The failed Christmas Day attack on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit is putting pressure on the Obama administration to implement more aggressive security measures, including the use of full body scanners that can see through clothing.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano came under whithering criticism for her initial response to the attempted detonation of an explosive device hidden in the underpants of a 23 year-old Nigerian man named Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.
Napolitano said Thursday the department is sending officials to meet with airport executives around the world to review security and technology, according to Reuters.
The full body scanners use technology that sees through clothing, although manufacturers have privacy settings on the devices that blur the person's face and genitalia.
About 20 US airports already have the devices in place, including Los Angeles, Baltimore, Denver, Albuquerque, Dallas, Las Vegas, Washington D.C.'s Reagan international airport and JFK in New York.
The devices cost about $170,000 each - and 150 new machines are on order for US airports, according to the New York Daily News.
Reports have emerged calling the scanners "naked scanners" because they show clear outlines of body parts and reveal hidden body piercings.
But security experts said the fears of security personnel seeing nude images of passengers are unfounded because the machines have been changed so that "body dimensions, such as genitals, can not be distinguished.”
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