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I know what you’re thinking: there’s a subway in LA? Joke aside, for our younger readers, Total Recall is science fiction movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The movie is based on a dystopian short-story (“We Can Remember It For You Wholesale”) written by one of the best science fiction authors in the world, Philip K. Dick respectively. Here’s the scene I am hinting at in the title: The movie was made almost 30 years ago, in 1990, and what do you know: Los Angeles is now preparing to become the first city in the United States to install subway body scanners,...

Since the attempted bombing of a US airliner on Christmas Day, former Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff has given dozens of media interviews touting the need for the federal government to buy more full-body scanners for airports. What he has made little mention of is that the Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, includes a client that manufactures the machines. Chertoff disclosed the relationship on a CNN program Wednesday, in response to a question. An airport passengers’ rights group on Thursday criticized Chertoff’s use of his former government credentials to advocate for a product that benefits his clients. ... In...

This is a video showing how easy it is to defeat the TSA body scans and what a scam the entire process is. Briefly, metal objects show up as "black" on the scan, so you can hide anything you want on your side and walk through the scanner --- something that was impossible with the old-fashioned metal detectors. Heck I bet a pistol in a shoulder holster would make it through. And before people cry about "letting the terrorists know," I guarantee they know already.

The European Union on Monday prohibited the use of X-ray body scanners in European airports, parting ways with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, which has deployed hundreds of the scanners as a way to screen millions of airline passengers for explosives hidden under clothing. --> The European Commission, which enforces common policies of the EU's 27 member countries, adopted the rule “in order not to risk jeopardizing citizens’ health and safety.” As a ProPublica/PBS NewsHour investigation detailed earlier this month, X-ray body scanners use ionizing radiation, a form of energy that has been shown to damage DNA and cause cancer....

US Politicians Duped By The Brotherhood In the United States, one individual maintained a pretense of "moderation" which would later embarrass the left and the right. According to the testimony of Dr. Michael Waller to the US Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Abdurahman Alamoudi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. A man born in Eritrea in 1951, he arrived in the US in 1979 and became a naturalized US citizen on May 23, 1996. From 1985 onwards he became involved in many Muslim groups. In 1990 he founded the Washington DC-based American Muslim Council (AMC), which Waller states "has...

“It’s not an explosive detector; it’s an anomaly detector,” Clark Ervin, who runs the Homeland Security Program at the Aspen Institute, told the Post. “Someone has to notice that there’s something out of order.” Which means those security employees who stare at the screens have to be sharp enough and well-trained enough to detect things that are abnormal. (And some experts think that if the explosives are flat and pancake-shaped and taped to your stomach, they could not be detected anyway, because the picture would look too normal.) snip Citing an ABC report, Crowley said, “There are some major airports...

A short history of airport security: We screen for guns and bombs, so the terrorists use box cutters. We confiscate box cutters and corkscrews, so they put explosives in their sneakers. We screen footwear, so they try to use liquids. We confiscate liquids, so they put PETN bombs in their underwear. We roll out full-body scanners, even though they wouldn't have caught the Underwear Bomber, so they put a bomb in a printer cartridge. We ban printer cartridges over 16 ounces--the level of magical thinking here is amazing--and they're going to do something else. This is a stupid game, and...

A Parody TSA Public Service Announcement on the seven steps of the screening process.

Napolitano said she hoped the U.S. could get to a place in the future where Americans would not have to be as guarded against terrorist attacks as they are and that she was actively promoting research into the psychology of how a terrorist becomes radicalized. “The long-term [question] is, how do we get out of this having to have an ever-increasing security apparatus because of terrorists and a terrorist attack?” she said. “I think having a better understanding of what causes someone to become a terrorist will be helpful." DHS and intelligence officials are not as far along in understanding...

TSA’s other body-scanner contractor is Rapiscan Systems Inc. In 2009, the company was awarded an agreement that could be worth up to $173 million. And like L-3, Rapiscan has a notable K Street presence. Holland & Knight, Rapiscan’s outside lobbying firm, has earned $480,000 in fees from the company since May 2008, according to lobbying disclosure records. David Whitestone, a former aide to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), and John Buscher, once the chief lobbyist for United Airlines, are lobbying for the company. Overall, Rapiscan has spent close to $3.6 million on lobbying since 2007, according to records.

