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The TSA’s New Scanners Can’t See Your Pancake Shaped Bomb
A report
in the Journal of Transportation Security looks the
efficacy of the TSA’s new backscatter scanners. Turns out the
machines can see your naked body. But they might not be able to see
your box cutter—or your gun, depending on how you went about hiding
it. And if you decided to tape a pancake-shaped container of the
high
explosive PETN to your gut, the backscatter machine might make
it appear as if the bomb was nothing more than your holiday weight
gain:
The penetration not only distributes exposure throughout the
body (this affecting the calculation of effective dose, which
comprises a sum over all organs), but tends to diffuse the effects
caused by contraband materials. Images can be made at low entrance
exposures, but of very poor spatial resolution and S/N. The
calculated signal excursions at high kilovoltage are so small as to
make it doubtful that at any reasonable exposure levels density
differences will be noticeable unless the contraband is packed
thickly and with hard edges. Although the excursions are larger at
low kilovoltage, they are still small and in the noise of the
device’s operational limits. The eye is a good signal averager at
certain spatial frequencies, but it is doubtful that an operator
can be trained to detect these differences unless the material is
hard-edged, not too large and regular- shaped. Anatomic features
and benign objects add structured noise that interferes with signal
averaging. Figure 18 shows a widely-distributed backscatter image.
On the left is a complete view of her torso, on the right, a
section has been blacked out. While the breasts are easily
recognized at right, without some prior knowledge of the subject,
it would be hard to distinguish the increase of intensity in the
superior part of her breasts from the natural gradients of the
image.
It is very likely that a large (15-20 cm in
diameter), irregularly-shaped, cm-thick pancake with beveled edges,
taped to the abdomen, would be invisible to this technology,
ironically, because of its large volume, since it is easily
confused with normal anatomy. Thus, a third of a kilo of PETN,
easily picked up in a competent pat down, would be missed by
backscatter “high technology”. Forty grams of PETN, a purportedly
dangerous amount, would fit in a 1.25 mm-thick pancake of the
dimensions simulated here and be virtually invisible. Packed in a
compact mode, say, a 1 cm×4 cm×5 cm brick, it would be
detected.
The images are very sensitive to the presence of large pieces of
high Z material, e. g., iron, but unless the spatial resolution is
good, thin wires will be missed because of partial volume effects.
It is also easy to see that an object such as a wire or a box-
cutter blade, taped to the side of the body, or even a small gun in
the same location, will be invisible.
Link via Daily Caller and
Boing
Boing.
Source:
TSA Rolls Out “Cool Strangers With Candy” Program
WASHINGTON, D.C. Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, held a press conference today to announce a new program designed to make kids and their parents more comfortable with the TSA’s new enhanced pat-down procedures.
“Domestic extremists have been trying to portray TSA agents as ogres,” said Napolitano. “Our ‘Cool Strangers With Candy’ campaign will help our children see TSA workers for what they are: friendly, funny, cool strangers who will give kids great candy in exchange for touching their breasts, buttocks, and genitals.”
The TSA’s approach to enhanced pat-downs of kids has come under fire recently after TSA Regional Security Director James Marchand described the TSA’s method of encouraging children to comply with being touched in their private regions by government officials. “You try to make it as best you can for that child to come through. If you can come up with some kind of a game to play with a child, it makes it a lot easier,” said Marchand, who said that the “being touched is a game” program is now part of TSA training.
Stung by criticism that this “game” approach makes children more vulnerable to abuse, Napolitano and other TSA officials vowed to use all of the good judgment and scientific expertise of the the Department of Homeland Security to come up with a new program.
“We used the same scientific know-how we previously employed in the behavior detection program and in employing body scanners,” Napolitano said. “‘Cool Strangers With Candy’ was the result.”
The TSA is planning aggressive advertising to promote the “Cool Strangers With Candy” Program, including internet, television, radio, and magazine campaigns, as well as community relations vans.
A TSA Community Relations Van on patrol.
Napolitano also announced that the TSA was accelerating hiring of employees interested in working in the new child-related programs. “We’ve accepted many applications from people with lots of experience working with children,” Napolitano confided. “They’ve found themselves on the job market because of the economy, or for various reasons that we can’t ask about because of federal privacy laws or TSA Policy.” The TSA is advertising for new suitable employees at anime conventions, camera stores, and parks.
But the TSA is not relying on the “Cool Strangers With Candy” program alone. Napolitano previewed a number of other programs calculated to make children more comfortable with TSA measures, including “We Can Make You a Star!”, a program to encourage children to comply with the TSA’s Rapiscan machines. “We’re going to show children that it’s perfectly natural, healthy and beautiful for awkward, overweight middle-aged men to use high-tech equipment to take naked pictures of them,” said Napolitano. The TSA is reportedly negotiating with Miley Cyrus to be the program’s spokesperson.
Napolitano is also working with TSA security experts to find ways to prevent parents and children from slowing down the security process with complaints, questions, or hysterical screaming. “If you have kids, you know that most of their complaints are just about getting attention from their parents,” said Napolitano. “That’s why we’re working on a policy requiring kids to be patted down outside the presence of their parents. Then we can hit them with our new kid-friendly slogans ‘This is Our Little Secret’ and ‘Do This Or Scary Men Will Kill Your Parents.’”
Asked whether parents across America might view these programs as intrusions into their relationship with their children, Napolitano smiled broadly. “No, no. Not in America. If there’s one thing you can count on about Americans — whether they’re liberals or conservatives — it’s that they understand that the government knows what’s best for their kids. And now TSA agents have a shot at using their few special minutes with kids to teach them what it means to be a good American: unquestioning compliance.“
Why are we being held captive in our own country again?