America XXX

We are now rehashing the Bush-era debate over whether or not a particular bit of anti-terrorist security measure is an invasion of "privacy." So, I guess we have to have a national dialogue as to whether or not we should accept full body scans as part of the price of admission on to an airplane: Do Airport Imagers Invade Privacy?

As the federal government begins an inside-out review of airport security after a passenger allegedly sneaked explosives onto a plane last week, attention is turning to a growing debate over a key approach to airline safety: whole-body imaging at airports.

Critics say the technique compromises privacy by letting screeners "peer through clothing and capture detailed, three-dimensional images of individuals completely undressed," according to a recent lawsuit.

But supporters are adamant that the imaging protects privacy while making flying safer.

San Francisco International is one of 19 U.S. airports where this screening method is used by the Transportation Security Administration.

The airport has one full-body imaging machine. Instead of walking through the familiar metal detector, passengers enter what looks like a clear phone booth and pause while a body photo is taken that's about as distinct as a "fuzzy photo negative," says the TSA.

Unlike a metal detector - which is easily set off by implants such as metal knees and hips - a whole-body image shows only anomalies outside of the body.

I think there is a bigger problem with whole body scans: they are completely degrading. Call me old fashioned, but the idea of some TSA time-puncher watching hundreds of Americans pass by everyday in a state of x-rayed undress is not something that society should consider acceptable. Is TSA going to be looking at naked images of nuns? Little kids? My wife?

Security experts swear that "if only we had been able to full body scan the Pants Bomber," he would have never gotten on that flight to Detroit. Oh, bulls***. Airport security is the second to last line of defense (passengers are the last line). Our expensive security services are supposed to be doing everything they can to make sure bombers can't get on the plane in the first place. How's that working out? Not well, as it seems a half-dozen security services knew about this guy, and yet he could still get a visa to enter the US carrying no luggage. Before subjecting civilians to full body scans, could we at least subject our intelligence community to brain scans to see if there's any activity upstairs?

We've spent the last eight years standing in long chaotic lines at the airport. We no longer can indulge in the old ritual of greeting our loved ones at the gate. We've been taking off our shoes. We've been taking off our belts. We've been emptying our pockets, and then elbowed by jerk screeners retrieving their gray plastic bins. And, of course, we've been pulled aside for extra screening, regardless of race, age, nationality, or travel history. Why? All so certain people, say, young Nigerian Muslims who travel to Yemen, won't be subject to "profiling." And, so no TSA employee ever has to use their brain.

If it really is our fate to have full body scans, can we at least subject only the 500,000-odd people who are on the government's various watch lists - which no one seems to consult, anyway - to that sort of screening? That would be a lot more rational than making all 300 million Americans go through an increasingly degrading process to no good effect.