TSA Body Scanners at Fort Lauderdale Airport Targeted by Broward Commission

TSA

Images from the "backscatter" machine.

​The Broward Commission may request that the Transportation Security Administration go back to the old-school gropings pat-downs of passengers at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and ditch the use of body scanners.

The item -- which was delayed from the last meeting -- would be a direction to the aviation director to send the request to the TSA asking that it not use the body scanners "until further studies can be done that will demonstrate that they are safe to the traveling public."

According to the oh-so-loathed TSA, the "backscatter unit" that takes those nudie pics of you at airport security are perfectly safe already.

The way the TSA compares it, "One backscatter technology scan produces the same exposure as two minutes of flying on an airplane."

In fact, the TSA's website hosts a boatload of documents proving the machines are safe.

Still, most people aren't the biggest fans of the TSA.

Commissioner Kristin Jacobs attached a Sun-Sentinel article to the agenda about the three old ladies who complained about how they were searched by the TSA.

None of the women went through the machine, so it's not clear how the article is relevant, but it's there.

The TSA doesn't have to follow the request of the county, though, so we'll see how that all works out.

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