Letters: X-rays for safety

Editor's note: This letter is in response to an Aug. 25 column, "Fight to win," by Chuck Prochaska.

Chuck Prochaska is correct: airport security is not as effective as it ought to be. His solution calling for targeting passengers based on the degree to which they match a profile is, however, still vulnerable to exploitation. Terrorist cells would merely seek field operatives who differed from profiled groups to carry out their evil plans. Indeed, this would decrease security against determined terrorist groups because non-profiled operatives would undergo security screening less often.

Airport security can only be strengthened by either screening more passengers or by improving the quality of individual screenings. I suggest we do both using X-ray backscatter technology. This technology bounces X-rays off of skin and any concealed objects, including objects of interest such as bombs and handguns, generate an image for review by a security official. This technology would eliminate the need for lengthy, obtrusive and degrading random frisking of passengers and would enable security personnel to detect nonmetallic weapons and explosives that metal detectors lack the capacity to detect.

X-ray backscatter technology would allow security officials to more effectively screen more passengers with less invasion of personal space without the need to engage in highly objectionable racial profiling. Targeting searches against particular profiled groups would be counterproductive, while increasing use of efficient technology to execute greater numbers of more effective screenings will genuinely improve security.

Daniel J. Parente
senior in engineering