DHS Budget Includes No New Airport Body Scanners 70
OverTheGeicoE writes "The Electronic Privacy Information Center has been examining the White House's proposed budget for Department of Homeland Security for 2013, and they point out that it doesn't include any money for additional airport body scanners for TSA. Did the recent scandal involving TSA workers targeting women for scans make the White House realize that TSA is a national embarrassment? Does the executive branch finally understand the questionable safety and effectiveness of these devices? Or does DHS just think it has enough scanners once TSA installs the 250 new scanners in this year's budget?"
Reasoning? (Score:5, Informative)
Or does DHS just think it has enough scanners once TSA installs the 250 new scanners in this year's budget?
Probably that one. It's not like they're going to --GASP-- spend less money by not buying full body scanners. They're just going to spend that money on other [thehill.com] stupid [digitaltrends.com] stuff [homelandse...wswire.com].
Not nearly enough progress (Score:4, Informative)
Only in the Bush era could a treasury-looting boondoggle this bad actually go all the way to implementation.
These machines can be defeated by any illiterate petty criminal. Hello... body cavities?
Every actually respectable expert is on record against them, from Bruce Schneier to El Al's former head of security.
This is not just garden variety incompetence. The program was so wildly and thoroughly stupid that it goes beyond negligence into prima facie malicious intent. The bigs from the vendors and the feds on the procurement side should see prison on the grounds of corruption alone. It's no different than selling the army a billion dollars worth of non-working guns or vehicles to pocket the profits. God willing, someday we'll watch the trials on CSpan.
That's leaving aside the laugh-till-you-cry repugnant aspects of what they actually did - which is, let's not sugar coat it, take nude photographs of thousands and thousands of children.