December 12, 2001

SCANNER LAYS THREATS BARE

Summary: Scientists develop an imaging system for quick,

safe detection of weapons at airports, but the holographic

technology reveals the human form in such detail that it

raises privacy concerns

As the events of Sept. 11 alarmingly revealed, the

screening of passengers at airports is a fragile link in

airline and national security.

Air passengers continue to undergo the scrutiny of metal

detectors. But as has long been known, the devices can\'t

detect sophisticated explosive devices and weapons made

of plastics and ceramics.

The difficulty has been in developing a way to quickly and

safely scan passengers for nonmetallic as well as metallic

objects. Engineers at Pacific Northwest National

Laboratory in Richland, Wash., say they have come up

with technology that \-- with some tweaking to address

privacy concerns \-- would fill the bill.

They have devised a holographic imaging system called

the Personal Security Scanner that can detect items

concealed beneath clothing. It uses harmless low-power

waves that penetrate clothing and reflect off the body and

any concealed objects that are being carried. The reflected

signals are used to produce a computer-generated

three-dimensional image.

\"The technology is similar to the electronic eyes above the

doors that you see in grocery stores,\" said Douglas L.

McMakin, an engineer who has been developing the

imaging system for the past 13 years. \"Those are little

radar systems that detect motion, which results in the

doors opening.\"

Going through the three-step scanning process takes little

time.

A passenger has to stand in one spot for only a second or

two. \"It\'s very fast and freezes motion,\" McMakin said, \"but

you will have to pause for that length of time.\" A computer

then processes the data into an image, a step that takes

about five to 10 seconds, although McMakin says it could

be faster depending on the computer\'s quality. The final

stage is for an operator \-- or the computer itself \-- to

examine the image and determine whether the passenger

is carrying concealed weapons or other dangerous

materials.

McMakin and his colleagues demonstrated the system

last month to Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge in

Washington, D.C., along with an array of counterterrorism

technologies developed at the Richland lab and other U.S.

Department of Energy research laboratories.

The Federal Aviation Administration and other government

agencies have spent about \$12 million for research and

development of the Personal Security Scanner and other

imaging systems, but money for the project ran out last

spring. McMakin and his lab colleagues are hoping more

money will soon enable them to make improvements.

\"I think there\'s been renewed interest in this system\" since

Sept. 11, McMakin said in a telephone interview during the

recent third International Aviation Security Technology

Symposium in Atlantic City, N.J.

A primary concern of the FAA and other officials is that the

system might work too well. A significant issue is privacy:

The images reveal a little too much for some people.

\"What we\'re trying to develop is ways to remove the human

features from the image so the privacy concerns are

eliminated,\" McMakin said. \"We\'ve had some success with

doing that, but we\'re still working on it.\"

In a 1996 report, the National Academy of Sciences\' Panel

on Passenger Screening said that displaying an image of

the body on a monitor \"will obviously be of concern to a

significant percentage of people passing through screening

checkpoints.\"

The 10-member panel\'s recommendations to address the

privacy issue included masking or distorting the image to

make it appear less \"human\"; using operators of the same

gender to view the images; displaying the images out of

view of everyone except screening personnel; and offering

alternative screening procedures for those who object to

imaging.

The committee conducted workshops and surveys among

flight crews and representatives of airline passenger

organizations, said George W. Swenson Jr., the panel\'s

chairman and a professor emeritus of electrical engineering

and astronomy at the University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign.

\"After discussions of possible ways of mitigating their

concerns, most agreed that these (imaging) techniques

could be made acceptable,\" Swenson said. \"Some of the

current practices at screening portals seem rather silly. . .

. In my opinion, the reasons more effective passenger and

baggage screening techniques have not been implemented

are economic, political and bureaucratic, rather than lack

of passenger acceptance.\"

Holly Baker, an FAA spokeswoman, said the agency is

looking at all technologies, including the Richland lab\'s

scanner system, but isn\'t speculating about which specific

systems it would be using. \"We do have privacy concerns

with these kinds of technologies, and we\'d certainly take

that into consideration before deploying them,\" Baker said.

\"We\'re hoping the body images could be made generic or

modified in some way.\"

The FAA is awaiting recommendations next month from its

Research, Engineering and Development Advisory

Committee before deciding which technologies to pursue,

Baker said.

The Personal Security Scanner uses ultrahigh-frequency

radio waves with relatively large wavelengths \-- about one

centimeter, or 0.4 inch \-- in the same range as radar and

satellite signals.

The system\'s waves do not pose a health threat, McMakin

said. \"That\'s one of the reasons the FAA initially came to

us to develop a system like this,\" he said. \"The technology

is non-ionizing-based. In other words, it\'s not an X-ray

system that would expose people to ionizing radiation.\"

McMakin estimates that the initial cost for each system

would be \$100,000 to \$150,000. \"We want to bring that

down as we go forward. That\'s just to get started.\" If the

FAA ordered a system, the lab could deliver it in six to

nine months, he said.

The lab also is looking at whether the holographic imaging

system might be able to detect powders \-- such as those

used in the recent anthrax attacks \-- and other suspicious

materials in sealed envelopes.

\"We\'ve done some preliminary looking at that application,\"

McMakin said. \"There\'s potential, but right now it\'s in the

preliminary feasibility stages.\"

In addition to airports, the screening device could be used

for mass transit systems, government buildings and sports

and concert arenas, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

officials said.

\"We\'ve had good results with it in tests,\" McMakin said.

\"The imaging technology is fairly mature, and it\'s an

operating system, but we still need to make

improvements.\"

You can reach Richard L. Hill at

richardhill@news.oregonian.com or 503-221-8238.