TSA Passenger Imaging Testing at Security Checkpoints

The TSA just announced they will soon begin testing millimeter wave imaging machines and backscatter machines at airport security checkpoints in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and New York-JFK. What does that mean to you? Just that you may have to walk through one more piece of funky machinery while you’re in the security line. These machines let the TSA screen passengers for prohibited items on their person “quickly, unobtrusively and without physical contact, detecting weapons, explosives and other metallic and non-metallic threat items concealed under layers of clothing.”

The airports will be testing the new equipment for 6 months. Backscatter technology has been in place in Phoenix since February, and passengers have been choosing backscatter screening over a physical pat-down by a wide margin.

For privacy reasons, the officer attending the passenger will not view the image. Additionally, the officer viewing the image will be
remotely located and unable to associate the image with the passenger being screened. Once viewed remotely, the image will not be stored, transmitted or printed.

So this is the one I wrote about before where the screener basically sees you naked. Good times.