Man Claims TSA Not Using Full-Body Scanners

An Atlanta man believes millions of dollars of taxpayer money, that is supposed to improve airport security, is at times going to waste.

Bill Clarke of Newnan, has two artificial hips.

He says the implants set off the alarms when he even goes near a scanner at the airport.

Until the installation of full-body scanners, he always was required to have a pat down, something Clarke said he dreaded.

“They actually stick their hands right down into your private parts,” Clarke said.

Clarke told Channel 2’s Diana Davis he was relieved when Hartsfield-Jackson and other airports across the country began installing full-body scanners.

Clarke says on two of his most recent flights the scanners at Hartsfield haven’t been operating.

Clarke says a Transportation Security Administration represented told him they don’t always have the staff they need to run those scanners.

“The first fellow said he didn’t know why they weren't operating, I would have to check with a supervisor. So I went through the pat down, and then when I was walking through, I stopped by the supervisor’s office and said, ‘Tell me why are you using the scanners? You got a whole bunch of them down there,’ and he said, ‘Well we don’t have all the staff to run them.’ And I said, ‘How is that?’ and he said, 'It actually requires four people to run one scanner, and it only takes one person so do a pat down,’” Clarke said.

Clarke claims he got the same explanation of staffing problems on his return flight from Dayton, Ohio, to Atlanta.

Hartsfield-Jackson has 14 full-body scanners, according to the TSA.

Each one cost about $150,000. That's more than $2 million.

Clarke feels it amounts to a waste of taxpayers’ money.

“Here we spend millions of dollars to get these scanners in place and now we're not using them. I think they are an effective tool, but on the other hand if they didn’t plan for how many people it was going to take to run these things, and they don’t have the budget to do that, why spend the money in the first place? I would think it would be a colossal government waste if all the airports in the country are faced with a similar thing,” said Clarke.

No one from the TSA was available to talk to Davis on camera Monday.

TSA did release a statement to Channel 2 which said, "Several operational factors influence whether a particular piece of screening equipment may be operating including passenger volume, officer training, scheduling and maintenance."

The Atlanta spokesperson, Jon Allen, told Davis that specific operational statistics are sensitive security information and would not be disclosed to the public.

Allen also says the TSA in Atlanta is operating with full staff.

Allen suggests passengers like Clarke identify themselves to TSA members before they go through the initial screening and they specifically request the full-body scans at that moment.