TSA Spent $160 Million on Failed Body Scanners, ‘Naked’ X-Rays

The Transportation Security Administration spent $160 million on body scanners that have largely failed to detect airport security threats.

Politico reported that the government agency paid $120 million for the body scanners currently in place at airport checkpoints across the country in addition to another $40 million on the “naked” X-ray scanners removed from airports two years ago amid health and privacy concerns.

The TSA, which recently disclosed the costs to members of Congress probing the agency, on average spent over $150,000 per unit of body imaging technology since it first began purchasing the scanners in 2008.

The acting TSA head was reassigned in June after a security audit revealed that the agency’s devices failed to detect fake weapons and explosives 96 percent of the time in secret tests . . .

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) said that the scanners are so unsuccessful–“These things weren’t even catching metal,” he warned–that they should be preceded by metal detectors. (Read more from “TSA Spent $160 Million on Failed Body Scanners, ‘Naked’ X-Rays” HERE)

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