TSA Screener Heartache: Naked Scanners Going Away...

How will TSA recruit without offering the opportunity to view naked scanners? I guess they will have to push the crotch groping...

Via AP:

Those airport scanners with their all-too revealing body images will soon be going away.

The Transportation Security Administration says the scanners that used a low-dose X-ray will be gone by June because the company that makes them can't fix the privacy issues. The other airport body scanners, which produce a generic outline instead of a naked image, are staying.

The government rapidly stepped up its use of body scanners after a man snuck explosives onto a flight bound for Detroit on Christmas day in 2009.

At first, both types of scanners showed travelers naked. The idea was that security workers could spot both metallic objects like guns as well as non-metallic items such as plastic explosives. The scanners also showed every other detail of the passenger's body, too.

The TSA defended the scanners, saying the images couldn't be stored and were seen only by a security worker who didn't interact with the passenger. But the scans still raised privacy concerns. Congress ordered that the scanners either produce a more generic image or be removed by June.

TSA whistle-blower: TSA officers routinely laugh at and make fun of passengers’ nude body scanner images...

If you haven't already suspected this kind of abuse was true, you are a clueless idiot...

A former TSA screener turned blogger who is now causing embarrassment for the federal agency has revealed that TSA officers routinely laugh at and make fun of passengers’ nude body scanner images in back rooms.

In a blog entitled Taking Sense Away, the anonymous ex-TSA worker reveals how he, “Witnessed light sexual play among officers, a lot of e-cigarette vaping, and a whole lot of officers laughing and clowning in regard to some of your nude images, dear passengers.”

The revelation was in response to a reader who asked, “Tell us, please, what really happens in that private room and why the TSA does not want it seen in public nor recorded.”

The ex-TSA screener also ridiculed the existence of I.O. rooms (image operator rooms) where naked images produced by body scanners are viewed by TSA agents.

Scary Video: How To Get Anything Through TSA Nude Body Scanners

If you support the nude body scanners in the mistaken belief they somehow make us safer, you need to watch this video. The body scanners aren't about safety. They are about enriching President Obama's and TSA's buddies. Meanwhile, we are being exposed to radiation while TSA agents leer at us, our spouses and even our children.

Try not to look cute if you don't want TSA to multiple scan you at the airport

Harassment and sexual harassment now wait for you at the airport. Travelers are now being victimized by TSA agents enjoying a peep show.

TSA Agents Make Pass At Female Passenger, Scan Three Times


Via Breitbart:

Airline passenger Ellen Terrell, after being called "cute" by a Transportation Security Agent was randomly selected for a body scan and screened three times. Her complaint is one of over 500 passenger complaints about sexual harassment by the TSA.

Big Sis: Hey, I will Let You Leave Your Shoes On At Airport Security, But I Still Want To See You Naked

According to HSS Janet Napolitano, the requirement that air travelers take their shoes off could soon be history, but there is no plan to get rid of the naked scanners.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sees the future of American air travel and it is full of passengers who are allowed to keep their shoes on through security.

"We are moving towards an intelligence and risk-based approach to how we screen," Napolitano said today, according to POLITICO, at an event sponsored by the news organization. "I think one of the first things you will see over time is the ability to keep your shoes on. One of the last things you will [see] is the reduction or limitation on liquids."

Cancer Clusters Detected in TSA Agents Operating Body Imaging Scanners

TSA promised us these naked scanners body imaging devices were safe. Apparently, there is concern by employees inside TSA that the devices are causing cancer. New FOIA documents released by EPIC.org reveal:

• TSA employees have identified cancer clusters allegedly linked to radiation exposure while operating body scanners and other screening technology. However, the agency failed to issue employees dosimeters - safety devices that would warn of radiation exposure. 
• The DHS has publicly mischaracterized the findings of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, stating that NIST "affirmed the safety" of full body scanners. NIST stated that the Institute did not, in fact, test full body scanners for safety, and that the Institute does not do product testing.
• A Johns Hopkins University study revealed that radiation zones around body scanners could exceed the “General Public Dose Limit.”
• A NIST study warns airport screeners to avoid standing next to full body scanners.

Texas GOP Introduces Bill Making Body Scanners Illegal

GOP leaders in Washington may be timid, but Republican state legislators are taking the lead on many issues. A Texas GOP Representative has introduced a bill making body scanners illegal. He has 18 co-sponsors.

(The Lone Star Report)- A freshman Representative filed a bill to penalize airport body scanner operators: Including TSA agents...