You are probably sick to death of this story. If you have been watching the news lately, it seems this story leads all newscasts. In all that coverage, you would think you heard everything, right? Wrong. A friend of mine who feels very passionately about not subjecting passengers to bodyscans or pat-downs posted this link on his facebook page. It is the homepage of the manufacturer of ISCON Thermo Conductive Infrared bodyscanners -- technology that doesn't use radiation but can distinguish between flesh and contraband. No pictures of one's privates. And as you can see on the site, there are...

Americans aren't crazy about the new airport pat-downs. But according to a new poll, nearly half still back them, with even more supporting full body scanning. Forty-eight percent of Americans said the pat-downs are justified, while 50% said they are against the new measures, a new Washington Post/ABC News poll revealed. Meanwhile, the majority – 64% – said they supported the use of full-body scanners while 32% said they were against it. The 385 full-body scanners being used at 68 airports across the country have sparked an outcry from flyers, who argue they're virtual strip searches because they produce invasive,...

I have placed my vote to remove them! So, far it is almost a deadlock even. Help me to Freep it to "swing" the poll!

The U.S. Travel Association set up the website, YourTravelVoice.org, after it received more than 1,000 unsolicited comments from travellers about the increased security following recently foiled bomb plots involving U.S. bound parcels. "It was clear to us that there was some national concern about this issue. We are hoping that this website can help people express those views so we can all work together," said Geoff Freeman, the executive vice president of the trade group. He added that he hopes feedback from the website can provide a platform through which travellers can share their opinions with policy makers in Washington.

For travelers going through Spokane International Airport - or any airport - this holiday season, the choice is simple. Either go through a device that allows security personnel to see your body through your clothing, get felt up and groped, or find another way to your destination. According to an article at the Sun-Sentinel: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is warning that any would-be commercial airline passenger who enters an airport checkpoint and then refuses to undergo the method of inspection designated by TSA will not be allowed to fly and also will not be permitted to simply leave the...

A women from Ohio appeared on Hannity in which she said she was sexually assaulted by a TSA agent before flying. The irony of the allegation is that it comes after a Democratic Senator recently called the crotch gropes “love pats”.

As complaints grow over full body scanners, one local congressman said he wants airports, including Orlando International Airport, to use private security to screen passengers. U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, has sent a letter to the heads of more than 150 airports across the country, suggesting that they opt out of Transportation Security Administration screening. Mica is in line to become chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

At the heart of the controversy over “body scanners” is a promise: The images of our naked bodies will never be public. U.S. Marshals in a Florida Federal courthouse saved 35,000 images on their scanner. These are those images. A Gizmodo investigation has revealed 100 of the photographs saved by the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner from Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc., obtained by a FOIA request after it was recently revealed that U.S. Marshals operating the machine in the Orlando, Florida courthouse had improperly-perhaps illegally-saved images of the scans of public servants and private citizens. So much for not being...

Foes of the Transportation Security Agency's new air-screening procedures, including law enforcement-style pat-downs and what have been called "virtual strip searches," had hoped that today's Senate hearing would lead to a privacy outcry on Capitol Hill. Not quite. The hearing quickly cleaved along partisan lines, with Democratic senators applauding the Obama administration and Republicans offering only modest criticism. "Mr. Pistole, you're doing a great job," Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the Senate committee overseeing air travel, told TSA chief John Pistole, a former FBI agent who's had the job since July. For emphasis, Rockefeller added a...

With a week to go until the Thanksgiving travel peak and Americans' anger continuing to rise over heightened airport-security measures, a U.S. congressman launched legislation today to end what he calls Soviet-style searches by the American government. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, introduced the Air Traveler Dignity Act to protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse by federal Transportation Security Administration employees conducting screenings at the nation's airports. "We have seen the videos of terrified children being grabbed and probed by airport screeners. We have read the stories of Americans being subjected to humiliating body imaging machines and/or forced to have...