Las Vegas airport just opened some new terminal areas and added one of those body scanners. If you choose to go this route instead of a pat-down search it will save time, but as you can see, the scans don't leave much to the imagination. It makes me think of the complaints from attractive women who feel they are singled out for additional searches because of their looks, I wonder how this is going to add to that. I would not fall into that category, but I pretend to myself that my clothing covers a multitude of bags and sags, and shudder to think of baring it all even though it's on a computer screen in another room.



"The security lanes also included one of the "whole body imaging" devices now employed by the Transportation Security Administration. The device allows workers to look through a subject's clothing in an effort to screen for weapons as an alternative to more time-consuming physical searches.

"It basically will pick up anything that is blocking the skin of the person," TSA supervisory officer Joe Bause said. "Anything that has a density will stop the ... waves. It is almost like a sonar."

TSA installed the screening device at a cost of about $180,000, said Dwayne Baird, public affairs manager for the TSA.

The system is divided into two major parts. One is a large, clear booth where a passenger stands for screening; the other is a small, windowless room about 50 feet away where a TSA worker views the image. A worker in the viewing room cannot see the passenger in the booth nor can anyone outside the room see the image, which is displayed on a computer screen.

The images are not saved and subjects are not identifiable.

The device is used only when a passenger is pulled randomly from the regular security line for a more thorough search.

At that point, the selected passenger can choose to go through the imaging device or opt for a traditional "pat-down" search.

It takes about 30 to 45 seconds to go through the screening device and no touching is involved.

A pat-down search can take several minutes or more because the subject has to be taken to a shielded area and wait for a TSA officer of the same gender to conduct the search, which involves touching.

"It takes a lot less time than a pat-down," Baird said of the imaging device.

In addition to McCarran, the imaging devices are in use at airports in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, Washington, D.C., and New York.

They are expected to be installed in Chicago; Atlanta, Newark, N.J.; Boston; Indianapolis; Tampa, Fla.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and San Francisco."