New airport scanner peeks through clothes

LOS ANGELES — Some travelers at Los Angeles International Airport will be searched for weapons and explosives using a new scanner that peers through clothes and creates an image of the person's body, federal officials said Thursday.

The sophisticated technology, millimeter wave imaging, might prove to be a more effective way to check travelers for guns, knives, bombs and dangerous materials than pat-down searches. But it has raised questions among privacy and civil-rights advocates, who say the process is invasive and amounts to a virtual strip-search.

"I don't think people are really aware of just how accurate and detailed the images are of their naked body," said Peter Bibring, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) office in Los Angeles. "We need to make sure there are good safeguards."

Millimeter wave pictures are white and dark-gray. Although they are fuzzy, they are detailed enough to reveal such features as breasts and body anomalies.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials said the agency planned to buy at least 30 more scanning devices this year for use at other airports.

The TSA unveiled its "whole-body imaging" machine at the Delta Air Lines terminal at the Los Angeles airport Thursday afternoon. Another millimeter wave machine was rolled out at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The devices are part of a pilot program involving major airports.

Travelers randomly selected for secondary screening will go through the device, which uses electromagnetic waves to create an image from energy reflected from the body. The device costs about $150,000.

If passengers don't want to go through the scanner, they will be subjected to other screening measures, including pat-down searches. Signs in the checkpoint area will advise passengers of the option.

According to the TSA, about 80 percent of travelers scanned during recent tests at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix opted for the imaging machine instead of a pat-down search. TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said no passengers have complained since Sky Harbor testing began late last year.

The machines are operating at airports in Britain, Spain, Japan, Australia, Mexico, Thailand and the Netherlands. They also are used in some courts and correctional facilities in Virginia, Colorado, Pennsylvania, California and Illinois.