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Ban on Whole Body Imaging Would Hurt TSA, Chief Says |
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by Mickey McCarter
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Thursday, 11 June 2009 |
Gale Rossides says TSA Authorization provision could limit security
The acting head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) lamented the potential loss of whole body imaging technology as a security measure in US airports during a House hearing on the fiscal 2010 budget Thursday.
The House June 4 passed a TSA authorization bill (HR 2200) that included an amendment from Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) to prohibit the use of whole body imaging at security checkpoints except in cases of secondary screening where an air passenger already triggered a metal detector.
Chaffetz protested the use of the technology, which enables TSA screeners to see X-ray images of the naked bodies of travelers, as inappropriate as a security measure.
"You don't have to look at my wife and 8-year-old daughter naked to secure an airplane," Chaffetz said on the House floor in support of his amendment, which was adopted in a 310-118 vote.
But Rep. Charles Dent (R-Pa.), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Transportation Security and Infrastructure Protection, objected to the inclusion of the amendment during a hearing of his subcommittee Thursday, asking Acting TSA Administrator Gale Rossides to weigh in.
"With respect to the privacy issues, TSA took really great measures to protect the privacy concerns," Rossides replied. "We have a privacy impact assessment study that was published and reflects those measures. Very specifically, first of all, the passengers have a choice as to whether or not they go through the WBI or the walk-through metal detectors.
"Secondly, the images that are viewed are viewed in a remote location. The officer that is reviewing the image never sees the passenger and the officer assisting the passenger never sees the image," she added.
In addition, the face of a passenger is blurred and the whole body imager cannot save, print or transmit images, Rossides noted. Once a screener deletes an image from the device, it cannot be retrieved.
TSA surveys of the traveling public in areas where the technology is in use indicate a 95 percent satisfaction rate with it, the TSA chief said.
"Based on the intel that I and the leadership team at TSA see every single day, if we do not have the ability to deploy this technology and utilize it to the best of the abilities of the system, it will represent a severe limitation of our detection capability," Rossides asserted.
The whole body imaging technology is necessary because terrorist have moved way beyond using metal items that they know will trigger a metal detector, she said. Whole body imaging, however, reveals any item concealed on a traveler's body.
TSA has received funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Public Law 111-5) that it currently plans to use for the purchase of more whole body imagers.
The Senate has not taken up the TSA Authorization bill so far, however. And if it does so, Senators could strip the prohibition on whole body imaging out of their version of the bill.
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Mickey McCarter |
| About the author: |
| eNewsletter Editor/Senior Washington Correspondent,
is a journalist with more than a decade of experience in reporting
on
military affairs and information technology.
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