El Paso International Airport security
Full-body scanners: Travelers can expect long lines at checkpoint
By Adriana Gómez Licón \ EL PASO TIMES
Posted: 07/20/2010 12:00:00 AM MDT

EL PASO -- Lines are long and slow at El Paso International Airport, and technology is partly the reason.

Security crews are using full-body-imaging scanners as the primary, not random, method of screening passengers.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has blocked entrances to metal detectors. Officials now instruct all travelers to get in line at one of the three imaging detection scanners.

Travelers must take off all jewelry and remove whatever is in their pockets. They raise their hands above their heads, and the machine captures images that appear as if their bodies are unclothed.

Although signs at the airport say the scanning technique is optional, that is not the case in a practical sense.

Passengers can choose pat-down screening, but everybody waits in the machine line, where it takes about 30 seconds per traveler to move through the checkpoint.

TSA officials declined to give a reason why body scanners are being used but metal detectors are not. They unveiled the body scanners in June. Until recently, passengers were randomly chosen for the scanners.

El Paso travelers used to arrive at the airport about an hour in advance and make it through security with time to spare. Now, during summer months heavy with travel, they are finding delays and unpleasantness.

"We almost missed our flight," said Noe Mejia, who was recently traveling to Orlando, Fla., with his wife, Roxana, and two children.

Mejia said he was surprised to find the security line extending all the way back to the main entrance to the airport. He said it took him and his family at least 45 minutes to get across the checkpoint and to their gate.
Same thing happened in Albuquerque, Mejia said. El Paso is one of the 41 airports where the government has deployed imaging technology. More machines will be installed in other airports this year and in 2011.

The International Air Transport Association has criticized TSA's security plan, saying it lacks a strategy. The association represents 250 of the world's airlines, including major U.S. carriers.

A study by the Government Accountability Office said it was unclear whether the scanners would have detected the explosives hidden in the underwear of a man who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas Day.

But Carrie Harmon, a spokeswoman for TSA, said the scanners have already detected weapons nationwide.

"Transportation Security officers using this technology have identified concealed prohibited and illegal items on passengers attempting to pass through security checkpoints," she said.

Opposition also has grown as certain passengers nationwide have said the technology amounts to an invasion of privacy. The machines capture an image of a naked body where genitals are visible. The faces, however, appear blurred.

Harmon said the images look like a "chalk etching," and all are viewed in a walled-off location that is not visible to the public. The officer at the machines cannot view the image, and the officer at the image booth does not see the passenger, she said.

Companies such as Southwest Airlines have warned passengers about new procedures and advised them to be at airports two hours before their flight's scheduled departure time.

"It takes a little longer, but it's really not affecting our operations," said Olga Romero, a spokeswoman for Southwest.

Romero said she has seen passengers miss their flights because they arrived at the airport without enough time to navigate the security checks.

Some passengers prefer the lengthier and more comprehensive security methods.

"We are just going to have to learn," said Carmen Corrales, who underwent the full-body imaging. "If that is what it takes to ensure safety, it is fine."

http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_15554708