NOLA Airport Remodel Boasts Seven Naked Scanners

A $1 billion upgrade to the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is nearly complete. Among other things, it sounds like privacy violations have been made more "efficient." Indeed, the introduction of naked scanners in the past decade has led to cramped security screening areas as the existing spaces could not accommodate the new machines. Rest assured that you will be groped and scanned in an airport with a "wide-open feel":

Down the escalators, in the second-floor TSA checkpoint area, are 15 luggage X-ray conveyor belts and seven body scanners. Officials hope the consolidated area will make the security process much smoother than the bottlenecks that were a frequent feature at separate security checkpoints at each concourse in the old terminal.

Discrimination Illustrates Security Theater

Last month, ProPublica asked anyone who has had their hair searched by TSA to contact them. The results of that have now been published, confirming that the body scanners find anomalies in certain hairstyles, which happen to also be more prevalent for black women. Not surprisingly, black women repeatedly get singled out for further scrutiny.

A telling quote from a TSA official inadvertently admits that naked scanners are not effective at finding actual terrorists (the purported purpose of TSA) :
"'With black females, the scanner alarms more because they have thicker hair; many times they have braids or dreadlocks,' said a TSA officer who works at an airport in Texas and asked not to be named. 'Maybe, down the line, they will be redesigning the technology, so it can tell apart what’s a real threat and what is not. But, for now, we officers have to do what the machine can’t.' [Emphases added]

You got that? The naked scanners - which violate basic rights to personal privacy and bodily integrity, and apparently discriminate against trans-individuals, black women, and (I would surmise) several other groups of marginalized people - can NOT DISTINGUISH between a real threat and something that is NOT a real threat.

Wolves protecting the sheep

This article is not addressing the narrow topic of naked scanners, but is addressing the broader topic of civil liberties abuses at the hands of TSA. Additionally, I was not aware of the principles described (nor have I investigated further to corroborate):

"Many of the “voluntarily surrendered items,” or items taken from checked baggage by airport security are given to the state government. Food, drink and alcohol are thrown away, but items that are prohibited, including household goods and sharp or dangerous objects are surrendered or confiscated. They are stored by the TSA and some state governments sell them off in online auctions to generate revenue."

So, we can see one way that the interests of the state (to project it's citizens' rights) are captured by a federal agency: TSA steals private property from citizens (and in an Orwellian twist, renames it "voluntary"). The state does not intervene on behalf of the citizen, but looks the other way. As a reward, the TSA gives some of the stolen goods to the state.

James Bovard on the TSA's Watchlist

Of course, it's not a terrorist watchlist. It's aimed at self-respecting travelers, who have no criminal intentions but make the TSA workers feel ashamed. Read James Bovard's take.

Surprising Conclusion from Mainstream Publication

I almost didn't click through on this older post on the Scientific American blog, titled,  "Is That Airport Security Scanner Really Safe?" I figured the answer would be: Don't worry! Trust us! Similar to the Time article that came out around the same time.

I was wrong.

Written by a physician, it concludes that since we don't know the answer definitively, and we also have zero evidence that they are effective at preventing terrorism, it's not worth the risk to go through a millimeter wave naked scanner.

More than that, it's a good overview of the technology and its recent history in American airports.

Scanner Technology Update

According to this article from December,  2018, Denver now has new naked scanners. The upgrade is that it's faster (and possible has fewer false positives):

"The new machines can transmit and receive information almost instantly, because they’re multistatic, rather than multi-monostatic systems, Rappaport said. So, people only need to stay still for one second, not three."

At that time, Denver airport had the new machine, but the are plans to continue rolling them out. TSA continues to find ways to spend money!