Charleston airports discussing body scanners

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has installed 365 full body scanners in 68 airports across the nation. The problem for some lies in the scanned nude images shown after a passenger is searched for anything posing a security threat. Charleston Aviation Administration Chair Representative Chip Limehouse says the scanners have not made it to Charleston yet.

We are getting a lot of complaints about it, but as far as Charleston International goes we have not put one in yet. We are just taking information.

Supporters of the scanners say the devices would stop someone from carrying explosives hidden in that person’s undergarments, or anything of the like. TSA chief John Pistole told a US Senate committee that the scanners would have caught a Nigerian man who boarded a plane last year with explosives hidden in his underwear.

Orlando Sanford International Airport in Florida has already decided to go private and not use TSA regulations altogether. Limehouse says that could also be a possibility for Charleston.

That’s something we can look at, going private and not having TSA there. This is not an anti-TSA sentiment, this is just if we can handle our public better through private and having less distruption for the flying public in and out of Charleston, then yes, absolutely we can look into that, assuming the cost would be in line.

South Carolina lawmakers are in the process of discussing the future for airport security in the state. Limehouse says some citizens are more concerned about a pat-down search for weapons even more than the scanners.