Expanding the use of full-body scanners at airports will improve the nation’s security, says the Obama administration.
It also will benefit the manufacturers of the equipment, including those lobbying on their behalf, like former Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff.
Chertoff’s consulting firm, the
Chertoff Group, represents
OSI Systems, one of two companies licensed to sell full-body scanners to the
Transportation Security Administration (TSA). OSI, maker of the
Rapiscan machine, garnered attention recently because its CEO, Deepak Chopra (no relation to the spiritual author and speaker), was invited to travel with President Barack Obama on his trip to
India. The arrangement demonstrated the closeness of the company with the White House, and the trip was a potential money-maker for OSI, now that India plans to install scanners at its airports in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Chertoff has not been shy about exploiting terrorism incidents to his client’s advantage, appearing on television as an expert after the attempted bombing of the Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas Day 2009 to advise the nation that it should invest in full-body scanners for airports.
-Noel Brinkerhoff