Airport X-Ray Device Spurs Concerns 

                  By Deepti Hajela
                  Associated Press Writer
                  Wednesday, Dec. 29, 1999; 9:51 p.m. EST

                  NEW YORK –– An X-ray scanner that can see through clothing is setting
                  off alarms for those who say using the machine on air travelers constitutes
                  an invasion of privacy. 

                  The U.S. Customs Service has been using the BodySearch device at John
                  F. Kennedy International Airport and five other major airports around the
                  country to search for contraband for most of this year. Plans are to have it
                  installed at all of the country's major airports by June of next year. 

                  The machine uses low doses of X-rays to scan a traveler, displaying an
                  image of the person's body on a screen. It looks like an outline filled in
                  with white chalk, but doesn't show physical details like a photograph
                  would. 

                  The display does show anything that is being carried either in a person's
                  clothing or on the body, such as weapons or packages of illegal drugs. 

                  Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelley said Wednesday that anyone
                  who is subjected to a search at an airport where the device is in place
                  would have an option of undergoing a physical pat-down instead of being
                  scanned by the machine. 

                  "People object to being physically touched," he said. "In response to that
                  we brought in the scanners." 

                  Customs is facing numerous lawsuits from people alleging they were
                  singled out for body searches because of their race or sex. The allegations
                  first were reported by The Associated Press last year. 

                  But some say the X-rays are more invasive than a pat-down, since the
                  scan shows the outline of a traveler's naked body. 

                  In testimony to an international conference on aviation safety, Gregory T.
                  Nojeim, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the
                  scanner can show private parts with clarity and that portions of the display
                  could be enlarged by the viewer. 

                  "If there is ever a place where a person has a reasonable expectation of
                  privacy, it is under their clothing," he said in his testimony. 

                  But Robert Peters, vice president of American Science and Engineering of
                  Billerica, Mass., which makes the machines, said concerns about the
                  images were exaggerated, noting that the display doesn't show specifics
                  such as scars, birthmarks, or even muscle definition. 

                  "It's not like you're getting a photograph of a naked person," he said. 

                               © Copyright 1999 The Associated Press