The bill, HB 1938, makes it a civil penalty for anyone working in a locally owned airport to install or operate whole-body imaging equipment -- "including a device that uses backscatter x-rays or millimeter waves, that creates a visual image of a person's unclothed body and is intended to detect concealed objects," the bill read.
The penalty is capped at $1,000 per day per violation.

Coming to Airports: Body Cavity Scanners

If you thought regular body scanners were too invasive, Australia is set to trial a new X-ray technology that can reveal your internal cavities.

(news.com.au)- NEW X-ray technology that can reveal drug smugglers' internal cavities will be trialled at airports under a plan to fast-track security searches. 
 
 Legislation before Federal Parliament would enable customs officers to use new body scanners instead of sending suspects to hospital for internal X-rays ordered by a doctor, reported the Herald Sun.

Many people reporting backscatter machines not in use today at many airports

Image from Gizmodo.

It seems TSA has a plan to thwart the flier protest (opt-out day) against naked scanners and groping pat downs. They turned the machines off and did normal pat downs in many airports. This is conclusive proof the new security techniques are for security theater and/or the enrichment of favored government contractors who are selling the new equipment. If they were really necessary to keep fliers safe, they would have been in high gear on the busiest travel day of the year. You can bet they will be back to full speed with the new machines and procedures tomorrow.

Shocker: Naked Scanner CEO Deepak Chopra is an Obama buddy

He traveled with President Obama on his recent trip to India.

Public Intelligence.net reported, via The Daily Paul:

“OSI Systems is the owner of Rapiscan Systems which manufactures the Secure 1000, one of the most commonly used backscatter x-ray machines. And, no it is not the Deepak Chopra you’re thinking of.

OSI Systems Chief Executive Officer Joins US Presidential Visit to India
HAWTHORNE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSIS), a vertically-integrated provider of specialized electronic products for critical applications in the Security and Healthcare industries, today announced that Deepak Chopra, Chairman and CEO, was selected to accompany US President, Barack Obama, to Mumbai and attended the US India Business Entrepreneurship meeting, which was held by the US India Business Council (US IBC). The goal of the meeting was to promote further trade between US and India….”

Oh, About That Promise Body Scanners Can't Save Images

Big Sis lied and your privacy died. Over thirty-five thousand images were saved from a millimeter wave scanner at a Florida Courthouse. Over 100 made their way onto the Internet. The quality of images from this machine is poor. The TSA has higher resolution (image warning) "naked scanners."

Heroes: NJ Lawmakers Announce Opposition to Airport Full-Body Scanners and Groping

Momentum is building against the airport porno full-body scanners and new groping enhanced pat-down methods used on those who opt out. New Jersey legislators will introduce legislation calling fro review of the new machines and techniques. State Sen. Michael J. Doherty said,

"Your constitutional rights shouldn't have to be violated when you fly on a airplane."

NJ.com reported:

State Sen. Michael J. Doherty (R-23rd district) said that the enhanced pat-downs amount to a 'groping' that could violate New Jersey privacy laws and possibly the U.S. Constitution.

Forbes Magazine Commentary: Abolish the TSA

Does running randomly selected people through a porno scanner (graphic image warning) that is graphic enough to show intimate piercings make us safe? Does groping randomly selected three year old children make us safe? No, not according to a top Israeli airport security expert. Does anyone think a fanatic who would blow themselves up or plant a bomb on their three year old would be deterred by a 20% chance of being randomly selected for a porno scan or groping? This is just security theater to make the appearance of safety. Even if everyone were scanned and groped, there would still be the risk a bomb could be on-board the plane. Cargo is barely checked and enougn explosive can be put in a body cavity to take down a plane. What's next? Should we all submit to a body cavity search for the privilege of flying?

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759

Via Forbes:

In the spirit of bipartisanship and sanity, I propose that the first thing on the chopping block should be an ineffective organization that wastes money, violates our rights, and encourages us to make decisions that imperil our safety. I’m talking about the Transportation Security Administration.

Bipartisan support should be immediate. For fiscal conservatives, it’s hard to come up with a more wasteful agency than the TSA. For privacy advocates, eliminating an organization that requires you to choose between a nude body scan or genital groping in order to board a plane should be a no-brainer.

But won’t that compromise safety? I doubt it. The airlines have enormous sums of money riding on passenger safety, and the notion that a government bureaucracy has better incentives to provide safe travels than airlines with billions of dollars worth of capital and goodwill on the line strains credibility.