TSA Full Body Image Scanners a waste of the Tax Payers Dime.

Since the successful attempt to get explosives on board an airline during Christmas, the Government has pushed to get Whole Body Image Scanners to all U.S. Airports. For those who do not know what these are, these are machines that basically x-ray an entire persons body to display weapons a person is concealing beneath their clothing. Some of you are probably thinking, it’s about time or what is the big deal.

Well the big deal is that ever since the Scanners introduction many people feel they violate a persons privacy. Some believe a Screener may export Scanner images to a hand-held device and spread them across the Internet. That in itself no matter what TSA says is very likely to happen, based on my experience with new screeners (They are to the point were they will hire anyone with a pulse). There is also the concern about the long-term effects of radiation on both Passenger and Screeners (That is a whole other topic in itself).

In case some are wondering what the screeners sees, here are pictures provided by the TSA:

You can see why someone may have a concern about their privacy. I do believe there is a simple fix for this problem. I think that instead of the screener seeing a person’s body, they should only see the offending weapons. They could then super impose the images of the items over a silhouette of a person to determine the location. I know this can be accomplished  as other x-ray technology already uses this method.

These problems are very small in comparison to what you should really be worried about and why these machines are a waste of our money. What the TSA will not tell you and has only been slightly reported on is the fact these machines can not detect items or more importantly explosives that may be hidden in a body cavity. Drug smugglers have used this method for years and Al Qaeda has used this method in the past. (See Video below)

With the cost of $160,000 each I consider this a waste of money for technology that does very little to keep Americans safe. This money could be better spent by using it to develop a professional screening force with professional training. Why this technology is being pushed by the current Administration is beyond me. What I do know is this system will not hinder a would be Terrorist from carrying out their plot.

Thanks For Your Time

Sean