Source: USA Today
Author: Thomas Frank

PHOENIX — The nation's newest airport-security machine scanned traveler John DeSoto this weekend and found something that had eluded metal detectors in the past: the thin gold chain and cross he wears under his shirt.

Backscatter X-ray, which photographs passengers under their clothing, could close a major security loophole by finding plastic bombs strapped to a terrorist's chest or other hidden non-metal weapons. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began testing the advanced technology on Friday at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and vows to find items elusive to metal detectors and more consequential than jewelry.

"It's a new day in aviation security," said TSA technology chief Michael Golden.

Advanced scanners became a higher priority in August after authorities foiled an alleged plot by terrorists in Britain to bomb U.S.-bound airplanes with liquid explosives. Similar machines will be tested this year at Los Angeles International Airport and New York's Kennedy International Airport and could be installed in airports across the USA.

The test, slated to last several months, will determine how well the machine finds weapons, how quickly it scans passengers and how people feel about a device the American Civil Liberties Union has branded a "virtual strip search."

The TSA ordered the machines modified to produce cartoon-like sketches of passengers instead of the graphic photos backscatter ordinarily generates.

The American Civil Liberties Union remains skeptical. "The problem with the obscured images is that they obscure weapons," said Barry Steinhardt, head of the ACLU's technology and liberty program. Even if passengers can choose between backscatter and a pat-down, "That's a false choice," Steinhardt said. "Both are intrusive."

Backscatter makers American Science and Engineering and Rapiscan Systems acknowledge that erasing body-part images also inhibits weapons detection.

Backscatter X-ray is used only on passengers getting extra screening — those who trip a checkpoint alarm or those selected by a computerized profiling system. The passengers can choose a traditional pat-down or opt to be screened by the backscatter X-ray. The TSA said about 70% of passengers who required extra screening at the test checkpoint in Phoenix this weekend chose the backscatter X-ray method.

DeSoto was impressed with the new technology.

"I was really happy to see they were able to pick up my chain," DeSoto, 48, said Friday after he was the third U.S. passenger screened by backscatter. "It's very thorough."

Other Phoenix passengers liked backscatter for more personal reasons. "I didn't really want people touching me," said Sarah Atwill, a high-school junior from Phoenix who was flying to Long Beach.

In Phoenix, the machine operates in Terminal 4 at a checkpoint used by about 8,000 US Airways or international passengers. Those getting extra screening are handed a backscatter brochure that emphasizes its low radiation, equivalent to the exposure from two minutes of flying.

Joe Reiss, vice president of marketing for American Science, which makes the machine in Phoenix, predicted most passengers will opt for backscatter because, "People feel that employing this technology can be helpful for security."

The $100,000 machine, on loan for the test, is as big as an industrial-size refrigerator. It photographs the front and back of a passenger as he or she stands inches away with arms raised. A screener, who is the same gender as the passenger being screened, studies the photos on a screen in a room 50 feet away. She radios to a screener stationed at the machine and describes objects on the passenger that need to be hand-checked.

The process takes about a minute — roughly as long as a pat-down — but longer if any suspicious item is found. Passenger images are deleted immediately, the TSA says.

"This is very easy," said Kenneth Johnson, 64, of Mesa, Ariz., after he became the first passenger screened by backscatter. A dozen TSA screeners and officials, including a few who had flown from Washington to launch the machine, stood by and applauded.

Cici Stevens of Prescott, Ariz., opted to be patted down Friday in Phoenix. Stevens, 42, had recently undergone a slew of medical tests that left her wary. "I'm just scared of going through anything electronic," Stevens said. "I don't trust technology."