Airport's Full-Body Imaging Isn't Porn, but It Ain't Pretty

When I heard that Cleveland's airport was one of only three in the country to try out the latest full-body image scanners at security checks, my reaction was swift:

Ew.

After seeing images of real humans on the scanner screens, I've modified my response:

Ew. Ew.

Look, I don't know how else to put this: It ain't pretty. Even the loveliest among us look lumpy, especially in those undergarments designed to lift and smooth. Spanx is not our friend, and underwire makes every blip and bulge light up like gristle on a bone.

The millimeter wave body imager uses radio waves to search for anomalies and already is used at 40 airports across the country, including the one in Cleveland. In addition, Cleveland, Rochester, N.Y., and Burbank, Calif., airports are trying out a newer model, called a backscatter, which uses low-dose X-rays.

First, to address the superficial: The images are not porn, and we all look bad. Every body sags or poofs out somewhere.

Faces are blurred beyond recognition. The agents looking at images aren't the same ones waving passengers through. Agents cannot bring cell phones or cameras into the screening rooms, and they can't leave until the last screen passenger departs. The Transportation Security Administration insists the images are not stored.

There are some advantages to whole-body imaging for passengers.

The only items of clothing passengers have to remove are their shoes. If you have an artificial joint or implant, you no longer will trigger the alarm and have to surrender to a body pat-down. You can just strut your fine, artificial self through the scanner like everybody else.

One more thing: Anyone wearing the latest in plastic explosives likely will not make it to a departure gate near you.

"Our job is to analyze existing threats around the world and to be proactive," said Michael Young, who is a former Secret Service agent and now federal security director for the Department of Homeland Security. "The largest benefit to these newer scanners is that we can identify nonmetallic threats."

Young said the machines detect liquids, explosives, polymers and IEDs, which is the abbreviation for the improvised explosive devices blowing up our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nearly 40 groups oppose these new scanners as a violation of privacy.

I can see why the American Civil Liberties Union raises the issue. But call me crazy; I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around any good reason for the National Rifle Association to want to hide what someone's carrying.

Ever notice those framed arrangements of confiscated weapons that hang at security checkpoints? The observant frequent flier will note the display changes every so often because we apparently never run out of people who think you can board a plane armed with things that kill people.

Last week alone, 22 firearms were found at U.S. airport checkpoints. On Monday in Cleveland, a man tried to walk through security with a loaded semi-automatic weapon.

Last year, a male passenger in Atlanta swore he didn't even know he had a gun in his laptop bag.

"Haven't used this bag in ages," he told officials, who felt obliged to point out that the gun was sitting on top of a folded copy of that day's newspaper. Buh-bye.

Still, ACLU lawyer Chris Calabrese told CNN there should be other, less invasive ways to ensure security.

"A choice between being groped and being stripped, I don't think we should pretend those are the only choices," he said. "People shouldn't be humiliated by their government in the name of security, nor should they trust that the images will always be kept private."

On Tuesday, I watched dozens of passengers at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport happily opt for the scanners over pat-downs, which were their two choices. No one, it seemed, objected; many seemed excited.

TSA agent Suzanne Steinberg smiled when I asked whether anyone complained.

"Rarely," she said. "And the people with artificial implants? They're really loving it."

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and the author of two books from Random House: "Life Happens" and "... and His Lovely Wife." To find out more about Connie Schultz (cschultz@plaind.com) and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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