In a bid to step up security after a failed attempt to blow up a Delta/Northwest Airlines plane bound for Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day, Schiphol airport is installing X-ray-like scanners for use on passengers travelling to the US.
Reports suggest that Schiphol already had 15 of the machines, but concerns over privacy (the scans reveal a detailed outline of the human body) had delayed their roll-out. Now, Dutch interior minister, Guusje Ter Horst, said the machines will be in place within a few weeks, and in the mean time, full-body searches on all passengers travelling to the US will take place.
The news comes a couple of months after Manchester airport began trialling similar scanners in October, with the Department for Transport (DfT) set to decide on whether to deploy them permanently towards the end of 2010 when the trial comes to an end. London Heathrow tested out the technology between 2004 and 2008 at Terminal 4 in conjunction with the DfT and BAA, but a decision is still being awaited from the DfT as to if and when it will be fully introduced.
A spokesperson for the DfT says: “Body scanners are being assessed urgently as part of a package of measures to respond to the latest incident. Trials [of body scanners] have already taken place and these are being assessed urgently as part of an immediate review of airport security. The Secretary of State will make a further statement on additional measures shortly. The UK already has one of the strictest aviation security regimes in the world, operating above the current baseline set by the European Union. We are looking at all options for strengthening that further, and we will not allow the safety of our passengers to be compromised.”
So what is the reaction from airport operator BAA? A spokesperson says: “The introduction of full body scanners would require a change in European legislation. The European Commission is meeting member states next week, and we will watch the outcome of those discussions closely and respond accordingly.”
So why is Schiphol introducing them even though there is no European legislation to govern them? BAA says: “We understand that they were on trial there and so it’s easier for them to roll it out because they already had the trial on-going.”
Reports in The Telegraph claim that there are four body scanner machines in storage at Heathrow airport since the trials a few years ago, but the authorities have so far denied any knowledge of this. When questioned, BAA said: “That’s a very good question. I am afraid I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t know where The Telegraph got its information from.”
The DfT said: “I don’t know anything about machines in storage at Heathrow – there was a trial there a few years ago so they might be left over from that, but what state they are in, how up to date they are, how suitable they are, whether they meet up to current standards is another question. The only one we are aware of is the one on trial at Manchester.”
So if the DfT does decide to install the scanners across UK airports, how long would it take? A spokesperson for the DfT says: “That depends on a lot of things… how quickly the manufacturers can produce them, how long it takes to train people, how long it takes to install them. I am not sure we would want to be drawn on a possible time line.”
That said, judging by trails at Manchester airport, if it came to it, staff would not find it difficult to learn how to operate the scanners. Russell Craig, group head of external communications, says: “It takes about two and a half weeks to train staff to use the technology. They know how to use X-ray machines so it’s just about learning how to interpret the different images.”
So what is the latest with the Rapiscan body scanner trials at Manchester airport? Russell Craigg: “We started putting passengers through the trial on November 6 – so far about 500 people have gone through. Passengers go through security in Terminal 2, where we have one machine, then if the trial is operating at that time they will be stopped by a market researcher who asks if you would like to participate and explains what the machine is. Before Christmas, and before the incident in Detroit, acceptance rates were about 75 per cent, now they are 92 per cent, since the researchers were bought back on December 29. We have also noticed that before Christmas, we were mainly being asked about privacy, now the main question everyone is asking is ‘could it have detected the Detroit device?’ Not only has the incident heightened public awareness but it has heightened public acceptability.”
So could the scanners have stopped the Christmas attack? Craig says: “We know a lot about that device from what’s come out in the media, but we don’t know everything, so no one would want to say ‘it couldn’t happen here’. But ... the image that comes back is detailed enough to pick up a chain around your neck or a pen in your pocket – so draw your own conclusions from that.”
There are about 20 airports in the US, including LA and New York JFK, that are currently equipped with “millimetre wave scanners” or “backscatter, low-level X-ray machines”, but at the moment passengers can choose whether or not to use them. So the UK is actually quite far behind in terms of not only accepting the technology, but actually putting it into place."
Visit dft.gov.uk, baa.com, schiphol.nl, manchesterairport.co.uk for more information.
Report by Jenny Southan
That said, judging by trails at Manchester airport, if it came to it, staff would not find it difficult to learn how to operate the scanners. Russell Craig, group head of external communications, says: “It takes about two and a half weeks to train staff to use the technology. They know how to use X-ray machines so it’s just about learning how to interpret the different images.”
So what is the latest with the Rapiscan body scanner trials at Manchester airport? Russell Craigg: “We started putting passengers through the trial on November 6 – so far about 500 people have gone through. Passengers go through security in Terminal 2, where we have one machine, then if the trial is operating at that time they will be stopped by a market researcher who asks if you would like to participate and explains what the machine is. Before Christmas, and before the incident in Detroit, acceptance rates were about 75 per cent, now they are 92 per cent, since the researchers were bought back on December 29. We have also noticed that before Christmas, we were mainly being asked about privacy, now the main question everyone is asking is ‘could it have detected the Detroit device?’ Not only has the incident heightened public awareness but it has heightened public acceptability.”
So could the scanners have stopped the Christmas attack? Craig says: “We know a lot about that device from what’s come out in the media, but we don’t know everything, so no one would want to say ‘it couldn’t happen here’. But ... the image that comes back is detailed enough to pick up a chain around your neck or a pen in your pocket – so draw your own conclusions from that.”
There are about 20 airports in the US, including LA and New York JFK, that are currently equipped with “millimetre wave scanners” or “backscatter, low-level X-ray machines”, but at the moment passengers can choose whether or not to use them. So the UK is actually quite far behind in terms of not only accepting the technology, but actually putting it into place."
Visit dft.gov.uk, baa.com, schiphol.nl, manchesterairport.co.uk for more information.
Report by Jenny Southan 
