But when Andrew Schneider, AOL's public health correspondent, contacted
the TSA to find out what maintenance and testing is in place to ensure
the safe operation of the scanners, he discovered that the TSA appears
to have no regime at all to ensure that they are functioning within
normal parameters. While the TSA claims that entities like the FDA, the
US Army and Johns Hopkins all regularly inspect their machines, none of
these groups agrees, and they all disavow any role in regularly
maintaining and testing the TSA's equipment (the Army has tested
machines in three airports, but has not conducted any further testing).
And Johns Hopkins denies that it has certified the machines as safe for
operation in the first place -- let alone taking on any ongoing testing
and certification program.