High-Tech X-ray Body Scanners at NYC Airports

Air travelers already do not need to take off their shoes or throw away the bottled water to pass through security check at New York City’s airports.Because the new high-tech X-ray body scanners, which can scan human body to check threatens or weapons inside of passengers’ clothes, have been applied.
At Kennedy International Airport on Friday, several passengers are selected to pass through the security checkpoint without detected by metal detector or X-ray security scanner. The passengers feel so awkward for a few moments with their arms raised, and then continue their trip.
The devices, called "backscatter" X-rays, have been turning up in a growing number of airports in recent years. The scanners use a low dose of radiation to create a computerized image of a persons’ body.
The black and white images are detailed enough to show a person’s genitalia, but with bones and eye sockets also ghosting through, they resemble something more likely to interest a surgeon than Hugh Hefner.
People have the option to refuse the screening, however they will have to undergo a physical pat-down. A sign warned that the search would be "thorough."
Some people have raised concerns about the effect of radiation of travelers’ health. Local Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who was on hand at Kennedy as the machines were demonstrated to the media, said she was confident the risks were extremely low.
"These machines have been tested, retested and retested," she said.
She said the technology is a necessary security upgrade because terrorists can took weapons without metallic and won’t be picked up by metal detectors.
Newark Liberty International Airport and LaGuardia Airport will be getting scanners over the next few weeks, including some that use radio waves, rather than X-rays, to produce images.
Similar technology has been tested at Kennedy before. In 2008, the airport was one of several around the country to test body scanners during a pilot project.
Right now, the TSA has around 300 of the scanners deployed at 61 airports nationwide.
It may be some time before the machines become a routine part of the airport experience. Backscatter machines like the ones introduced at Kennedy cost $150,000 per unit, and require new people to be hired and trained.
TSA plans to have only 450 deployed nationwide by the end of the year, meaning that for most travelers, the trip through security will continue to look much like it has for years.
Even at Kennedy’s Terminal 8, where two of the machines were ready for operation Friday, the majority of people passing through the checkpoint were funneled through metal detectors.
About 1,000 machines are due to be installed by the end of 2011.