Washington, DC - Senator Susan Collins today issued the following statement regarding the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) posting on its website test results regarding radiation emitted from certain passenger and luggage screening equipment. TSA revealed it found calculation errors, missing data, and anomalies in some reports. The agency is retesting all radiation-emitting full-body scanners as well as other baggage screening equipment used to screen that had inaccurate reports.
“Administrator Pistole and I have discussed at length the full-body scanners, and TSA has repeatedly assured me that the machines that emit radiation do not pose a health risk. Nonetheless, if TSA contractors reporting on the radiation levels have done such a poor job, how can airline passengers and crew have confidence in the data used by the TSA to reassure the public? More than one in four reports -- randomly selected from thousands of reports over two years and covering 15 airports -- included gross errors about radiation emissions. That is completely unacceptable when it comes to monitoring radiation."
Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
