CVG among airports getting full-body scanners
Columbus also receiving machines
March 5, 2010, 2:53 p.m.
STAFF REPORT
The federal government is starting to deploy full-body imaging machines at an additional 11 airports nationwide - including Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced Friday.
Forty body-imaging machines already have been put into use at 19 airports nationwide as part of a field test, according the Department of Homeland Security.
The Transportation Security Administration expects to deploy 450 units by the end of this year.
"By accelerating the deployment of this technology, we are enhancing our capability to detect and disrupt threats of terrorism across the nation," Napolitano said in a statement.
The first of the new units are being installed Friday at Boston's Logan International Airport, according to a DHS statement.
The list of other airports set to receive the scanners by the end of summer includes Chicago O'Hare International, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International, Mineta San José International, Los Angeles International, Port Columbus International, Oakland International, San Diego International, Kansas City International and Charlotte Douglas International.
The imaging machines are being funded through the Obama administration's $862 billion economic stimulus plan.
Under existing protocols, full-body scans are optional at airport checkpoints. Travelers who decline the scans are funneled to a location where they may be given a pat down and subjected to other tests such as swabs that can detect minute traces of explosives on hands or luggage.
Some have objected to the body scans - calling them electronic strip searches - but DHS officials say passenger privacy is maintained during the scannning process by blurring all images, deleting images after they are viewed and placing the screener viewing the images in a remote location.
Acting TSA Administrator Gale Rossides testified before Congress on Thursday that the machines will not significantly slow the passenger screening process, saying it will be done at the same time as carry-on baggage screening.
The TSA has spent years testing full-body imagers, but plans to deploy them were given added urgency after the arrest of Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, who was accused of attempting to detonate an explosive sewn into his underwear on a December 25 flight.