The Transportation Security Administration showed off its new imaging body scanners at Richmond International Airport yesterday.
On Tuesday, TSA will begin using the two $170,000 millimeter-wave technology units, which can see through clothing, to screen randomly selected passengers at Richmond International, said Lauren Gaches, a spokeswoman for the federal agency.
TSA introduced the new scanning system to local news media yesterday to educate travelers on the system and the airport's passenger screening process.
In a demonstration, a model's image looked like a computer-generated photo negative, though an object in the model's pocket stood out clearly.
The whole-body image system is harmless, quick and private, Gaches said.
The device projects a small amount of radio energy from two antennas rotating around the individual being scanned in the machine's "portal," a round, clear-sided booth. In seconds, the system builds a 3-D picture of the person's body. Working at a remote monitor, a transportation security officer checks the image, its facial features blurred, for contraband.
TSA will use the electronic device as an additional layer of security at the airport's passenger checkpoints.
Every passenger will still go through the regular metal-detector screening, Gaches said, while their carry-on bags, shoes and personal effects go through X-ray screening.
Some passengers will be chosen at random for additional checks, she said. Those selected can opt between going through the whole-body imaging system or being patted down by hand.
The Capital Region Airport Commission, which operates the airport, welcomed the new technology, hoping it will make air travel safer and screening more efficient, airport spokesman Troy Bell said.
"Let's not just depend on technology," said Capt. Bob Hesselbein, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association's national security committee. "It's probably time for [the TSA] to start focusing their security attention on those who represent the greatest risk."
The pilots group would like to see more screening based on behavior rather than dangerous objects, Hesselbein said: "Less focus on bad things, more focus on bad people."
The new screening system has prompted concern over privacy. But, the TSA's Gaches said, the security officer working with passengers cannot see the image, while the officer viewing the image cannot see the passenger. And the machines cannot store, transmit or print images.
"Personally," said traveler Mike Santos of Wesley Chapel, Fla., as he waited for a flight home yesterday, "I probably wouldn't go in one of them."
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