by Terrence Aym

Created on: December 21, 2010

Ever since the introduction of the terahertz radiation-producing TSA full body scanners, the technology has been under fire.

First the public feared exposure to the radiation. Pilots and other members of commercial flight crews refused to pass through the machines and were finally reluctantly exempted by the Department of Homeland Security.

Next, a general outcry ensued amongst the public when the media revealed that the scanned images of passengers' bodies were much more revealing than the DHS and Transportation Security Agency had initially suggested before they rolled out the devices at some of the nation's largest airports.

Despite the fact that the terahertz scanners create near-naked images of men, women and children, the public was told to accept it in the name of increased security and safety.

Now another new scandal has emerged: according to FoxNews.com, two scientists contend the multimillion dollar scanners can be tricked into missing potential terrorist weapons. Their revelation impacts squarely on the DHS position that the scanners increase overall flight security.

Leon Kaufman and Joseph W. Carlson are former physics professors and were colleagues at the University of California in San Francisco. Together they published a jaw-dropping paper in the Journal of Transportation Security, "An evaluation of airport x-ray backscatter units based on image characteristics."

The bottom line? The two professors have found strong evidence that the machines can be fooled and to accomplish that is relatively easy.

The TSA doesn't agree, telling FoxNews.com: “Advanced imaging technology is a proven, highly-effective tool that safely detects both metallic and non-metallic items concealed on the body that could be used to threaten the security of airplanes.”

The statement sounds authoritative and reassuring, until one investigates the data that Kaufman and Carlson have gathered.

No machine ever built by humans is infallible. Humans are fallible and so are their machines. Knowing this, the two scientists—experts in terahertz wave detection technologies—both concluded that certain types of objects—and their relative size, mass and position on the body—can only be detected by the scanners at certain areas of the body. Those objects that are large and conform to the body would be virtually undetectable.

As the two point out in their paper: [It's] "very likely that a large (15–20 cm in diameter), irregularly-shaped, cm-thick pancake

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