Full-Body Scanner at Minneapolis Airport

The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport has installed its first high-tech full-body scanner.

The Transporation Security Administration was starting to use the device Wednesday at Checkpoint 10, a lower-traffic checkpoint that connects parking ramps to concourses.

The TSA uses two types of full-imaging scanners. The one in Minneapolis is a "millimeter wave" machine, which uses radio waves to produce a three-dimensional image of a person.

Some people think the machines show too much of a person's body.

The TSA says the images are viewed in a walled-off location not visible to the public, and the security officer who looks at the image doesn't see the passenger.

Travelers also can skip the machine and take a pat-down instead.

The TSA has installed 224 full-body scanners at 56 airports nationwide. Minneapolis is due to get more this fall.

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