Anatomy Of An Uproar: What's The Big Deal?

60 Minutes Producer Karen Sughrue On TSA Body Scanning And Privacy Concerns

(CBS)  Written by 60 Minutes producer Karen Sughrue.

The story started innocently enough: the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was unveiling state-of-the-art technology to beef up security at airport checkpoints. Often ridiculed for its inefficiency and incompetence, TSA finally had good news to report.

Then earlier this year, a "privacy vs. security" furor erupted and newspaper headlines screamed: "X-Rated X-Ray," "Naked Came the Passenger" and "Government: Don't Dare Scan My Body." The target of the alarm: a new high-tech body scanner, aka "the Peeper." When passengers walk through it, it uses radio waves to peep underneath their clothing - a digital strip search that reveals if someone is concealing anything suspicious, like a gun or a bomb.

Before rolling out the machines, TSA put in a lot of privacy safeguards. The images would not be visible anywhere at the checkpoint - not to passengers, or the TSA. The pictures would be examined by a lone TSA worker via computer in a separate location, and then immediately destroyed.

Nevertheless, the thought of "Big Brother" taking pictures of us naked was too irresistible for headline writers, and angered civil liberties groups as well. The ACLU claimed the images would reveal highly personal details, like a mastectomy or colostomy, as well as the size of breasts and penises.

Naturally, we asked TSA to show us the pictures.

We entered the locked, windowless room anticipating something that would make Hugh Hefner drool. But when the first picture popped up, it was hardly pornographic. The face was blurred, presumably so the operator doesn't know that she's looking at, say, Britney Spears. Yes, love handles and buxomness were very clear, but we saw no private parts, not even outlines. In fact, we could see the person's underwear. Kip Hawley, the head of TSA, was in the room with us and admitted the image is "a Power Ranger type of thing." (One manufacturer later told us that the machine is good at stripping off the first layer of clothing, not so good with the second.)


It made me wonder what the privacy uproar was all about especially since, in the dozen or so airports that have the body scanner so far, the great majority of passengers choose the "peeper" over enduring a physical pat-down by TSA screeners.

TSA has run into the "security vs. privacy" buzz saw before, when its screeners were criticized for overly aggressive pat-downs of women travelers. Now, with the bad publicity about the body scanners, TSA is cutting back on installing the machines. But security experts say TSA should take on the fight against critics of the "peeper."

If the agency backs down, they say, these $200,000 machines considered the best insurance against bombs getting on an airplane will be used only rarely.

[guest173]

anyway, I am glad there is for now an option for either pat down or machine, at least we have a choice, don''t take away the choice, then it will really seem like prison

[guest173]

not everyone wears bras and underwear all the time, even though of course that is usually the norm, sometimes it happens. those images are very undignified and there are going to be abusers who will snap a photo of that to their cell phone and then pass it along and now it is new porn. that''s why the uproar, this kind of abuse potential is real and almost always some perv will take advantage, even pervs who seem normal and have normal jobs, whereever there are people there is sinful tendencies

[tbrooks1369]

I agree with everyone who detests the TSA and the security searches they are required to undergo to fly in US. I belive that we should stop all security, and let everyone fly who wants to with whatever they wish to bring with them. That way, evolution will run it''s course and we won''t have to deal with the whiners, complainers and inefficient, ineffective (and highly publicly subsidized) airline industry for long!

[ahinman2]

You have got to be Kidding! I am a former chief of security at an international airport and as the person responsible for the overall security of the airport my office was required to conduct fingerprint based background checks of all people requesting access to secure areas of the airport including TSA personnel. To my surprise and dismay I quickly learned that TSA was willing to hire convicted felons, admitted drug addicts and alcoholics even when they themselves had done a similar background check and were aware of the person%u2019s history. Remember, these people are placed in a position of great public trust and are generally given access to very sensitive information regarding personal information of members of the traveling public and current security measures. We should be very careful any time we consider giving up even the slightest of our liberty to TSA or any other agency. It might be more palatable to the general public if what TSA did was in some manner effective but as has been made public on several occasions every time the TSA is tested they fail more that %80 of the time.

[speak4me]

After seeing the story about TSA, I was really ticked off. It''s a shame, that the government can publicly rape you and you have no recourse. Now you are subject to a strip search in public or you are sexually assaulted, come on now, what has happened to our rights as Americans. Americans have become so afraid to speak out against this , that it is looked at as a necessary violation, I don''t think so. The Bush crooks have taken so much from from us, I wonder is it really worth being in this country? I think that Lesley Stahl should do another episode on T.S.A. and let real people sound off to T.S.A. Passengers are being touched in an inappropriate manner. It has gotten to the point that we should start flying naked.