Even as the Transportation Security Administration moves certain body scanner machines out of some major airports, the imaging machines at Atlanta’s airport are staying put because they use different technology.
The TSA is removing backscatter X-ray imaging machines from six airports in five cities: Boston’s Logan International, Chicago’s O’Hare International, Orlando International, Los Angeles International, New York’s John F. Kennedy International and New York’s LaGuardia.
It is replacing them with millimeter wave imaging machines, which utilize a different technology to process passengers more quickly and protect people’s privacy by using a generic body outline rather than an actual image of each passenger’s body.
The TSA already removed backscatter machines at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in April and replaced them with millimeter wave machines by June. Because the millimeter wave machines take up less space, the TSA said it can use more of them than the backscatter machines.
Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport already has the millimeter wave machines and doesn’t have any of the backscatter machines, so it is not affected by the move.
The TSA is moving the backscatter machines to smaller airports with fewer passengers, such as Mesa, Ariz.; Key West, Fla.; and San Juan, Puerto Rico, as part of “an effort to ensure the most efficient and effective use of security technology,” according to a statement from TSA spokesman Jon Allen.
Imaging machines are used at TSA checkpoints at about 190 airports, including about 30 airports with backscatters. The backscatter machines show images of passengers beneath their clothing to an officer in a remote location, while the millimeter wave machines indicate the location of any anomalies using small rectangles on a standard outline of a generic human. Some have expressed concern about radiation from the backscatters, though the TSA says the technology meets national health and safety standards.
Hartsfield-Jackson, the world’s busiest airport, has had millimeter wave machines in use since 2008, and now has 29 of the machines. The scanners have shown only generic outlines since last year, after a $2.7 million software upgrade for the millimeter wave machines.
The TSA uses only one type of imaging technology at a single airport to streamline training and maintenance, so Hartsfield-Jackson has never had backscatter machines.
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