If you're in the military-industrial complex, terrorism is an integral part of your profit scheme. The more than one trillion dollars already spent on the Iraq/ Afghan/ Pakistan/ 'Global War on Terror' boondoggles has been highly profitable for those companies producing military materiel and providing such useful services as preparing meals for servicemen in war-zones (i.e. Halliburton) to lethal mercenary armies (i.e. Blackwater). Fear of the other motivated the American populace to abandon liberties, scorn opposition to the leader(s) who failed to originally protect them, and give the mad-militarists, who never saw a problem they couldn't bomb into oblivion, a blank check to wage unlimited war against the rest of the planet.
Since the failed Christmas day mission of the "underpants bomber" aboard a trans-Atlantic flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, MI, the brain-trust of several governments have declared their intention to install new high-resolution body scanners across airports in America and internationally with connections to US cities. BusinessWeek, in an article "Invasion of the Body Scanners," discusses the costs of installing these devices and the benefits, or lack thereof, of utilizing these high-end technologies against a determined, albeit in the latter case a fairly stupid, adversary.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration, which has 40 scanners in place at 19 airports so far, has spent $25 million on 150 additional scanners and plans to buy 300 more. The devices, which are placed at security checkpoints, use radio waves or low-level X-rays to produce detailed images of passengers' bodies—and weapons or explosives beneath their clothes.
Despite objections from civil libertarians and a few members of congress, who have described the process as a "virtual strip search," Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman, Joe Lieberman was asking, "Why isn’t whole-body-scanning technology that can detect explosives in wider use?" Perhaps the answer lies in its life-cycle costs, overall utility, the fact that millions of people would be exposed to potentially cancer-causing ionizing radiation for no beneficial reason, or as in my personal case, wonder if my penis will look big enough for the security clerk glinting at my masculinity! For example, in the image above of a female TSA employee undergoing a scan, the outline of her breasts, pelvis, and genitalia are clearly observable to any staff and government agency. The TSA claims to be, "Addressing privacy fears [by] making sure scanners blur facial features and genitalia and deleting images after use." However, given the government's penchant and demonstrable history of disinformation, dishonesty, and incompetence at managing confidential information, does anyone believe them?
In relation to the military-industrial complex, the BusinessWeek article outlines:
The biggest beneficiaries of a scanner boom will likely be L-3 Communications (LLL) of New York and Torrance (Calif.)-based Rapiscan Systems, part of OSI Systems. They're the only scanner makers approved so far by the TSA, which already has contracts with them that could top $100 million apiece. If the TSA decides to install the machines at all 2,100 security lanes in the U.S., that could produce total revenue of $300 million to $400 million. "The TSA is saying, 'Let's accelerate the process,' " says Richard Hoss, a senior research analyst with Roth Capital Partners. "It's likely to benefit these companies." The stocks of OSI and L-3 are up 29% and 2%, respectively, since Christmas Day.
The most obvious question, that few in government or in the commercial world seem keen on addressing, is whether any of this will improve passenger safety? The American public has not been made aware of any cost-benefit analysis that asks whether similar funding should be given to bomb-sniffing dogs, improved terrorist database management, or better intelligence gathering procedures. A four-year test of the efficacy and reliability of body scanners in detecting plastics, chemicals, or liquids upon passengers at London’s Heathrow airport, resulted in the decision to discontinue their use. Bruce Schneier, chief security technology officer at BT Group, explains that "If we use full body scans, [terrorists] are going to do something else. This is a stupid game, and it's time we stop playing it." Unfortunately for us poor tax-paying serfs, our dear leaders, like those bloviating charlatans in congress, don't really seem to care if the technology will work as required, but rather if said technology will enhance the profits of their friends in the military-industrial complex.
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