New Scanners Unveiled
National News
by
Jay Gray
last edited on
Friday, March 05, 2010
Travelers at airports across the country will begin to get a good look at new safety measures, while some agents will be getting a closer look at passengers.
Full body scanners are set to go into service starting Monday, part of a push by the Obama Administration to improve airport security. Three new full-body scanners were wheeled into Boston's Logan Airport this week.
"It's just one more layer of security that helps deter any bad people from doing harm to our airport," says Ed Freni, Logan's Director of Aviation.
The new machines will go on-line Monday in Boston, the first of 150 units the Transportation Security Administration plans to have in place at U.S. airports by June. The imaging machines allow agents to see through clothing to identify possible hidden objects.
Some security experts believe the new scanners might have helped to detect explosive material a suspect smuggled in his underwear during a failed attempt to blow-up a jetliner that landed in Detroit on Christmas day. But the new technology, which provides what have been called "blurry" black-and-white images of a passengers body, has raised some questions about privacy.
"Passenger privacy is insured to the unanimity of the image. The officer attending the passenger will not view the image. And as an additional precaution, the officer viewing the image will be remotely located and the image won't be stored," assures Lee Kair of the TSA's Office of Security Operations.
And there have also been concerns that it will increase lines and lag times at airports. The TSA also plans to begin random tests at several airports, swabbing traveler's hands for any trace amounts of explosives.