As many people know the airport is continually working on new ways to search people coming through the airport. Simple metal detectors and x-ray machines are no longer doing the trick in protecting passengers who are traveling. A new controversial millimeter wave scanner has been debuting all over the United States. These new machines create an image of the persons body through clothing, and will pick up any type of knife, explosive or firearm - metallic or nonmetallic- a passenger may be carrying.
The new $170,000 millimeter wave scanners are electromagnetic waves to form a
whole-body image of a person that shows any hidden items concealed on the person. The millimeter wave scanner does not use X-rays, however, and it is not the same as similar scanners that use "backscatter" X-rays to produce an image. The wave scanners were introduced to service earlier this year at Phoenix Sky Harbor and Los Angeles and JFK International. They have also been used in London's Heathrow Airport for sometime now. However, these machines seem to be helpful in determining if a passenger is carrying something they shouldn't be, but what is the cost? The image created of the passenger is of them with no clothing, resembling store mannequins. Many people are not happy with what the image that will be displayed, but authorities say the image will be displayed in a different room and will be deleted immediately after. What do you think about these new security measures?
For more information about millimeter wave technology, visit www.tsa.gov.
