KPLU Local News
(2010-01-05)
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TSA Body Scan Image
After working on this thing since the 1980s, Doug McMakin and his team are on the verge of seeing their invention go mainstream. The body-scanning machine grew out of the defense and security research that Pacific Northwest National Lab does for the federal government.
McMakin says he wasn't pleased about the Christmas bomber incident, but he and his team are happy that the body scanner finally might be used in more than just a couple of locations.
Doug McMakin: "Yeah, we're just real excited. I mean we're engineers, so we don't get overly excited, but we're pretty pumped, for engineers, that this is being deployed out there."
U.S. airports have hesitated to deploy the see-all scanners until now, because the images leave so little to the imagination. McMakin says his team is developing a completely computerized version, so no humans would have to view the detailed images. Right now, the few airports using the see-all scanners send the images to a screener in a separate enclosed room.
I'm Anna King in Richland. © Copyright 2012, KPLU
