More on the Rapist-Scan

For obvious reasons, including at least one assault prosecution of a TSA worker who was mocked by his colleagues after walking through the Rapiscan, the use of this machine is justly quite controversial.  Here is an interesting article where the TSA really lays out the guts of the program; that they are keeping "dangerous items" off planes.

That's fine as far as it goes, but the question remains whether they were confiscating possibly injurious items from people who would....use them to injure others.  Are illegal drugs going to down a jetliner, or were those "caught" young males from radical Muslim sects?  The airlines' association rightly notes that they are getting dangerous items--Grandma's knitting needles or your shampoo--but not dangerous people like the "Eunuchbomber" who lit explosives in his skivvies a couple of Christmasses ago on a flight to Detroit.

Moreover, for those willing to become a "Eunuchbomber" or worse, it's worth noting that the Rapiscan offers no way of detecting explosives stored inside a terrorist's body.  The physics is simple; high frequency waves are attenuated quickly in the body's saline environment.  Hence, you don't see anything below a few mm of skin, and even some pleated garments are "too thick" for the Rapiscan to penetrate. 

Which is why El Al, Israel's airline, doesn't endorse this technology.  Lipisuction plus explosive implants with a virtually undetectable detonator will walk right through anything the TSA can do to stop it, and yes, I expect someone to try it someday.  Hopefully we learn something from El Al about this before it is too late.