The American Civil Liberties Union says full body scanners headed for Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport should not be used as the first line of defense to prevent terrorist attacks.
That’s despite suggestions that general use of the scanners could have prevented a Christmas Day bomb scare.
Ed Yohnka is a spokesman for the ACLU in Illinois. He says the incident in Detroit shouldn’t be used to justify virtual strip searches.
YOHNKA: The trigger for all of this is an instance in which there was specific credible information about this individual that was not followed up on. The idea that that becomes the trigger for thousands of people having their privacy invaded in the United States simply doesn’t seem to me to be a very effective use of resources.
Yohnka says the ACLU would support using the scanners as a back up tool.
The Transportation Security Administration says the scanners take a detailed image of passengers’ bodies. The picture is reviewed by a security officer - and deleted immediately.
Chicago Department of Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino says the scanners should be placed in O’Hare sometime in 2010.