Federal government to remove controversial 'naked image' body scanners from airports

The federal govement is pulling the plug on the airport body scanners that had ignited a nationwide controversy over the invasive nature of the body images that they capture. 

The Transportation Security Administration has announced that it will remove the 'naked image' scanners from U.S. airports because the machines' developers can't write software to make the images less revealing. 

When the machines were introduced into U.S. airports two years ago, they immediately became the focus of lawsuits and protests. The X-ray images they produce are so clear that opponents say they amount to poography.

The Transportation Security Administration has announced that it will remove the scanners from U.S. airports because the machines' developers can't write software to make the images less revealing

The TSA began removing the machines last fall from major airports including New York's LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy Inteational in an effort to speed up lines at crowded airports. 

Meanwhile, in a bid to quell passengers' privacy conces, the TSA asked the machines' developers, OSA Systems Inc., to make the scans less intrusive. 

But the company failed to meet a congressional deadline to get the job done.

That means the TSA will end its $5 million contract with OSA and as a result, nearly 200 of the machines will disappear from U.S. airports.

The agency is now working to upgrade its other type of scanner, called a millimeter-wave scanner, which resembles a large glass phone booth and uses radio frequencies instead of X-rays to detect objects concealed beneath clothing.

The scan is processed by software instead of an airport security worker. If the software identifies a potential threat, a mannequin-like image is presented to the operator showing yellow boxes over areas requiring further inspection, by a pat-down for example.

e TSA began removing the machines last fall from major airports including New York's LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy Inteational in an effort to speed up lines at crowded airports

Besides eliminating privacy conces, the machine requires fewer people to operate, takes up less space in crowded security zones and completes a scan in less than two seconds, allowing screening lines to move faster.

In addition to speed and space advantages, the millimeter-wave technology does not produce the ionizing radiation that has led to safety conces with the X-ray machines, which required passengers to stand between two refrigerator-sized boxes.

The TSA and other experts have said the amount of radiation is less than what passengers get on the flight itself.

A TSA spokesman would not say whether the change was the beginning of a phase-out for the X-ray scanners. The agency said in the statement that it was confident both types of machine could ensure passenger safety.

The TSA has spent nearly $8 million developing the upgraded privacy software, according to a September report by the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security.