Pat-down or body-scan… is there another way?
December 2010
Today in the U.S., many passengers are given two options for airport security: go through a revealing full-body scanner or submit to an invasive pat-down. Crew members and passengers alike have created an uproar that has gotten the attention of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
Responding to an outcry over the use of airport security scanners, the TSA is testing full-body scanners that produce images of stick figures instead of a detailed human body. The purpose of the machines is to detect concealed, non-metallic weapons and other items. Complaints over the safety of the machines have been coupled with an uproar over the alternative – a very intimate pat-down that some flyers have said crosses the line.
A recent poll suggested that the majority of Americans are more concerned with security at airports than what the scanners reveal. Despite this attitude, the TSA is looking for ways to mitigate the concerns travelers might have over the use of the full-body scanners. The machines currently being used employ slightly different technologies with similar results – a clear view of the naked body (facial features are purposely blurred). The first technology uses millimeter-wave technology which bounces signals off of the body at certain frequencies to create an image. This type of machine seems to be the more acceptable, though the creation of a revealing image is still disconcerting to some travelers. The second, and most controversial, is the backscatter technology which envelopes the body with small x-ray doses which federal agencies and the TSA claim are negligible – smaller than the amount of radiation one would be exposed to on an average flight at altitude.
The agency is now testing machines that use radio waves to produce an image that does not identify the traveler but does reveal concealed items. The body images are more like mannequins, or stick figures, and could go far in allaying concerns over the so-called "naked" images being produced by the current machines. The less revealing machines are being used in Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport with few complaints from the public.
Last 25 December, the so-called "underwear bomber" attempted to blow up an airplane by concealing explosives in his underpants. In response, agencies throughout the world, but particularly in the U.S. where the targeted flight was headed, tightened security and accelerated the deployment of new technology that included full-body scanners. By far, the U.S. has deployed more machines than anywhere else. The EU is still debating the widespread deployment of such scanners on the continent.
At least it's comforting to know that as a Priority Pass member you can get over the turmoil of being searched, by relaxing and unwinding at one of over 600 airport VIP lounges worldwide.
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