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Pinckney writes "A paper by Leon Kaufman and Joseph W. Carlson in the Journal of Transportation Security asserts that x-ray backscatter machines are not very effective (PDF) even in their intended role. While carelessly placed contraband will be detected, the machines have glaring blind-spots and have difficulty distinguishing explosives from human tissue. As they write, 'It is very likely that a large (15–20 cm in diameter), irregularly-shaped, cm-thick pancake [of PETN explosive] with beveled edges, taped to the abdomen, would be invisible to this technology. ... It is also easy to see that an object such as a wire or...

Abstract Little information exists on the performance of x-ray backscatter machines now being deployed through UK, US and other airports. We implement a Monte Carlo simulation using as input what is known about the x-ray spectra used for imaging, device specifications and available images to estimate penetration and exposure to the body from the x-ray beam, and sensitivity to dangerous contraband materials. We show that the body is exposed throughout to the incident x-rays, and that although images can be made at the exposure levels claimed (under 100 nanoGrey per view), detection of contraband can be foiled in these systems....

If the controversy about full-body TSA scanners has been heard by the Congress, there’s no sign of it in the spending bill being voted on in the House today. According to GovExec.com, the continuing resolution includes additional funds for the purchase of more scanners, and their installation in additional airports: The Transportation Security Administration would get $5.26 billion for aviation security, compared to about $5.56 billion requested by the administration. But the CR gives the TSA slightly more than the $5.21 billion it received last year. Congressional aides said TSA would have the discretion to use some of that funding...

Schumer introducing legislation to make distribution of body-scanner images illegal Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/12/05/2010-12-05_schumer_introducing_legislation_to_make_distribution_of_bodyscanner_images_illeg.html#ixzz17HqDPhfB

A coach-class rebellion against the Transportation Security Administration is brewing as state and local lawmakers challenge the agency's right to implement its invasive airport-safety protocols. "I'd like to send Washington a clear signal that these aggressive pat-downs and body scanners may have crossed the line," said Sean Paige, a member of the Colorado Springs City Council. "We want to maintain airport security, but need to speak up for the passengers who come through our city." He has asked the Colorado Springs airport's aviation commission and director to prepare a briefing on a proposal to replace the TSA with a private...

The silence from academia on the number one homeland security story—airport scanners— has been somewhat surprising but recently broken. At George Washington University “Law professor Jeffrey Rosen said the scanners are unconstitutional and has signed onto a lawsuit that hopes to block use of the scanners in airports across the country,” Asthaa Chaturvedi wrote in The GW Hatchet today. “Rosen serves on the advisory board of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public interest research center that has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the use of the scanners.” “He penned an editorial in the Washington Post Sunday, calling...

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...

The wife had jury duty at the Douglas County courthouse in Castle Rock, Colorado yesterday. She found they, too, now have the backscatter nude imaging machines, and they are mandatory. So, to excercise our constitutional rights to the courts or to appear as mandated by the court we must submit to a strip search and radiation. According to the TSA web site, these machines are also in other courthouses throughout the country. Just thought you should know.

Joy Tiz ©2010 It’s fomenting chaos, fear and rage among the American people; thus, it’s a safe bet that if we dig a little, we’ll unearth yet another Soros tentacle. Obama’s boss, George Soros, stands to benefit from the government’s use of body scanners at airports. The machines are manufactured by the whimsically named Rapiscan which received a taxpayer funded contract for $173 million after the Panty Bomber near catastrophe. A former aide to Democrat David Price of North Carolina lobbied on behalf of Rapiscan. Former Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff is also hustling for Rapiscan. And the de facto...

Be sure and read Tim Carney’s Examiner column today on the politically-connected lobby for the controversial new TSA scanners that are upsetting airline employees and travelers everywhere. Carney notes that a company called Rapiscan got a $165 million contract for the new body image scanners four days after the underwear-bomber incident this past Christmas. Not surprisingly, Rapiscan is politically connected..... .....it also appears that none other than George Soros, the billionaire funder of the country’s liberal political infrastructure, owns 11,300 shares of OSI Systems Inc., the company that owns Rapiscan. Not surprisingly, OSI’s stock has appreciated considerably over the course...

