Are the X-ray body scanners effective?
Pistole told CNN this week that he believes the scanners would have nabbed Abdulmutallab, the unsuccessful Christmas day bomber accused of hiding PETN explosive in his underwear. “Well, we believe it would,” Pistole said. “And that gives us the best opportunity that would detect that. Without the enhanced pat down, it obviously would not be found.” But a member of Al Qaeda, as CBS News reported, already has inserted about one pound of high explosive (plus a detonator) in his rectum and managed to smuggle it past airport security in a failed assassination attempt. That kind of threat wouldn’t be detected by the TSA’s new procedures. “I’m telling you, the next thing is body cavity,” Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican who’s set to head a key transportation panel next year, said on Fox Business last week. “And terrorists aren’t above using those means. And the equipment they’ve got now will not detect that kind of intrusion or that kind of a threat.” (That’s already leading to jokes abou
