TSA Changes Policy – Passengers Must Submit To Full-Body Scan

In light of the Paris attacks, the TSA is changing its passenger screening protocols regarding airport body scanners, reports CBS News correspondent Jeff Pegues. Now the scans, called Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT), can be required by TSA workers after a December 18 update to TSA policy.

Your next flight might include a mandatory trip through the body scanner, with the U.S. government quietly changing the opt-out rules for searches. Instead the software issues an alarm and a TSA screening officer will physically screen the body area where an issue is detected. And, as Homeland Security is keen to point out, the “TSA does not store any personally identifiable information from… screening[s]”.

Meanwhile, unlike the earlier – now retired – scanners which did indeed show nudity, the newer system “replaces the individual’s image with that of a generic figure” the DHS writes.

The TSA will still allow some people to opt for the physical search, but it will be at the airport agent’s discretion.

While the new policy reassures that passengers “generally will have the option to decline an AIT screening in favor of physical screening”, the TSA will now be able to “direct mandatory AIT screening for some passengers as warranted by security considerations in order to safeguard transportation security”. The update gives no specifics regarding what would warrant such a forced screening. Opponents said the detailed image of the human body provided by the machine is an invasion of privacy, while others argued the level of radiation emitted by the Backscatter scanners could be risky over the long term. The plans to adopt the technology were announced several years ago, and it’s been rolled out over the past couple of years.