The complete body scanning technology to be adopted and discussed as an attempt to shoot down a passenger plane on Christmas Day is not a machine “magic” that will solve the problems of aviation security, such experts.
“Regardless of the complexity of the piece of technology if you can gather information about how and what are their technical parameters, so the machine does not discouraged the operation [] sophisticated terrorism,” said Dr. Richard Bloom, director of terrorism, intelligence and security studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Body screening and other security measures are more effective in detecting threats from a growing number of sophisticated applications, suspects with mental problems alone, “he said. The technology is” part “of aviation safety.
“If you know in advance what we face, if you’re going to fight, or go elsewhere,” said Bloom.
Advanced imaging scanners have not taken any substances hidden in a body orifice or substances hidden in the folds of the skin of a suspect in obese, “he said.
The Transportation Security Administration can not discuss specific detection capabilities of its technology for security, said TSA spokesman Greg Soule.
Technical Security Bruce Schneier believes that the body scan machines are a waste of money. Research and collection of information is that money makes a difference, “he said.
“Stop trying to guess. Take you guns and bombs, terrorists used box cutters. Take you knife and place explosives in his shoes. You screen shoes, which use liquid. You carry liquid explosives were placed in her body. You use your scanner full body, will do something different, “said Schneier, who is the author of several books related to security, including” Beyond Fear “.
The federal authorities have accused AbdulMutallab Omar Faruk, 23, in Nigeria, trying to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit, Michigan. The device does not blow up everything.
In Amsterdam, the metal detectors and X-ray machines the scene, but the advanced scanning technology was not available. Dutch authorities said they did not know how AbdulMutallab was expected, but acknowledged that he could not discover the explosive material was said in a carrier.
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport will begin to use full-body scanners for all passengers flying to the United States, the Interior Minister of the Netherlands, on Wednesday. Wednesday Furthermore, the airport authority in Nigeria, where the flight from Amsterdam AbdulMutallab initially announced its intention to add body scanners to its security system.
In the United States, 40 of these devices in use advanced imaging to 19 airports in the TSA. Only six airports are used as a primary screening option.
150 other advanced imaging machines were installed at airports in the United States the next year, the TSA intends to buy another 300 machines in 2010, Soule, the TSA said.
The technology at issue, first used in an American airport in 2007, you can find hidden objects that metal detectors can not.
“The advanced imaging technology that improves security, checking passengers safe in case of metallic and non-metallic threats, including weapons, explosives and other objects hidden under layers of clothing without physical contact,” said Soule.
Privacy groups do not trust the massive movements anatomically revealing the technology for all passengers as a method of primary screening.
“Obviously we have a problem, because it is a virtual strip search that is terribly invasive,” said Michael German, policy adviser for the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington-based Center for Public Interest filed a lawsuit in November against the Department of Homeland Security seeking information under the Freedom of Information Act for the use of image of the department of advanced technology.
The privacy rights group refers to the emphasis on explosives hidden stimulate the TSA to fly the machines used as a primary screening tool, without addressing the concerns about the appropriate use of technology, “said Lillie Coney Associate Director.
Responding to concerns about privacy, the TSA said faces are blurred in the body of the machine-generated analysis of the agency. Agents who deal directly with passengers do not see the scans and the agents who examined the scans do not see the passengers.
Because only a handful of machines currently in use in the United States as a primary screening measure and only in some countries, the use of technology, most passengers flying the flag of secondary control are other ways to detect threats, including understanding by palpation and search technology that can detect traces of explosives.
Some analysts say that the security pat-down searches – which are often superficial – they are useless.
“Basically, any palpation are not violated and shame is not so effective,” says Schneier.
In April 2008, TSA announced a research reinforced by Pat “to address issues that may be hidden in” sensitive areas of the body including the chest and groin. Further research, the announcement said, will be used only when all other measures of screening failed to resolve a security alert.
Wednesday the agency said that the procedure is underway, but declined to give details on how Pat guidelines have been developed.
In a technology independent samples for residue analysis of explosives in place at each airport, Soule said. More than 7,000 explosives trace detectors used in airports around the country.
Screening procedures and technology are only one level in the fight against terrorism, said Bloom. There is no machine “magic” or “the magic of technology.”
“Security must be layered in layers and is much more to Pat Downs and technology, but also includes information gathering, analyzing and communicating in a dynamic, sensitive and strong,” he said.
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