers" (i.e., courthouses and jails).