Jean L. Cooper

My objections to the use of AITs (also called body scanners) fall into 4 categories: constitutional, ethical, medical, and practical. (Due to the length of this field, my complete comments have been attached as a file.) The use of AITs is in violation of the 4th amendment to the Constitution, which requires that a search of one’s person or belongings must be authorized by a warrant, supported by probable cause, and limited in scope. The activities of the TSA in regard to the AIT and pat-downs at the checkpoints in an airport are used to intimidate and control citizens of this country whose only transgression is wanting to travel by air. The Millimeter Wave machines, we are told, do not use ionizing radiation. However, no long-term testing has been done on these machines, so their health effects over a long period of time are not known. I do not wish to be a government guinea pig to test these machines. These AIT machines produce false positives 54% of the time, requiring a follow-up pat-down. These false positives include prosthetic breasts, ostomies, bandages, maxipads, adult diapers—even scars and body abnormalities such as bony knees seem to appear. Such a rate of false positives makes the results of these machines suspect. Since the introduction of the AIT machines, I have reduced my flying to only those occasions when I can’t drive. In fact, last year I drove across the country, from San Diego to Columbia, SC, rather than fly, so strong is my objection to the TSA checkpoints and their practices. When I must fly, I always opt out, since I would rather be patted-down than go through a machine with unknown health effects. If there is no opt out available from the AIT machines, I will stop flying altogether. I lock my carry-on bags to prevent TSA staff from stealing from them. I feel no sense of security at having the TSA harassing me. I do feel that we have lost our freedoms and that our Constitution has been crumpled and thrown away.