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TSA Accepting Public Comments On Whole Body Airport Screening

Posted by timothy on from the would-they-lie-to-you? dept.

New submitter trims writes "The TSA is now in the public comment stage of its project to roll out Advanced Imaging Technology (i.e. full-body X-ray) scanners. The TSA wants your feedback as to whether or not this project should be continued or cancelled. Now is your chance to tell the TSA that this is a huge porkbarrel project and nothing more than Security Theater. You can comment at http:///www.regulations.gov and reference the docket ID TSA-2013-0004." Note: the backscatter X-ray machines are being phased out, in favor of millimeter-wave systems; the linked documents give the government's side of the story when it comes to efficacy, safety, privacy, and worth. The comment period runs until June 24.

8 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Ah, now the delays make sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Years of delays, violating a court other many wondered what the heck was up with the TSA delaying this public comment.

    Now it's clear: They were waiting for a terrorist attack.

    1. Re:Ah, now the delays make sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Letting your children grow up with their liberties pre-sacrificed for the appearance of security is just downright irresponsible. If you think terrorism is a major threat to them please take statistics classes or start crusades against the long list of more dangerous things first.

    2. Re:Ah, now the delays make sense by Mitreya · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Years of delays, violating a court other many wondered what the heck was up with the TSA delaying this public comment.

      Now it's clear: They were waiting for a terrorist attack.

      Give them some credit.
      They may also be looking for reasons to phase out millimeter-wave systems for super-duper-wave systems. These machines cost $250K/pop and don't do shit to detect anything. The contractors who made the first batch and then the replacement batch must be salivating already.

      Where do I sign up to deliver machines without any quality control? I can do it much cheaper.

    3. Re:Ah, now the delays make sense by elashish14 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Having a family is not an excuse for being a coward. If anything, it's a reason not to be a coward, so you can set an example for others and the future.

      --
      I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
  2. More Security Theatre by litehacksaur111 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I am afraid that Michael Chertoff only made hundreds of millions with the old backscatter machines and needed even more government money, so his company decided to come out with some new units which the TSA will spend over a billion dollars to acquire. The military industrial complex will bankrupt us as Eisenhower predicted.

  3. Israel airport security by cervo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In any case I found this fascinating article http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2012/06/19/what-israeli-airport-security-teaches-the-world/ that Israel does not have x-ray machines, or taking off your shoes to go in the airport. They have behavioral based interviews. And in the end everyone wants to blow up Israel, and yet I cannot remember hearing of planes crashing into buildings, or even being hijacked. It's really quite amazing. I would cut the security theatre and go do what Israel is doing.... Which seems to be behavioral based interviews and paying attention to how people act.

    Also they do a ton of screening on cars. In some US airports, the parking lot is right near the terminal. Drive in a car full of explosive material and you could do a lot of damage. Or even pull right up to the terminal unchecked for dropping bags. In some terminals you could even crash the car right through the glass doors and then go do something..... That's not security.

    1. Re:Israel airport security by Rich0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That is definitely an issue. Israel only has two international airports, and spends quite a bit of money on security in general, with every citizen serving in the military.

      That makes the entire society far more security conscious, and military training means that people know how to follow procedures and generally stay alert. The fact that everybody serves in the military also means that the guards are diverse and not just those who couldn't find a job or get a scholarship.

      The result is that a security program that works in Israel will not necessarily work in the US, and certainly not with bottom-dollar security guards.

      Also, Israel has a lot of defense in depth. Maybe the airport security isn't as tight, but they have far more border security at drive-in points, and even checkpoints at places like malls. All of this makes it a lot harder to get weapons to the airport in the first place. There is also a much higher state of vigilance - when bombs have been planted on buses in the past they've generally been noticed resulting in immediate evacuation before they go off.

      Oh, and the last I heard El Al depressurizes every bag before putting it on a plane to set off altimeter-triggered bombs. So, some of the security is behind the scenes.

  4. Meet you on the No Fly list! by bradorsomething · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My Comment to Them:

    "I travel about twice a month and have been a regular traveler most of my life, and because of this, the deployment of this technology has had a major impact on my life.

    This technology is not wanted by air travelers, and was put in place with less testing than the shampoo I am no longer allowed to carry through security. Experts have found that shadowing can cause items to slip through this screening, and these devices cannot detect anything inside the body. They have also created long, bunched up lines of people at airports, outside of the "secure" cordon, which would allow a terrorist to kill many more people than would be on a single airplane... and these deaths could ironically be attributed directly to the delays caused by these devices, which regularly slow the lines and require pat-downs when they don't read properly (my experience when waiting).

    Security at airports has become a reactive reflex which always fights the last threat. I am confident I am not the only tax payer who feels their money was completely wasted on these devices, whose only value, I feel, was to make some contractor rich, and get some person re-elected by convincing the under-informed that they were "safe."