In some previous posts we’ve taken a few slices off the TSA’s backscatter X-Ray process, highlighting the serious flaws that permeate the entire concept from eyelids to toenails.
The 247 airport body scanners at 38 airports are the backscatter-show-us-your pubes-nudie-shots machines. The TSA has finally ‘fessed up that the technology is (or isn’t) putting out more radiation than expected. What this actually shows, aside from radiating regular citizens with unknown doses of x-rays, is that the TSA is dangerously inept.
The distressing evidence in the USAToday article is that the TSA has a “haphazard oversight and record-keeping in the critical inspection system the agency relies upon…” Or, to translate from bureaucratese, the TSA has no clue, no idea where to look for a clue and no idea what to do, if they find a clue, as well as what do to when the clue bites them on the ass after it takes a piss on the TSA’s leg.
To quote from the article, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said “It is totally unacceptable to be bumbling such critical tasks. These people are supposed to be protecting us against terrorists.”
Rapiscan, the company that made the machines, said their own engineers who tested the machines, were confused by inspection forms and instructions that led their folks to make mistakes that vastly inflated the radiation emitted by the machines. This also gives us the warm-and fuzzy feeling that the TSA is hiring people who know what they’re doing and have at least a base-level competence.
Why are we not surprised?
RoadDave 
I gave been through many airports, my beloved hometown’s O’Hare the most. (All pre-9/11, admittedly). I have had good screeners, bored screeners, and a couple that were absolute first-class wankers. (For my fellow Yanks, being a wanker is NOT a good thing!) As a programmer, I can tell you the hardware is not the usual problem. If you don’t know how to work the technology, it doesn’t matter if you’re using X-ray back-scatter devices or a flashlight. We’ve already got enough tech – we have to get the people trained properly, so they can use it PROPERLY.
Oh, and those X-ray scanners? They ARE putting out – more X-ray radiation than a couple decades’ worth of dental shots. Of course, this IS part of a government energy-saving policy. If we pass enough people through these things, we’ll have enough glow-in-the-dark folk to reduce our need for lighting. 😉