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Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Milwaukee airport introduces full-body scanners

A passenger is scanned at the security check point in Mitchell Airport’s Concourse D. Photo by Brittany McGrail / [email protected]

The U.S. has spent the last nine years making sure that a repeat of 9/11 never happens and last month Milwaukee took a step in that direction.

On Aug. 3, General Mitchell International Airport installed Advanced Imaging Technology scanners at security stops, helping prevent terrorist threats from occurring in Milwaukee.

With four machines at two concourses, Mitchell is one of 51 airports across the country to possess the new technology, according to Transportation Security Administration’s website, the group in charge of airport security.

The devices are supposed to significantly upgrade the effectiveness of walk-through metal detectors, acting as an optional secondary security barrier if a passenger fails a walk-through test.

According to Jim Fotenos, a TSA spokesman, the scanners will work in conjunction with the security already in place.

“Each layer of security is designed to work collaboratively with the others,” Fotenos said. “The result is a system that is very difficult to manipulate and one that is adaptable to changing threats.”

The scan takes about three to five seconds and can scan the entire body, detecting objects that a normal metal detector may not find, with an additional five to 10 seconds needed for the traveler to be cleared, according to an airport official.

The technology allows for people with joint replacements or other medical devices to move through security quickly without having to be patted down and strip searched, the official said.

Though the scanners remove the physical contact from the security searches, privacy has been an issue when implementing the AITs because they produce an almost naked image of the person being scanned.

To avoid these problems, the scanners blur out the faces of those being scanned and the monitors projecting the images are in a resolution room away from the security lines where only one on-duty officer can see them, the official said.

No video or photography equipment is allowed in the resolution room, and the images on the monitors are automatically deleted to prevent the images from ever reaching the public, according to the official.

Additionally, when security issues occur, instead of relaying them to the security floor teams by a two-way radio, they are called in through “whisper radios” which relay messages directly into security officer’s ears, the official said.

Increased security is not the only positive for having these AITs around.  According to the airport official, the scanner has increased the number of full-time jobs in the airport.

Passengers may not be as convinced at the machine’s effectiveness as TSA.  Political science professor Julia Azari, who was planning to fly out of Mitchell a few hours after speaking about the scanners said she believes that the airports engage in a lot of theatrics when it comes to security.  She suggested that it may look like these scanners are very effective, but there may be more efficient ways of keeping the airports safe.

Fotenos said he does not anticipate the AITs increasing the quickness of security lines.

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