Price for TSA’s failed body scanners: 160 million

Transportation Security Administration agents discovered and confiscated a loaded firearm at the Nashville worldwide Airport checkpoint Tuesday afternoon, federal officials said.

The price tag for the TSA’s failed body scanners at our nation’s airports rings in at $160 million.

The scanners costed more than $150,000 each, on average, since the TSA bought the first 45 scanners in 2008, according to numbers the TSA recently gave to lawmakers.

According to government financial figures obtained by Politico, TSA used $120 million to purchase the body scanners across the United States. “Why not go through two?”

The TSA writes, “Each time we find a risky item, the line is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested”.

After news leaked early this summer that 67 of 70 fake bombs got past TSA agents as part of regular security tests, the acting TSA administrator was replaced with Coast Guard Vice Adm. Peter Neffenger, who has called for retraining of all airport security agents by the end of September. The agency previously spent tens of millions of dollars on other failed or discarded equipment, including explosives-detecting “puffer” machines that proved unreliable and prone to breakdowns.

Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) agreed that the body scanners are shoddy and unpredictable in their ability to detect weapons and various other prohibited items. The body scanners use a radio frequency to detect anything unusual on a person’s body.

McCaul also noted that the accuracy guarantee given by L-3 is far below 100 percent.

Steve Bucci, a security expert who was an Army Special Forces officer and former top Pentagon official, said the TSA should try a software patch if it can make the machines more effective.