Body scanning technology that can identify nonmetallic weapons is now available to replace metal detectors. Such machines have been used, in conjunction with metal detectors, at several airports in the U.S. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA; Arlington, VA, USA) recently made a further advance, testing for the first time primary screening machines, not linked with metal scanners, at Tulsa International Airport (OK, USA). Instead of requiring airline passengers to walk through metal detectors, this new machine can "look through" passengers’ clothing to detect hidden weapons. The machines create metallic-looking images by bouncing harmless electromagnetic waves off human bodies, but only show outlines of private body parts and blur faces for reasons of privacy. Two TSA screeners in a closed room located near the checkpoint view the images, which are deleted after use, on computer monitors and relay information by radio headsets to checkpoint screeners.

The $170,000-body scanners, which are effective in finding small hidden items, have already won widespread acceptance. Almost all the travelers accept these body-scanning procedures, which take longer than with the traditional metal detectors.

However, these machines raise privacy concerns, "We're getting closer and closer to a required strip-search to board an airplane," said Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union. Countering this, the TSA claims that the new method is far less invasive than the traditional physical search. "We've struck a very good balance between security and privacy," TSA spokesman Christopher White said.

The TSA is expanding pilot testing of the new scanners at airports in the U.S., in San Francisco, Miami, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, and Albuquerque, and is considering installing them other airports around the U.S.

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US Transportation Security Administration