Homeland Security Finds Body Scanner 'Vulnerabilities'

May 8, 2012

A DHS internal report cites weaknesses with airports' body scanners, giving eight classified recommendations for improved screening, according to Wired.com.

A summary of the report was quietly published on the DHS website, and it states that Homeland Security investigators have found "vulnerabilities" with the full-body scanners. The summary also says that the "quantitative and qualitative results of our testing are classified."

The Department of Homeland Security has spent $87 million replacing magnetometers with the X-ray body scanners, which includes $10 million for "installation and maintenance," Wired says. That does not yet include the $7 million slated to "remove the human factor from the image review process" by replacing the passenger's image with a generic avatar.

This news comes soon after the seizure of a non-metal IED from Yemen, and it is uncertain whether or not the device would have been caught by the body scanners. Officials state that testing on the device's detectability is underway.

The exact nature of how bad the scanners actually are is not being publicly divulged, and neither are the eight recommendations.

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