Buffalo airport to install body-imaging technology
Scanning device will be added as part of federal security overhaul
Travelers at the Buffalo airport will be showing a lot more than their identification by early next year when a full-body scanning booth will be added to the security checkpoint.
The federal Transportation Security Administration on Thursday confirmed plans to install body-imaging technology at Buffalo Niagara International Airport as part of the airport’s security overhaul.
“We don’t have an exact timetable at this point, but Buffalo will get this great new technology,” said TSA spokeswoman Lara Uselding. “It’s in place at 10 airports now and is working extremely well.”
The Buffalo News previously reported that the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority hoped to add the visual screening gear as part of its upcoming, $7.5 million checkpoint renovation project.
“We’re pleased to be receiving this cutting-edge technology,” said NFTA spokesman C. Douglas Hartmayer. “It demonstrates the TSA’s commitment to make the [Buffalo Niagara International Airport] one of the safest airports in the country and recognizes our continued growth and improvement.”
The “millimeter wave” device will be used primarily as a “secondary screening” tool to process passengers flagged for more intense scrutiny.
Selected travelers will step into a phone boothlike machine where beams of radio- frequency energy will be projected onto their bodies.
The screening takes a matter of seconds.
The three-dimensional image allows screeners to detect weapons, explosives or others objects obscured by clothing without the need for a physical “pat-down.”
Some privacy advocates and civil libertarians have raised concerns that the screening tool is too revealing. Although passengers’ faces are blurred by the device and the images are not stored, the three-dimension image gives screeners a clear view of passengers’ bodies.
To make the screenings less invasive, the TSA staffer reviewing the electronic images will be at a location away from the checkpoint and will never see the passenger whose body is scanned.
“It’s our understanding passengers would still have the option of a pat-down if they were uncomfortable with the visual screening,” Hartmayer said. “It’s not something they’d be forced to do.”
Uselding confirmed that TSA body-imaging technology is “totally optional” at this time.
“It’s voluntary, but the vast majority of travelers are choosing to use it,” Uselding said. “Ninety-six percent have opted to use it at [John F. Kennedy International Airport] since we installed the technology in April.”
Buffalo is among a dozen airports that will get the high-tech screening equipment over the next several months. The TSA plans to have 120 imaging booths in operation at airports across the country by the end of 2009.
The passenger-screening portals are part of the TSA’s “Checkpoint Evolution” program that also includes 3-D imaging machines to inspect carry- on items, and soothing ambient sound and light panels to reduce traveler anxiety and to make it easier to spot those with criminal intentions.
The NFTA is working with the TSA on a total makeover of the airport’s security checkpoint, which will see the current screening area shifted to the left of its current location.
The first phase of the project, which will begin in October, involves the demolition of space now housing Burger King and the All-Stars Bar. The second phase of the work, which is expected to wrap up by April, will include relocation of the checkpoint to the adjacent, larger space.
When complete, checkpoint lane capacity will grow from six to 10, with increased queueing space. There will also be more room for travelers to collect their screened carry-on items and to put their shoes back on.
The NFTA will complete a $31 million makeover of the airport’s baggage screening system in October.
Meanwhile, Delaware North Cos. will begin work in December on a new $7.6 million food court in the airport’s east concourse. The lineup will include a sit-down Anchor Bar restaurant and an Anderson’s. The food court is set to debut next summer.
