TSA Body Scan Quick, Modest, Easy

Writer would take scan over pat-down, rubber gloves any day

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 15, 2010 1:45 PM CDT

(Newser) – Going through security at Chicago’s O’Hare airport, passengers have the choice of a pat-down or a walk through a full body scanner, and Jon Hilkevitch is going “with the touch-less scan every time.” He took a spin through a checkpoint equipped with the newly installed machines, and “my impression was that the process is free of embarrassment,” he writes for the Chicago Tribune.

The procedure is quick, Hilkevitch writes—a mere 5 seconds or so. And it’s as modest as possible: The TSA officer who directs you through the scanner never sees the image, which is the job of another screener sequestered from passengers who communicates using a radio. And the images, which Hilkevitch compares to a “chalk etching,” are immediately deleted. Sadly, you still have to remove your shoes.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

The TSA officers who review the scan are sequestered away from the passengers they're scanning. (AP Photo)

A Transportation Security Administration officer views a full-body scan. (AP Photo)

General Electric's Ion Track EntryScan apparatus is shown at Lambert International Airport in St. Louis. (AP Photo)

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Boston Logan International Airport officially unveiled 3 new full body scanners on Friday that it hopes will help TSA agents better identify threats among air passengers. (ITWorldVideos)

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TSA Body Scan Quick, Modest, Easy