Backscatter scanner in use by TSA at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. (Pro Publica.org image) TSA ON WAY OUT? X-Ray Scanners Only One Problem Among Many
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The Transportation Security Agency (TSA) is under attack all over the country and big changes may be in the offing.
In fact, Congress is raising more and more questions about TSA and some members are threatening to propose funding cuts or even elimination of the agency that began after 9/11.
Not helping the agency's image is the fact that more than 400 TSA personnel have been fired for stealing from passengers.
News reports say those irritating and unnecessary body checks at airports may be on the way out, or at least revised to be less objectionable.
MBS Airport at Freeland has no so-called "nude-o-scope" x-ray body scanners, and Bishop Airport, Flint, has one millimeter wave (MMW) scanner at its sole checkpoint, according to flyertalk.com.
DTW, Detroit Metro Airport, north terminal has two checkpoints (North & South). Both have a WTMD (walk-through metal detector) and MMW scanner for each pair of bag x-ray lanes. Westin (international) has MMW.
A blogger on Huffington Post gives high marks to TSA, but only at MBS: "I hate the TSA with one NOTABLE exception. The TSA at MBS Airport in Saginaw, Mi are the nicest people I have ever encountered. One recent example: I left a container of Body Shop lotion in my purse--totally forgot about it. The agent looked at it through the screen and then when he examined my purse pulled it out (it was 2.8 oz). He pulled a zip lock bag out of his pocket, put it in and ran it through the scanner. At any other airport, I would have lost an $18 tube of lotion."
The United States remains one of the only countries in the world to X-ray passengers at airports. The European Union prohibited the backscatters last year "in order not to risk jeopardizing citizens' health and safety," officials said. The last scanners were removed from Manchester Airport in the United Kingdom last month.
John Whitehead, of the Rutherford Institute, a non-profit concerned with civil liberties and human rights, opines: "A more plausible explanation for the phase-out of the X-ray scanners might have to do with recent reports that Rapiscan, one of the scanners' main manufacturers, 'may have attempted to defraud the government' by faking test data on software intended to replace the nude images produced by the X-ray scanners with stick-figure images.
Rutherford has defended many passengers charged with TSA violations and says the agency is fighting against Fourth Amendment protections against "unreasonable search and seizure."
"No American should be forced to undergo a virtual strip search or subjected to such excessive groping of the body as a matter of course in reporting to work or boarding an airplane when there is no suspicion of wrongdoing," said Whitehead. "To do so violates human dignity and the U.S. Constitution, and goes against every good and decent principle this country was founded upon."
"The real problem, as the House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform recognized earlier this year, is the TSA itself, which has gained a reputation for fumbling, bumbling and general incompetence."
Created in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the TSA was charged with providing effective and efficient security for passenger and freight transportation in the United States. It has since become one of the Department of Homeland Security's most visible and costly means of clamping down on Americans domestically, boasting an $8 billion annual budget and a roster of employees that includes TSOs (or airport screeners), behavior detection officers, and VIPR task forces (comprised of federal air marshals, surface transportation security inspectors, transportation security officers, behavior detection officers and explosive detection canine teams), among others.
"The TSA has increasingly drawn the ire of travelers because of its security procedures, which have subjected airline travelers of all ages, most of whom clearly do not in any way fit the profile of a terrorist, to invasive virtual strip searches, excessive enhanced pat downs and unreasonable demands by government agents -- what one journalist refers to as 'ritualized humiliation of travelers.'"
Several news reports indicate that changes for the U.S. were telegraphed at a recent Congressional hearing.
Pro Publica, the public interest journalism website, has reported extensively on dangers from the current x-ray scanners and the switch to millimeter wave scanners that use low-energy radio waves.
The TSA's X-Ray body scanners that caused so much controversy are being phased out in major airports and replaced with different machines. The TSA makes this switch to allow airport officials to move passengers through security faster, as the present X-Ray scanners slow down the process.
Cancer risk from radiation is one of the big concerns surrounding these high-tech X-Ray scanners, aside from privacy. But TSA officials say they are switching for practical rather than safety reasons.
There are other benefits as well, from both a safety and privacy standpoint. The new machines are said to be safer and less revealing because they only give a cartoon image of the person scanned.
The switch has already been made in several big airports and the TSA continues to move the scanners from larger airports to smaller ones, replacing them in the larger airports with "millimeter-wave scanners." Those use low-energy radio waves and can spot threats quickly via computer technology.
TSA has been quietly removing its X-ray body scanners from major airports over the last few weeks and replacing them with machines that radiation experts believe are safer.
The TSA says it made the decision not because of safety concerns but to speed up checkpoints at busier airports. It means, though, that far fewer passengers will be exposed to radiation because the X-ray scanners are being moved to smaller airports.
The backscatters, as the X-ray scanners are known, were swapped out at Boston Logan International Airport in early October. Similar replacements have occurred at Los Angeles International Airport, Chicago O'Hare, Orlando and John F. Kennedy in New York, say TSA officials.
X-ray scanners have faced a barrage of criticism since the TSA began rolling them out nationwide after the failed "underwear" bombing on Christmas Day 2009. One reason is that they emit a small dose of ionizing radiation, which at higher levels has been linked to cancer.
In addition, privacy advocates decried that the machines produce images, albeit heavily blurred, of passengers' naked bodies. Each image must be reviewed by a TSA officer, slowing security lines.
The replacement machines, known as millimeter-wave scanners, rely on low-energy radio waves similar to those used in cell phones. The machines detect potential threats automatically and quickly using a computer program. They display a generic cartoon image of a person's body, mitigating privacy concerns.
"They're not all being replaced," TSA spokesman David Castelveter said. "It's being done strategically. We are replacing some of the older equipment and taking them to smaller airports. That will be done over a period of time."
He said the TSA decided to move the X-ray machines to less-busy airports after conducting an analysis of processing time and staffing requirements at the airports where the scanners are installed.
TSA is not phasing out X-ray body scanners completely. The backscatter machines are still used for screening at a few of America's largest 25 airports, but the TSA has not confirmed which ones. Recently, Gateway Airport in Mesa, Ariz., installed two of the machines.
Moreover, in late September, the TSA awarded three companies potential contracts worth up to $245 million for the next generation of body scanners -- and one of the systems, made by American Science & Engineering, uses backscatter X-ray technology.
Although there has been some doubt about the long-term safety of the type of radio frequency waves used in the millimeter-wave machines, scientists say that, in contrast to X-rays, such waves have no known mechanism to damage DNA and cause cancer.
The TSA has said that having both technologies encourages competition, leading to better detection capabilities at a lower cost.
But tests in Europe and Australia suggest the millimeter-wave machines have some drawbacks. They were found to have a high false-alarm rate, ranging from 23 percent to 54 percent. Even common things such as folds in clothing and sweat have triggered the alarm.
In contrast, Manchester Airport officials told ProPublica that the false-alarm rate for the backscatter was less than 5 percent.
No study comparing the two machines' effectiveness has been released. The TSA says its own results are classified.
Each week, the agency reports on various knives, powdered drugs and even an explosives detonator used for training that have been found by the body scanners.
Department of Homeland Security investigators reported last year that they had "identified vulnerabilities" with both types of machines. And House transportation committee chairman John Mica, R-Fla., who has seen the results, has called the scanners "badly flawed."
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