TSA airport body scan tests miss gun: report
CBC News
Posted: Feb 22, 2011 8:44 AM ET
Last Updated: Feb 22, 2011 10:01 AM ET
A police officer tests a full-body scanner at Hamburg's airport in September 2010. (Joerg Sarbach/Associated Press)
Related
Related Links
External Links
(Note:CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)
An undercover investigator with the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration passed through an airport body scanner repeatedly while carrying a handgun that went undetected, according to an NBC report.
A high-ranking source inside the TSA divulged the information, NBC said, after a covert test of body-scanning security at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
The female undercover agent concealed a pistol in her undergarments and passed through the body scanners several times, and each time the handgun was undetected.
None of the TSA security personnel who failed to spot the handgun in the body scans was disciplined, according to the source cited by NBC.
The TSA acknowledged it frequently conducts covert testing, but does not comment on the results.
"However, advanced imaging technology is an effective tool to detect both metallic and non-metallic items hidden on passengers," it said.
The effectiveness of the scans still relies on people monitoring the screens to pay close attention.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Air Canada jet with falling debris had previous mishaps
- The airplane that had its engine shut down and was forced into an emergency landing Monday in Toronto has had two previous documented cases of mechanical damage since it started flying five years ago, according to Transport Canada. more »
- Montreal streets flooded after flash storm
- Flash flooding and popped manhole covers were reported across Montreal as heavy rain blew through the city. more »
- Canada has higher proportion of seniors than ever before
- New census data shows Canada now has a higher proportion of seniors than ever before -- a development that has crept up on society with far-reaching implications for health, finance, policy and everyday family relationships. more »
- B.C. shipwreck survivor recalls 10 days lost at sea
- A Haida fisherman, one of three stranded on a B.C. island for 10 days in May, is now talking about the shipwreck and how he and his friends survived in a driftwood shelter eating little more than seaweed and sea urchins. more »
Latest World News Headlines
- Italy cleans up after 2nd deadly quake in 9 days
- A magnitude 5.8 earthquake hit northern Italy on Tuesday, killing at least 15 people in the same region still struggling to recover from another fatal tremor on May 20. more »
- Canadian climber's body taken off Everest
- The body of a Toronto woman who died while descending from the summit of Mount Everest earlier this month has been taken by helicopter to her family in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu. more »
- Suu Kyi makes 1st trip out of Burma in 24 years
- Democracy activist and long-time political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi is resuming world travels, arriving Tuesday night in neighbouring Thailand after an 85-minute flight from her homeland. more »
- Mitt Romney to clinch Republican nomination
- Mitt Romney is set to clinch the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday night with a win in the Texas primary, a triumph of endurance for a candidate who came up short four years ago and watched this year as voters flirted for months with a carousel of GOP rivals. more »
Dispatches »
- Foreign slaves serving the U.S. military machine May. 24, 2012 3:33 PM How does a hairdresser recruited for work in Dubai, wind up slaving for the U.S. military in a war zone in Iraq? There are tens of thousands serving in what's come to be known as America's "Invisible Army."
Connect Newsroom Blog
#bullyPROOF, Syria's Tipping Point & Old Age Comedy May. 29, 2012 6:40 PM As Ontario gets ready to debate anti-bullying legislation, we're asking are bullies and victims all that different?
- Human foot sent to Conservative Party HQ
- Richard Branson suggests naked kitesurfing to premier
- Air Canada jet with falling debris had previous mishaps
- 'Engine shutdown' forced Air Canada jet to land
- Evolution skeptics will soon be silenced by science: Richard Leakey
- Storm warnings over in eastern Ontario
- Alberta couple, child found dead in Saskatchewan ditch
- Canada has higher proportion of seniors than ever before
- Newly discovered malware most lethal cyberweapon to date
