Napolitano Eyes Full Body Scans for Trains, Ships, Mass Transit

Slams Groups that Object to Intrusive Searches

by Jason Ditz, November 25, 2010

In the course of condemning public opposition to the full body scans and invasive “enhanced patdown” procedures and admonishing its opponents to “share responsibility” for security, Department of Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano suggested that the controversial methods may be coming to a myriad of new locations.

“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,” Napolitano insisted. TSA officials have also hinted at using the scans for train travel.

Public opposition to the TSA’s airport screenings have led a number of people to consider travel by other means, including trains, to avoid the screenings. It is noteworthy that the new talk about adding the scans to trains have only cropped up since people began looking to them as a way to avoid air travel.

Napolitano, whose department runs the TSA, has been at the forefront of the official indifference over the public criticism of the program, insisting that voter opinion will have absolutely no impact on policies and that the scanning will never be ended.

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