SUMMERY FAA apparently readying plans to x-ray passengers

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

WITH each of the terrorist attacks in New York, Madrid and London  
over the last several years, new and increasingly complex questions  
have arisen for security experts, posing fresh challenges.

..."I think that as we make the decision to roll out and go to pilot  
tests and move forward, we need to be sure we're doing it in a  
responsible manner," said the agency's chief technology officer and  
assistant administrator, Clifford Wilke.

...The agency said it did not have a specific timeline, but  
statements made in early August by the two manufacturers of the  
technology - American Science and Engineering and Rapiscan Systems, a  
division of the OSI Systems electronics company - indicated that the  
plans could be made public within the next two months.

One reason the agency may be ready to go forward is that it has found  
what some see as a middle ground between security and privacy:  
"cloaking" software that turns the explicit images into something  
resembling a generic chalk outline of the body, identifying plastic,  
ceramic, biological and other nonmetallic and metallic objects on the  
body.  American Science and Engineering said it felt its cloaking  
software - first introduced in July during testimony before a House  
of Representatives committee - adequately addressed privacy concerns.

"If you look at backscatter images in their raw form, they're pretty  
explicit, no doubt about it," said Bob Postle, American Science's  
vice president of sales and marketing.

...Since a backscatter's purpose is to detect both metallic and  
nonmetallic objects, manufacturers said the suggestion that  
backscatter be used as a follow-up to metal detection - the way  
physical pat-down searches are often used today - defeats the  
technology's advantages.

"It's the guy, randomly, that's not making the sucker go beep that  
you want to take a look at," said Peter Williamson, vice president  
for global sales of Rapiscan, who says that his company already  
supplies around half the country's airports with metal detectors.

...Both manufacturers' machines fall well under voluntary standards  
put forth by the American National Standards Institute as well as  
limits outlined in a report by the National Council on Radiation  
Protection and Measurements in 2002.

..."If you multiply that very small risk by, shall we say, 700  
million, which is the number of people, roughly, who use airports in  
this country, then you've got a significant public health issue that  
one should be concerned about," Mr. Brenner said.

...Yet, the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements  
report says the levels of radiation from backscatters fall well  
within the acceptable, lower limits for children and pregnant women.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/travel/09xray.html




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