The original concept for body scanners was to reduce manning levels of security staff and increase the " Find " rate of would be baddies.
The machines have been in the design mode for a number of years and there are various models with various screens for viewing. ( Body as per newspapers and stick men/women for the equal rights brigade)
The pressure on airports to increase efficency, find rates and footfall within the terminal shops has been highlighted at various times.
Low cost airlines placed even greater pressure on the airports to increase "buying time" within these outlets.
As for the cost of these machines,,, why has it not been taken from the security levy which each passenger has been paying for over the past number of years, originaly , I beleive that one of the reasons was to ensure nobody could gain access to the flight deck,,,,,, must have been an awful lot of flightdecks.
The DfT appear to have the mindset of " We know best and, you will do as we say" which smacks of civil servant , eighteenth century school boys ignorance.
Whilst I am sure that these people try to justify the measures which they lay down, surely it would be of more benefit to take the best parts of security on a worldwide basis.
There has been an attempt by the EU to standardise the security requirements of all member states, unfortunately not every member state can afford the same costs.
Therefore chaos rules, and whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.
Maybe an ideal world of technology and passenger profiling, supported by government agencies and a constant updating of security staff on security threats and issues, instead of the secrecy policies that senior members of staff seem to have.
Just like the DfT when they test the systems, the staff are not informed at the time, but some hours later after the DfT speak with the managers, I assume that it must be a secret, shame that you leave the staff who failed the test carrying on with their duties for a number of hours.
Suppose there will never be a truly secure airport.
