This past week, TSA Administrator John Pistole trumpeted TSA’s new software for their MMW full body scanners saying, “We believe it addresses the privacy issues.”
Senator Susan Collins (Maine), the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, among the most vocal critics of the scanners said of the new software, “We have the technology that will eliminate the need for American air travelers to choose between their privacy and security when they choose to fly.”
While the software is a definite improvement, it’s not the panacea for air travelers, implied by Administrator Pistole, or Senator Collins, who seem to ignore the numerous serious issues concerning the full boy scanners other than privacy. At the end of the day, even with the new software, the scanners still can’t detect the explosives on passengers for which the scanners were purchased.
TSA’s full body scanners have serious issues in the areas of: safety, efficiency, privacy and efficacy.
The new software doesn’t address the safety issues many credible physicians and scientists have raised about the full body scanners.
Senator Collins has unbelievably stated, “I understand that the machines being installed in this pilot program [referring to the MMW full body scanners with the new software] do not emit radiation.” Senator Collins needs to check her sources on that one. MMW based scanners most certainly emit terahertz radiation in order to “see” under passengers’ clothing.
Dr. John Sedat, Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California in San Francisco, believes that government statements supporting full-body x-ray scanner safety has “many misconceptions.” Dr. Sedat has warned that radiation from those devices has been dangerously underestimated and could lead to an increased risk of skin cancer.
In response to Dr. Sedat and colleagues at UCSF, the FDA cited five studies, however, none deal specifically with the low-energy x-rays which emanate from TSA x-ray based full body scanners. Moreover, the FDA’s response never even mentioned their own 2005 classification of x-rays as a carcinogen.
There are serious safety concerns about the MMW based scanners. I’ve written about a study by Boian S. Alexandrov (and colleagues) at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at the Los Alamos National Laboratory which puts their safety into considerable doubt, however, we don’t know if the the implications of the study are true, as to date, there have been no long-term, third party, safety tests of these scanners or their terahertz radiation. There have been no clinical trials for multiple exposures to terahertz waves, accumulated over a long period of time. In fact, the FDA, has never granted approval for any such device, even though they clearly qualify as “medical devices.”
I personally question the efficiency of using these scanners. I’ve witnessed their use, side by side with lines using a magnetometer and pat-downs. Averaging the speed of moving air travelers through lines using each of these security methods, I’ve found that magnetometer/pat-down lines handle air passengers faster than the full body scanner lines by a factor of about 7–1.
Robin Kane, TSA’s chief technology officer said of the MMW scanners, after their new software is installed, “We don’t intend to leave the monitors in place when we go to retrofit the software.” With the new software in place, TSA agents will see on their screens only an outline drawing of a person, with yellow boxes indicating some objects are hidden on their body at specific locations, as indicated by the boxes’ positions.
That’s great as it will probably move lines along faster. This software is a great first step, but items such as ostomy bags and certain kinds of prostheses will show up as boxes and TSA agents will be obliged to check further. I will hope that TSA will do such checking with more tact, and physical care than they have in the past.
Personally, I now get to the issue which can be a deal breaker for me, as an air passenger, and a US taxpayer. Do the full body scanners actually do the job for which they were purchased?
TSA has been purchasing these devices mostly in reaction to the “Panty Bomber,” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s attempt to blow up a plane with PETN explosive sewn into a thin layer in his undershorts.
If a terrorist hides a gun, box cutter or knife under their clothing, the scanners will detect that, but unless we’re talking about a ceramic gun or knife (They do exist.) so will magnetometers. Typical police style pat-downs, far less intrusive than TSA “enhanced pat-downs,” will detect all of the above items too.
On the other hand, tests have shown, if a terrorist hides an explosive material such as PETN, in low density powder form in clothing (like the Panty-Bomber), it’s highly unlikely the scanners will detect it, as its density is too low, too close to that of clothing.
A police style pat-down would detect such explosives. By allowing a full body scanner search to be the “end of the line” instead of a “less enhanced” more standard pat-down search, TSA is making us less safe, as terrorists with explosives can easily evade TSA scrutiny by going through the scanner.
I hope Senator Collins rethinks her recent praise of the scanner software and evaluates the scanners on more than privacy concerns. I hope that Senator Collins and her Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee put pressure on Administrator Pistole and TSA to dump the ineffective and very expensive scanners,and replace their use with security measures that would actually make air travelers safer, and use the freed tax dollars for intelligence, which has proven to be a very wise air security investment.
After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
