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Hancock Airport Passengers Will See Full Body Scan Security This Holiday Travel Season

Chris Bolt/WAER News

  Those traveling out of Hancock International Airport this holiday season should expect some changes in airport security. The airport has put in new devices where people undergo full body scans instead of just walking through a metal detector. It's called Advanced Imaging Technology...or AIT.  

TSA Federal Security Director Brian Johansson says it helps ensure the highest level of security against terrorism.

 "Our adversaries are really focusing on non-metallic improvised explosive devices. So anything that has metal in it we can detect. Those metal detectors are great at detecting metal but our biggest threat right now is the non-metallic IED. This technology allows us to find non-metallic things that are hidden on a person's body under their clothes."

If an object is detected on a passenger, a TSA officer can find out if it's keys, or a cell phone or something of more concern. Johansson admits some people were uncomfortable with full body scans initially,  but he's confident passenger privacy is protected. 

Credit Chris Bolt/WAER News
TSA Security Director Brian Johansson calls the image a "gingerbread man" relieving any fears of invasion of someone's privacy from the scan. Any pat-downs are handled by same-sex officers.

"This is what I call the gingerbread man or gingerbread woman. So whether you're my height, this tall, this wide or this thin it's the same image male or female. It just doesn't matter that's what we see."

The TSA says the devices meet all known national and international health and safety standards and the energy emitted from the equipment is 1,000 times less than the international limits and guidelines. Some passengers will be using the technology this holiday season.

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.