"Phoenix Sky Harbor first test of backscatter X-ray"

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Phoenix first test of X-ray device
By Thomas Frank
USA Today


WASHINGTON - The federal government plans to launch the nation's first
airport screening system this month that will take potentially revealing
X-ray photos of travelers in an attempt to find bombs and other weapons.

Transportation Security Administration screeners will test the system at
Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport, using an X-ray machine that has
broad implications for both security and passenger privacy.

The system, known as backscatter, could vastly improve weapons detection but
has been called a "virtual strip search" by the American Civil Liberties
Union because it can show remarkably clear images of passengers' nude
bodies. advertisement  

A few other airports will begin tests next year and the TSA will also look
at using the machines in subways, TSA assistant administrator Randy Null
said Thursday.

"It's time to get them out and get feedback from screeners and the traveling
public," Null said. The TSA has been considering the machines since 2002
while struggling with privacy issues.

Barry Steinhardt, head of the ACLU's technology and liberty program, said
operating the backscatter machines at airports will pave the way for
widespread use - and abuse. "It's absolutely predictable that as this
technology becomes commonplace, you're going to start seeing those images
all over the Internet," Steinhardt said.

The machines scatter low-intensity X-rays to produce graphic photos. At
airports, they will be programmed to shade or blur travelers' bodies and
medical devices. Screeners will view the images in remote rooms and delete
them instantly.

"We're very comfortable with the progress on privacy," Null said.

In the upcoming airport tests, the machines will be used only on travelers
who require extra screening beyond a metal detector. Those passengers will
be offered the option of being photographed from the front and back by the
backscatter machine or undergoing the customary pat-down by a screener.

Null said the machines could replace metal detectors if they can operate
faster than the 15-20 seconds backscatter takes to screen one passenger.

Backscatter machines, used in prisons and at Customs checkpoints to find
drugs, have been touted as an improvement to metal detectors, which don't
sound alarms for plastic or liquid explosives or ceramic knives. The
Homeland Security Department's inspector general singled out backscatter
last year as a way to close a vulnerability at checkpoints.

The Phoenix airport, the nation's eighth-busiest, will get one machine made
by American Science and Engineering of Massachusetts. The images will show
outlines of travelers and any item - from a wristwatch to a gun or
explosives wiring - underneath clothes.

The machines "trade off detection for a level of privacy," company Vice
President Richard Mastronardi said. With less-detailed photos, "you start to
lose the ability to see that image of C4" explosives, he said.

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