LAX'S X-RAY VISION; CRITICS CLAIM BODY SCANS INVADE TRAVELERS' PRIVACY; X-RAYS VOLUNTARY, AGENTS SAY.

Byline: David R. Baker Staff Writer

A new security system used at Los Angeles International and some other airports can peer beneath clothes and show intimate body contours, upsetting privacy advocates.

The new BodySearch system uses low-power X-rays to search travelers for concealed weapons and contraband, providing an image similar to a black-and-white negative.

Because it also captures intimate body details, the searches are seen as an invasion of privacy by the American Civil Liberties Union and others, and most passengers picked out for searching would rather be patted down than X-rayed because it takes less time.

``I don't want my daughter, my wife, my grandmother to be subjected to something that will look at them like a Playboy centerfold,'' said Erich Miller, media liaison for the Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County.

The U.S. Customs Service, which has installed the $125,000 BodySearch device in six international airports so far, counters that machine-scanning is less invasive than physical searches by inspectors.

``The reason we originally had this machine developed is it's not pleasant for any passenger to be patted down,'' said Customs Service spokesman Dean Boyd. ``They don't like being touched. And honestly, our inspectors don't like touching people either.''

Customs officials say few people are ever searched.

A spokesman for the Customs Service branch in Los Angeles did not have figures for the number of people scanned so far at LAX. He also did not know whether scanning has detected any contraband so far at the airport.

Customs officials use the system as one tool to screen passengers suspected of smuggling illegal drugs and guns into the country. Passengers thought to be hiding contraband are first questioned by inspectors.

If inspectors remain suspicious, they give the passenger a choice: a BodySearch scan or a pat-down search.

Those who chose the scan must first sign a consent form. Customs officials then use the device that runs a low-energy beam of X-rays over passengers' bodies. The results show up on a screen monitored by an agent of the same sex as the person being scanned.

The whole process is conducted in private, out of other passengers' sight.

``No one's going to see this or see you,'' Boyd said. ``There's not a crowd gathered around.''

The images are saved only if the scan turns up contraband, he said.

Although passengers may reject scanning, its use has still alarmed civil-rights watchdogs. The American Civil Liberties Union has raised questions about it.

``If there is ever a place where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, it is under their clothing,'' ACLU legislative counsel Gregory T. Nojeim has testified before government panels on aviation safety and security.

For their part, airline passengers questioned by customs officials don't seem eager to step in front of the BodySearch machine. Michael Fleming, a spokesman in the Customs Service's Los Angeles branch, said most people given the choice have opted for a pat-down.

One reason could be that the pat-down is faster. While the scan itself takes just a minute or two, inspectors must first explain the procedure and obtain the passenger's written permission. The whole process takes about 15 minutes, Fleming said.

``They're in a hurry,'' he said. ``They may have connecting flights.''