Home-Made Video Reportedly Shows Someone Carrying Metal Through Scanner Undetected

In a video which has collected nearly 1.2 million views, and uploaded by a user with the ID 'tsaoutofourpants',  a young man, who maintains a blog with the same name, explains how he says any person can carry a metal object, or pretty much anything else, through an airport body scanner without being detected. In the video, the person (pictured in YouTube frame grab below) , who describes himself as a scientist, frequent traveler, and the first person to sue TSA after the implemtation of body scanner technology, shows himself sewing a pocket into his shirt just under his arm, and placing a metal case inside the inner pocket. He claims that when the object is placed along the side of your body, it is not detected against the black background presented by the backscatter imaging technology. He even carries the box, about the size of a credit card case, through security at two airports, running a video camera while he does so.

TSA, through its blog, says the imaging technology is not that easy to beat.

"I watched the video and it is a crude attempt to allegedly show how to circumvent TSA screening procedures," writes "Blogger Bob" Burns.

"For obvious security reasons, we can’t discuss our technology's detection capability in detail, however TSA conducts extensive testing of all screening technologies in the laboratory and at airports prior to rolling them out to the entire field. Imaging technology has been extremely effective in the field and has found things artfully concealed on passengers as large as a gun or nonmetallic weapons, on down to a tiny pill or tiny baggies of drugs. It’s one of the best tools available to detect metallic and non-metallic items, such as… you know… things that go BOOM."

Burns points out that the scanners are just one of 20 layers of security (Behavior Detection, Explosives Detection Canines, Federal Air Marshals, , etc.) and is not "a machine that has all the tools we need in one handy device. We’ve never claimed it’s the end all be all."

But he asserts that the nation's aviation system is much safer now with the deployment of 600 imaging technology units at 140 airports. "It is completely safe and the vast majority use a generic image that completely addresses privacy concerns. Also, keep in mind that is optional. Anybody can opt out of the body scanner for a pat-down."

The blogger at least does say that he does not recommend attempting to carry metalic objects through a body scanner.

FMI: Watch the Video , www.tsa.gov