Prepare for Scanners in Public Transportation

Americans aren’t reacting too positively to the use of body scanners to screen air travelers. So they probably aren’t going to be too happy to learn that the scanners may be utilized on public transportation, trains, and boats too. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano raised that possibility in an interview on “Charlie Rose” Monday, The Hill reports.

“[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through,” she says. “I think the tighter we get on aviation, we have to also be thinking now about going on to mass transit or to trains or maritime. So, what do we need to be doing to strengthen our protections there?”

Napolitano isn’t the only Obama administration official to broach the idea of using scanning machines beyond airports. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, offered a bill in September to authorize testing of body scanners at some federal buildings.