Ten more U.S. airports get scanners

politico ^

[LouAvul]

Ten more U.S. airports are getting new scanners capable of detecting explosives like those carried by the alleged Christmas Day bomber, an administration official said Friday.

The new machines at airports including Boston’s Logan, Chicago’s O’Hare and Charlotte’s Douglas will take full body scans of airline passengers and can detect explosives hidden under clothing. LAX airport in Los Angeles, which already has one of the advanced scanners operating in its international terminal, will receive eight additional scanners, a Democratic member of Congress said.

The Transportation Security Administration bought 150 of the advanced imaging technology machines in September with $25 million in stimulus cash. POLITICO reported last month that it took the Department of Homeland Security seven months just to place the order — and it still hasn’t released a list or developed a complete plan for where to send them. Major airports still without the scanners, even after this new deployment, include all three of New York City’s hubs — Newark, LaGuardia and JFK.

The Obama administration announced a push to get up to 1,000 of the scanners into 75 percent of the country’s largest airports in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt. The 2011 budget request includes nearly $215 million to build more of the scanners and $218 million to pay some 5,300 TSA staff to operate the machines.

Installing the scanners is complicated because they are much larger than traditional metal detectors. Airports also have to build separate, windowless rooms where TSA agents can look at the scans without seeing passengers — the scans are so detailed that it is easy to determine a person’s gender, raising privacy concerns. The addition of the new machines brings the total number of U.S. airports operating them up to 29, including 17 of the country’s largest.

Republicans have questioned the dramatic increase in funding, particularly because the money for the machines had to come out of other areas of the DHS budget.

“I am apprehensive because it is unclear whether such a costly and manpower-intensive approach is the absolute best course of action, especially when the initial deployment of whole-body imagers appears to be an interim step towards the use of even more advanced technology,” Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said Thursday. “Far too often, government overreacts in the wake of a crisis.” Rogers serves on the Appropriations subcommittee that authorizes the DHS budget.

New York Rep. Peter King, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, has blasted the DHS budget because it cuts five of the Coast Guard’s maritime counterterrorism teams, including the one charged with protecting New York City.

A full list of the airports that will get new scanners, according to an administration official:

Boston Logan

Los Angeles

Charlotte Douglas, N.C.

Oakland, Calif.

Chicago O'Hare

Port Columbus, Ohio

Cincinnati

San Diego

Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

San Jose, Calif.

Kansas City, Mo.

[LouAvul]

Coming to a city near you.

[RebelTXRose]

What? buffalo, ny isn’t on the list??? Don’t they know we are right next to a border???

[servantboy777]

Slowly but surely losing our personal freedoms.

[sionnsar]

can detect explosives hidden under clothing

But not in "body cavities" or implanted.

I feel So Much Safer^TM now.

[SlaveNoMore]

This is such a scam. Not only would the scanners not detect the underwear bomber, the whole "crisis" from which this "security" proposal is based upon is a sham. The underwear bomber's identity was known and, per the state department's spokesman in the article, was being monitored. So, in other words, the government allows a preventable potential "crisis" to occur to implement more draconian surveillance measures to protect the American public?

Homeland "Security" is also performing ridiculous and unwarranted searches on buses with VIPR teams. How does this make me feel safer when I'm not scared of a terrorist? A terrorist has no power if you're not terrified. Don't fools realize the minuscule odds of being taken out by a terrorist. You'll have better odds playing the lottery.

Has everyone become gullible, compliant sheep? The only way to defeat tyranny is resistance. Refuse this nonsense. JUST SAY NO