Earlier this week, JFK Airport in New York plugged in their first batch of full body imaging machines. The director of the Department of Homeland Security had many good things to say about them, but when the time came to actually show them off to the media, she handed the floor to some brave volunteers. In a real case of “do as I say, not as I do”, Janet Napolitano really only wanted to talk about them, not actually use them.
The new scanners will be used for all passengers selected for secondary screening, but those passengers can decline and be subjected to an enhanced pat-down. Ever since the first scanners were implemented, passengers have been told over and over again that the images will never be misused, and that images won’t be stored. With those rules in place, I’m not entirely sure why the head of the department that installed them wouldn’t want to show them off herself.
Of course, it could have something to do with the real fear that the radiation is considered unsafe, or that her colleagues working the monitors may see a side of her she doesn’t really feel comfortable sharing. She wouldn’t be the first government employee to be mocked for something shown on the revealing images.
Now they are showing up at more and more airports, you may have been asked to go through a virtual strip show -were you comfortable with that?
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[Photo credit: Getty Images]