Scanners and Pat-Downs Upset Airline Passengers

There is a big controversy concerning the new procedures used in airports. Many people think the new methods are invasive and harmful. Passengers are angry because they have to go through full-body image detectors and probing pat-downs. Security officials say this is a necessary precaution to ward off terrorist attacks. But despite their assurances that this is only to protect the country and keep everyone safe there has been a lot of complaints.
An aviation professor said that two trends are colliding: the usual holiday security increases and the addition of body scanners and new heightened measures due to the recent attempted cargo bombings. Several airports are also short-staffed, which will add to delays.
Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration are really in favor of changing airport screening from familiar scanners to full-body detection machines. The new machines show the body's contours on a computer in a private room away from the security checkpoints. They assure that a person's face is never seen and the person's identity is supposedly not known to the screener reviewing the computer images.
However, concerns about privacy and low-level radiation emitted by the machines have led some passengers to refuse screening. Under TSA rules, those who refuse must go through rigorous pat-down inspections that include checks of the inside of travelers' thighs and buttocks. The American Civil Liberties Union has denounced the machines as a "virtual strip search."
Concerns about procedures are not limited to the U.S. Organized protesters in Germany stripped off their clothes in airports to voice their opposition to full-body scans.
Employees say that resistance to the new methods is what will cause delays. If people consent to the scan it takes 30 seconds, whereas if they refuse the pat-down will take about 2 minutes. Another thing they are doing is that luggage and personal identification will be more closely examined.
Top security officials spoke out to defend their new policies. They insist that the new methods are safe and the procedures are better for everyone. They pointed out last Christmas a Nigerian man tried to blow up a jetliner using explosives hidden in his underwear.
There are currently about 300 full-body scanners now in 60 U.S. airports. TSA is on track to install approximately 500 units by the end of 2010.
There have been misunderstanding about the privacy and safety concerns but representatives argue that TSA’s concern is only the safety of the passengers and the advanced technology is beneficial for all.
Some pilots don’t agree with the screening but many are part of the Federal Flight Deck Officer Program so they don’t have to go through scanners and pat-downs. Pilots are also concerned about the cumulative effects of radiation. Depending on their schedules, pilots can go through a scanner several times a day and several days a week.