Full Body Scanners Do Not Lead to Safer Travel Essay

Just recently there has been uproar over airport security and the use of body scanners on passengers. After 9/11 many airlines have toughen up their security measures in order to prevent this tragic accident to ever occur again. In order to improve security and make our lives a lot safer airlines have implemented many different types of technology. Technology aids airline security to see what passengers are possibly carrying under their clothing. Making passengers go through X-Ray screenings can not only prevent passengers from boarding a plane with harmful equipment but it can also deter the thought of someone actually making an attempt to board while carrying a weapon. Other technological advancements such as surveillance cameras are being

The TSA maintains a screening Performance Management Information System (PMIS) where recorded complaints are logged. Operations research analysis teams and federal security directors review complaints logged in the database to track trends and identify areas of concern and take appropriate actions, including possible disciplinary actions, to resolve specific issues. Complaints involving allegations of discrimination based on color, race, gender, religion, or national or ethnic origin are forwarded to the TSA’s Office of Civil Rights for further investigation. Despite considerable concern raised by some regarding inappropriate behavior during pat-down screening procedures, the DHS found no problems with the technique.

The federal government assured the public that pictures would not be recorded and saved from these machines.  That is not the case.  The scanner that was uses in a Florid courthouse showed the actual “people side-by-side with their X-rayed selves” (Allahpundit).  Why did the government outright lie to the public?  To save their own asses, of course.  This is in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.  The amendment gives people the right to be secure in their persons against unreasonable searches.  I believe the scanning of humans and taking pictures of their faces violates this.   Shockingly, former TSA security director, Mo McGowan, openly stated on fox news that “Nobody likes to have their 4th Amendment violated going through a security line, but the truth of the matter is, we’re going to have to do it” (Left Coast Rebel).  Excuse me? Did this man actually say this in public?  It’s not shocking that he’s no longer the security director.

Another measure TSA took was to add body scanners to security. These scanners can see what a person is carrying underneath their clothes. There have been a few different designs to this machine due to some lawsuits in the past brought up because the TSA agents were making fun of a man’s gentile size or certain passengers would feel embarrassed because someone can see their bodies. Now what the TSA agent sees is an outline of the passenger’s body and whatever is on the body. The body scanner does not show a naked person anymore.

One of the biggest problems with the TSA is the concept of “security theater”. This concepts means that just since police officers and other people in uniform are around, the public is safe. Another part of this problem is that if a terrorist were to try and the attack the United States again, they would be able to study and plan around the TSA’s procedures and searches. Brazenly, the Agency operates in plain view of everyone. When studying the TSA’s thoroughness, the experts found that they missed up to 95% of prohibited items at times, and have never thwarted a terrorist plot through random security checks. The TSA regularly posts on Instagram, mostly pictures of contraband and weapons. Looting has been an issue at times as well, with agents confiscating items they either weren’t supposed to, or that they wanted for themselves. Recapping, the TSA only provides a feeling of safety, has never stopped a documented terrorist, and occasionally loots passengers. These are only a few of the issues that plague the

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, body scans and security checkpoints have become the norm for airports throughout America. Airports tell you what you’re allowed to have and they restrict small things such as scissors, pocket knives, too much

As a response to the 9/11 attacks, one would expect that the TSA would improve airport security. In reality, it's just security theater. Originally, the use of metal detectors and luggage x-rays in airport security checkpoints was enough. However, on December 25, 2009, an inbound international

The current screening method is the body scanner which has been reported on multiple times by the news as it is consider invasive in nature. The screener is able to see the passenger’s nude image, but software updates have eliminated this providing only detection of metallic and nonmetallic threats. The prior method of a metal detector which did not alarm staff if nonmetallic threats existed allowed C-4 explosive (a clay type of explosive) to board the plan. The body scanners are quicker than the former methods of a “pat down”, which every passenger had to endure and were less invasive. This system will be used by the TSA until a better method is discovered, which will provide faster screening, more privacy to passengers and better detection of threats. The cost of this has rising over the years but it was the initial setup of the TSA in 2002 which cost the most since there was not an agency within this realm that completed these duties.

