Think DHS Is backing Off Scanners? Think Again!

Jason Douglass

Infowars.com

December 24, 2010
After the staged TSA stand down during the national ‘opt-out’ day protests, mainstream media pretended public opinion had swayed when TSA temporarily relaxed their new techniques in order to diffuse the impact of the protests. But it has become painfully clear since then — that tech was just the beginning.

A press release from American Science and Engineering, Inc (“AS&E”) reveals a recent government contract for Z Portal screening systems valued up to $67 Million. As if this weren’t enough of a confirmation that the technology is here to stay, 3 days later another press release came out announcing an additional $4.9 million Z Portal order from U.S. Government and an additional $3.8 million order for ZBV Military Trailers announced on December 22nd. From these consistent orders we can infer that this technology is not only here to stay but is poised for proliferation.

From AS&E website:

The Z Portal® is a high-throughput screening gateway, allowing approximately 80 trucks or 120 passenger vehicles per hour… AS&E’s Z Portal® is a multi-view, drive-through inspection system capable of scanning cars, vans, trucks, and their cargo for concealed threats and contraband.

“These additional Z Portal systems will provide homeland security officials with advanced detection technology,” said Anthony Fabiano, AS&E’s President and CEO.”The Z Portal offers a high-throughput security solution to safely and effectively screen vehicles for explosive threats, drugs, and other contraband. We continue to receive outstanding field performance reports of AS&E systems deployed on the border, and we are proud to support the U.S. government’s critical counter-drug and anti-terrorism missions.”

About Z Portal(R)

Z Portal is a multi-view, drive-through vehicle screening system capable of scanning trucks, cars and vans for concealed threats and contraband.

The Z Portal employs AS&E’s patented Z Backscatter technology, which produces photo-like images of the contents of a container or vehicle, highlighting organic materials…

Notice the use of the phrase ‘photo-like image’ which is clearly contradicted in the company’s privacy concerns section:

Privacy Assured

The Z Portal produces a black-and-white image of the vehicle, in which organic or non-metallic objects (such as drugs, plastics, and explosives) are highlighted. The system creates a silhouette — with no facial or body detail — of a person inside the vehicle. The Z Portal scan only alerts the operator to the presence of a person as only a silhouette and the system cannot be used to identify the individual, or the race, sex or age of the person.

Reduces Traveler’s Inconvenience: Reduces intrusive and time consuming manual searches from potentially hours to minutes.

READ MORE HERE