Feds test less intrusive airport scanners

The Transportation Security Administration on Tuesday began testing a new, more modest body scanning system at three airports. They hope it will assuage critics' concerns that the nearly 500 full-body scanners at 78 airports reveal too much.

"We believe it addresses the privacy issues that have been raised," TSA administrator John Pistole said at a news conference at Reagan National Airport in Washington, one of the airports testing the technology.

HOW IT WORKS The system does not involve new machines. Instead, it relies on new software that discards the X-ray-style image that revealed the contours of the traveler's body - the one that left many uncomfortable at the thought of screeners being able to see them with the rough outlines of their undergarments.

Now, there is just a generic image - like the chalk outline of a body at a crime scene.

A traveler passes through the scanner. Once he or she steps out, the passenger can see a computer monitor. It can display a large green "OK" and the traveler can move on.

If something is in a traveler's pocket or hidden on the body, the outline of a body appears, and a box marks the location of the object. If someone had a wallet in a front pocket, for example, the box would appear over the hips.

The box would then trigger a human pat-down search.

"One of the things this does is give greater confidence to the traveling public, because they are seeing the image also. They are seeing exactly what the security officer is seeing, that they can say, 'Oh, yeah, I forgot to take that piece of paper out of my pocket,' " Pistole said.

Other test sites include McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas and Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

NEXT STEPS If all goes well for two months, the TSA can install the software in 250 of the scanners nationwide at a cost of $2.7 million.