DHS Budget Includes No New Airport Body Scanners

OverTheGeicoE writes "The Electronic Privacy Information Center has been examining the White House's proposed budget for Department of Homeland Security for 2013, and they point out that it doesn't include any money for additional airport body scanners for TSA. Did the recent scandal involving TSA workers targeting women for scans make the White House realize that TSA is a national embarrassment? Does the executive branch finally understand the questionable safety and effectiveness of these devices? Or does DHS just think it has enough scanners once TSA installs the 250 new scanners in this year's budget?"

Comments

Progress

[CelticWhisper]

It's a step in the right direction, though if you ask me only the full, outright abolition of this pathetic, unconstitutional joke of an agency qualifies as "enough." It'll be "fun" to see what kind of tantrum Chief Molester Pistole throws about being denied his latest batch of toys. Here's hoping Congress tells him to shut up and be thankful he got any money at all. Why they don't just strip all funding from TSA at this point is beyond me.

pat downs are cheaper

[Joe_Dragon]

pat downs are cheaper

Not good enough

[Baloroth]

The new DHS budget should include no money for the TSA, period. The whole organization is an ineffective, Constitutional-rights breaking embarrassment and a waste of money.

National Embarassment?

[sl4shd0rk]

Seriously? In a country where reality TV is king and our presedential candidates are in the pockets of corporations, the last thing the US cares about is embarrassment.

Reasoning?

[JobyOne]

Or does DHS just think it has enough scanners once TSA installs the 250 new scanners in this year's budget?

Probably that one. It's not like they're going to --GASP-- spend less money by not buying full body scanners. They're just going to spend that money on other stupid stuff.

Re:not needed

[saleenS281]

Basic horse riding is pretty trivial and could be learned in an afternoon with additional solo practice after the fact. Training/taming a horse on the other hand, is the real problem.

Re:I doubt you can get rid of it

[blackpaw]

short of a complete takeover by Republicans

Eh? It was republicans that created the TSA.

Maybe someone at DHS remembered WW2

[602]

The French built the "Maginot Line" of fortifications along their border with Germany--at enormous expense--between World War I and World War II. The Germans simply went around it through Belgium and defeated France in a few days. The TSA is our Maginot Line.

Not nearly enough progress

[Concern]

Only in the Bush era could a treasury-looting boondoggle this bad actually go all the way to implementation.

These machines can be defeated by any illiterate petty criminal. Hello... body cavities?

Every actually respectable expert is on record against them, from Bruce Schneier to El Al's former head of security.

This is not just garden variety incompetence. The program was so wildly and thoroughly stupid that it goes beyond negligence into prima facie malicious intent. The bigs from the vendors and the feds on the procurement side should see prison on the grounds of corruption alone. It's no different than selling the army a billion dollars worth of non-working guns or vehicles to pocket the profits. God willing, someday we'll watch the trials on CSpan.

That's leaving aside the laugh-till-you-cry repugnant aspects of what they actually did - which is, let's not sugar coat it, take nude photographs of thousands and thousands of children.