Despite Criticism, DHS to Deploy More Full-Body Scanners At US Airports - ABC News
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has announced it will be deploying new full-body scanners at eight more airports across the country, a decision that brought a new round of protests from critics of the technology who consider the machines overly intrusive.
A sign at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint instructs passengers about the...(Scott Olson/Getty Images)
More Photos"We all want airports to be safe and secure as possible," U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R.-Utah, told ABC News. But there are "more secure and less invasive" alternatives, he said.
Chaffetz and civil liberties groups have criticized the latest expansion, complaining that the machines produce graphic full-body images that invade the privacy of innocent travelers, and they have questioned the necessity, safety, and reliability of the machines.
RelatedThe new scanners, funded through the stimulus package, will be installed in cities that include Newark, Cleveland, and New Orleans. The Transportation Security Administration has hailed the "cutting edge technology" as part of its "layered approach to protecting the safety of the traveling public."
TSA Representative Greg Soule said the scanners were "critical to address evolving threats like the Christmas Day Bomber." Soule said that over the past year there were more than 80 instances where imaging technology has identified passengers who have artfully concealed prohibited or illegal items such as weapons or narcotics.
The Department of Homeland Security says the machines protect privacy because sensitive parts of the images are blurred, the person viewing the image watches from a separate room and never interacts with the passenger, and because in "the operational mode images are permanently deleted immediately once viewed and are never stored, transmitted or printed."
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