TSA takes a step forward

During the last decade, airports across the world have been tightening security and implementing new measures to prevent repeats of armed terrorists hijacking planes.

Security measures have gone overboard in the U.S., with invasive scanners and increased Transportation Security Administration pat-downs.

Now, the Indianapolis International Airport is among the first to start scaling back in an attempt to provide security without infringing on flyers’ privacy.

Over the next few weeks, the airport will install full-body scanners with less revealing images.

The new scanners, which have Automated Targeting Recognition, will still be able to spot abnormalities and suspicious items, but the images of peoples’ bodies will be less detailed.  
Except for the trial-run airports, which received the new scanners in February, Indianapolis is the first airport to implement them.

TSA spokesman Jim Fotenos sees the benefits of the new system. Not only are the scanners less invasive, he said, but they are also as accurate as the old scanners and even faster.

Fotenos believes this will cut down on long lines and huge waiting times at airports. Though some flyers have expressed concern about the images showing less, as long as they’re still as accurate as the old scanners, this is an improvement.

There is a certain level of understandable discomfort about very revealing full-body scans. And if the scans do speed up waiting time, the better.

After the outcry last fall about the “new and improved” scanners, it’s nice to see the TSA is listening to people’s concerns and making an effort to upgrade machines without compromising passenger safety.

Many people feel the old scanners are too intrusive, and so they chose a time consuming pat-down as an alternative, which slowed the process and held up lines. The new scanners will hopefully put an end to flyer concerns and line delays.

Other airports across the world have implemented measures to protect against terrorist threats. At the Gatwick Airport in London, passengers are required to remove boots and umbrellas for separate scanning.

At Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, passengers are questioned about their luggage and their stay before being allowed to board.

After the attempted attack on a Detroit airline in December 2009 and the terrorist bombing in Norway, people should be more concerned about security. But there is a limit to how far airports can go without violating privacy.

Luckily, the TSA seems to have found a compromise that’s just as safe as the “invasive” scanners without being so revealing.

Kudos to the TSA for putting technology to work and doing their best to maintain a safe environment.

­— hanns@indiana.edu