Since the controversial terrorist attack of September 11 in New York City, every national and international airport feels obliged to enforce their security in order to prevent more attacks of this magnitude.

 After such chaotic and deadly attack on the World Trade Center, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) brought up a more efficient way of security. For the safety of the country and for the people, airports decided to enforce their security by installing body scanners.

These body scanners create an image of a person's nude body through their clothing to look for hidden objects without physically removing their clothes or making physical contact. When the idea of scanners was announced, the passengers rapidly acknowledged the negative effects these body scanners could have on a human body, creating another controversy.

Is this the most efficient idea airports could come up with? – This is one of the many questions thousands of passengers are asking amongst each other about the new high-tech safety measure.

These scanners reveal any hidden object a person could have under their clothing, making it very difficult for a passenger to sneak an illegal item into an airport. This new mode of security improves the level of security in every airport, disabling terrorists to attempt an attack via the bomb detonations.

President Obama supports these scanners, “this is the only procedures right now that the TSA considers to be effective to prevent terrorism.”

With the support of the President, passengers might feel safer when using air transportation.

But it’s not all happy news for passengers as some are concerned about the various health issues the scanners might affect a human body with. “[TSA] says risk is minimal, but statistically someone is going to get skin cancer from the X-rays,” says Dr. Michael Love.

Dr. David Brenner, head of Columbia University’s center for radiological research, believes more testing is needed to determine the impact of these scanners. He also said “if there are increases in cancers as a result of irradiation of children, they would likely appear some decades in the future.”   

Even though scanners have been widely criticized, radiation is not the only problem passengers, and even airport employees are facing. It was announced by the TSA that passengers have the right to refuse going through these scanners but are going to go through an extensive pat-down. “I don’t like a stranger touching my body,” one female passenger told WBZ News Radio’s Carl Stevens. “I think it’s gross; I don’t think it’s necessary, it’s invasive.”

A free society must always maintain a proper balance between privacy and security, and the TSA is on a tough spot concerning this issue. If they enforce the scanners and screen too aggressively, passengers and libertarians would protest. If they don’t use every tool and technology available, and a terrorist attack occurs, then they would be seen as incompetent security enforcers.  

Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole said he fully supports the scanners only to prevent terrorism to occur in the United States.

“I’m not going to change those policies,” TSA chief John Pistole assured.  “Clearly, it’s invasive, it’s not comfortable, but we’re not changing these policies because of the risks that have been identified” 

"Those who read the images are not actually physically at the gate, so they cannot associate an image with an individual person at all," Secretary of Homeland Security Jane Napolitano said. "And the machines are set so that no image is retained."

We face a determined enemy. No one wants another 9/11 attack. But in a free society, sacrifices sometimes must be made to ensure safety. Flying isn't a right. But the government must do a much better job explaining how these new measures will help, while continuing to look for less intrusive methods.