LAX will use body imaging scanning
The sophisticated technology may prove to be a more effective way to check passengers for dangerous materials, officials say. But critics say it's extraordinarily invasive and amounts to a virtual strip search.
Some travelers at Los Angeles International Airport will be searched for weapons and explosives using a new scanner that peers through their clothes and creates an image of the person's body, federal officials announced Thursday.
The sophisticated technology, called millimeter wave imaging, may prove to be a more effective way to check travelers for guns, knives, bombs and other dangerous materials than pat-down searches. But it has raised questions by privacy and civil rights advocates, who say the screening process is extraordinarily invasive and amounts to a virtual strip search.
"I don't think people are really aware of just how accurate and detailed the images are of their naked body," said Peter Bibring, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union office in Los Angeles. "We need to make sure there are good safeguards. The temptation is great not to follow procedures when a celebrity or someone well-known is involved."
Millimeter wave pictures are white and dark gray. Though somewhat fuzzy, they are detailed enough to reveal such features as breasts and body anomalies.
Officials with the Transportation Security Administration said the agency plans to buy at least 30 more scanning devices this year for use at other airports.
The TSA unveiled its "whole body imaging" machine at the Delta Airlines terminal at LAX on Thursday afternoon. The device, which is part of a pilot program involving major airports, is being tested under actual conditions at a TSA checkpoint for passengers departing on Delta, housed in Terminal 5.
"This will allow us to enhance our security at LAX," said Nico Melendez, a TSA spokesman. "Imaging devices are not a brand-new security tool, but they are a brand new security tool for airports."
Travelers randomly selected for secondary screening will go through the scanning device, which uses electromagnetic waves to create an image from energy reflected from the human body. The device costs about $150,000.
If passengers don't want to go through the scanner, they will be subjected to other screening measures, including pat-down searches. Signs posted in the checkpoint area will advise them of this option.
During the process, a person walks into a large portal -- about 9 feet high and 6 feet wide -- and assumes two different positions for the scan. A three-dimensional image later appears on a computer screen that is checked by a security official in a separate location. The process takes a minute or two.
