The Transportation Security Administration is pulling the plug on a certain type of controversial full-body X-ray scanners used in airports made by the company Rapiscan, a subsidiary of OSI Systems Inc. (OSIS), after it could not deliver on a deadline to make the resulting images less revealing, Bloomberg reported Friday.
The TSA already removed 76 of the scanners, which use low-dose X-rays, or backscattering, and will now go about removing the remaining 174 scanners with Rapiscan eating the cost, according to the report.
The TSA will replace some of the removed scanners with others made by L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (LLL), which instead use millimeter radio wave scanning technology, producing less revealing images. At the same time, the TSA reached an agreement with Rapiscan that “will involve moving the machines to other government agencies,” according to Bloomberg.
(H/T: The Verge, The Associated Press)
