Lawsuit challenges TSA’s use of full-body scanners in airports

The Washington Post discusses with Marc Scribner CEI's lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration over their full-body scanner rule. 

Filing suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Monday, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the Rutherford Institute said that “because car travel is much riskier than air travel, the net result could be an ­increase in overall travel fatalities.”

The lawsuit stops short of calling for removal of all 789 full-body scanners now in use in 156 airports but demands that the TSA take into account the higher risk of driving for those too frightened to endure the machines. The TSA published a new rule for the use of full-body scanners last month.

“Yes, we do want these machines ultimately out,” said Marc Scribner, a research fellow at the CEI. “We don’t believe they are cost-effective. We could put these security funds to much better use.”

“If there is a possibility that people are dying on the roads because they are deterred from flying, we believe that is an important factor that the agency has to consider,” he said. “We would like the agency to have to go back to do the proper analysis.”

Read the full article at the Washington Post.