Perhaps one of the most controversial topics today is the use of “naked” body scanners at airports by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As this investigation found, it is indeed a matter deserving of such controversy and further investigative focus. Using the attempted Christmas Day 2009 bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 by 23-year-old “underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as “Exhibit A” for needing the ultra-intrusive “naked” body scanners, the TSA, under the direction of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, stepped up their purchases and deployment of the scanners...

Just a few facts that may or may not go together. I'd like to ask for help in understanding this combination of facts: We know that William Ayers, who appears to be one of Obama's mentors, planned for the killing of 25 million Americans. It may be that someone who accepted Ayer's mentorship might be willing to countenance such mass killings. Some believe that someone within the Obama administration is racist, as evinced, for example, by the administration's handling of the Black Panther voter intimidation case. If a racist wanted to kill 25 million people, and wanted to do so...

An anonymous reader sends in a CNN article that looks at airport security from more reasonable point of view, suggesting that looking for every last micro-gram of potentially explosive material is a waste of time, since very small quantities of explosives are unlikely to significantly damage a plane. The author also recommends incorporating parts of the Israeli method of securing airplanes — look for the bomber, not the tools. Quoting: "Clearly everything should be done to prevent explosives getting on board an aircraft in quantities sufficient to cause structural failure and bring the plane down. But is it worth chasing...

Federal officials claim radiation risks from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's new full-body scanners are low, but several scientists are calling on the administration to rethink whether the numbers really add up. The TSA says the radiation from its security scans amounts to about a thousandth of the amount a patient receives from a standard chest X-ray, or an amount "equivalent to two minutes of flying on an airplane." But a physics professor at Arizona State University in Tempe not only conducted his own study, finding the radiation exposure 10 times what the TSA estimates, but also argues that the...

Judge Napolitano and Dr. Jerome Corsi expose the cancer risks of BO's TSA Radiation Scanners and the fraud and illegality of TSA.

NEWARK — The choice between a "virtual strip search" and a "grope" was strictly academic Wednesday for most holiday travelers flying out of Newark Liberty International Airport. The majority of Newark’s full-body scanners were idle throughout much of the day, depriving most passengers of the chance to opt out of the controversial screening procedure even if they had wanted to. All in all, Thanksgiving eve was a non-event at Newark Liberty, reflecting the relative calm reported at airports around the country. "Things have gone very, very smoothly,"

If you don't want to pass through an airport scanner that allows security agents to see an image of your naked body or to undergo the alternative, a thorough manual search, you may have to find another way to travel this holiday season. 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 airport. That person will have to remain on the premises to...

Jazz has a list of reasons why he doesn’t object to the body scanners. Now it looks like we’ll be getting scanners all over the place, including public transportation, trains and boats. Janet Napolitano: “I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?”

You’re about to be groped, X-rayed, and generally humiliated in the airport. The Islamic Fiqh Council, however, has issued a fatwa prohibiting Muslims from going through an X-ray machine. Separately, CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) is advising Muslim women to avoid pat-downs beyond the head and neck. Our culturally sensitive administration will undoubtedly acquiesce. You, however, will be groped and X-rayed, unless of course you show up at the airport dressed in a tent. Meanwhile, the ever-vigilant ACLU is coming to the defense of Anwar al-Awlaki, the imam who inspired Major Nidal Malik Hasan, murderer of thirteen of his fellow...

Despite the firestorm of controversy over the use of high-tech body scanners at airports, the hundreds of millions of dollars that the Transportation Security Administration is spending or looking to spend on them makes it unlikely that they'll be getting shelved anytime soon. Each scanner costs about $130,000 to $170,000, the agency said, and President Obama's budget request for this year calls for $88 million to buy and install 500 new scanners. The TSA already has already spent $80 million on body scanners, including $73 million received in stimulus funds.