Should TSA be abolished? Yes, TSA should be abolished because they miss ninety-five percent of weapons and explosives during their screening process and Americans should not have to pay billions of dollars in taxes to support an incompetent bureaucracy. Airline companies should be free to provide their own security.

The TSA, however, tries to assure passengers that the images produced are blurred which means the passengers being screened cannot be recognized. It further emphasized that the images are not recorded. In response to this, the Islamic Human Right Commission (IHRC), a non-profit research and advocacy organization based in London, says “The fact that a person’s facial features cannot be identified does not mean that the images are any less invasive. The images still show the person’s body in graphic detail where intimate piercing, catheters and all the parts of the person’s body (including those that a person would normally wish to keep private) are seen by the screener. This is gross invasion of privacy.” If these images are truly not archived, the question is where is the images uploaded on the internet are gotten from. (Bello-Salau 668)

When it comes to airport security methods there is conflicting views on it. Are they the best method used by the government for a passenger’s safety or are there better methods available were passengers feel the same amount of safety. Full body scans along with pat-downs are the methods used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to ensure the safety of passengers before boarding a plane. The common metal detector is now not enough to provide a clear and effective solution to what a passenger is carrying on them before boarding. Passengers have felt that the TSA and the scans violate the Fourth Amendment and the Privacy Act because they are required to at least go through one search method in order to board a plane.. As a result of this there are mixed views some leading to lawsuits and one’s health is being question with these methods being used.

increased its efforts in protecting its airports. At that time, “the security scanners already in place in most airports included baggage x-rays, metal detectors, and chemical residue detectors, which help security staff search out illegal items that a passenger might have” (DiLascio). These security scanners unfortunately failed in their job. Since then, the Transportation Security Administration has been keeping American airports safe using the latest technology. Airports have now been fitted with high-tech body scanners rather than the archaic metal detectors that only detect metal objects. During the past few years, individuals have attacked the

radiation (the kind used in X-rays) is known to cause cancer at high doses, the risks of

With this stability and mass production, x-rays machines became very common everywhere. From large factories, to doctors offices, all the way to the corner store of small towns, where children and adults alike could insert a coin into a machine and view the bones in their feet. (3.) Because of their relative adolescences in the world, not much was known about x-rays or their effects on the human body. The first theories about the rays’ effects on the human body were that they had beneficial applications. With this being the only theory about their effect, widespread use went on, unmonitored, and unregulated. This unregulated use led to injuries but because of their slow onset the injuries were never attributed to x-rays. While some scientists tied certain skin burns to over exposure of x-rays it wasn’t until popular minds of the world like Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and William J. Morton expressed that they experienced eye pain when dealing with the rays for extended periods of time that people began to connect the dots and understand the negative

Some say that the key to success on preventing terrorism, or any crime for that matter, is the use of massive surveillance enforcement (Someone's Watching). For instance, airlines have used the Computer Assisted Pre-Screening System (CAPS) to spot any dangerous passengers that have checked into the airline. Additionally, metal detectors are heavily used in airlines to check for any weapons that a terrorist might use. Video cameras that capture faces and license plates found all throughout the airport are now equipped with a software that allows images to be recognized and matched with several databases (Public Places Have Eyes). Cameras in general are present in every corner of the airport to monitor all irregular activities. Some also believe that "having a floating eye in the sky could prove to be a major deterrent in the war on terror" when talking about aerial surveillance (Surveillance Tech). Moreover, these surveillance tools are not only used in airlines to prevent crime. These surveillance gadgets can also be used to prevent other crimes such as robberies, trespassing, assaults, and shopliftings everywhere. In fact, with the help of aerial cameras, the Tampa Florida Police Aviation Unit was able to perform 500 arrests in the year of 2003 (Surveillance Tech). As for metal detectors, they are found at the entrances of almost every store we go to as well as school premises that push for a weapon free