Even back in January we knew that the full body scanners did not detect the kind of explosive device used by the underwear bomber. This is important because the underwear bomber was the pretext for rolling out these machines. From the Daily Tech back in January:
The Christmas Day bomber used a 3 oz. package of the chemical powder PETN (pentaerythritol tetranitrate), disguised in his crotch. Hard to detect in a pat down, British politicians familiar with the country’s internal research say that “millimeter-wave” scanners would also likely fail to spot the bag of low-density chemical explosives.
According to Ben Wallace, the UK Conservative MP, tests showed that the new scanners failed to detect a variety of low-density materials, including, plastic, chemicals and liquids. The waves pass through these materials, hitting the body and then bouncing back, revealing only the underlying skin.
Like the U.S., the UK is now considering adopting the scanners on a broad basis. However, emerging evidence from government studies on the scanners indicates that the rollout may be nothing more than a pricey game of “security theater” designed to make people feel safe, while doing little in reality. This is significant, considering the investment may amount to hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, an expense that will surely be passed on to taxpayers.
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