Transportation Security Administration (TSA) full-body scanners, such as this one that debuted in March at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, are also used by the U.S. Marshals Service in Orlando, Florida. A key difference, according to six U.S. Senators, is that the technology being used in Florida collected over 35,000 images of citizens.

Six U.S. Senators have asked the nation’s oldest law enforcement agency to explain why over 35,000 images were saved from whole body imaging scans taken at a federal courthouse in Orlando, Florida.

The technology involves scanning the body’s surface with narrow, low intensity X-ray beams at a high rate of speed. The X-ray is reflected back from the body and any objects that may be located on a person, and is then converted to a computer image of the subject and displayed on a remote monitor.

In a letter dated August 19, 2010, Senators Joseph I. Lieberman, Daniel H. Akaka, Saxby Chambliss, Susan M. Collins, Thomas R. Carper, and Johnny Isakson said that while the Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners have the potential to serve as an important screening tool at security checkpoints, the privacy concerns are legitimate.

In addition, the legislators want to know if the U.S. Marshals Service is using whole body imaging technology elsewhere in the United States to store such images.

The images in question were reportedly captured from February 2010 through July 2010.

“There is understandable concern…over the privacy protections in place for AIT devices, as they are able to scan through clothing and capture detailed images of the bodies of those who are scanned,” the Senators said in the letter to John F. Clark, Director of the U.S. Marshals Service within the Department of Justice.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, a U.S. Marshals Service supervisor recently said, “everyone knows that they’re being recorded when they come into the courthouse” because of all the security cameras, and that “the images [from the scans] are not saved for any specific purpose.”

The Senators said the response from the supervisor was “troubling”, and suggested the agency failed to fully appreciate the seriousness of the issue.

“The perception of whole body imaging scans differs greatly from that of security camera footage,” the Senators stated, “and therefore demands a higher level of sensitivity to the legitimate privacy concerns of those being scanned.”

The legislators urged the agency to adopt AIT protocols similar to those used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which prohibit the storage or retention of images from whole body imaging scans “in most circumstances.”

However, the TSA recently came under fire after citizens raised concerns about the backscatter technology being used in airports in ways that seemed inconsistent with the protocols set forth by the agency.

A Washington, D.C.-based civil liberties and privacy protection group, EPIC, has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to suspend the deployment of body scanners at US airports, pending an independent review.

The group claims the full body scanner program used by TSA violates the Administrative Procedures Act, the Privacy Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and the Fourth Amendment.

Court documents filed in the case reveal numerous complaints from travelers regarding alleged violations of established protocols at airports across the United States. The TSA currently uses the whole body image scanning technology at 19 airports, including Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.

“Caller stated that the TSA is evil, and the machine is an invasion of privacy,” stated a TSA complaint from January 2010. “Caller further stated that the machines have not been cleared by the FDA . Caller also mentioned that anyone who works for the TSA is immoral and godless.”

Another complaint, dated August 10, 2009, alleged that TSA employees made fun of the traveler.

“Caller stated that he doesn’t think that TSA should have the right to expose his naked body to be able to board the plane with the Whole Body Imaging/Millimeter Wave detector. He stated that when he requested for an alternative screening the TSA screeners Interrogated and laughed at him.”

A standard resolution response given to citizens lodging complaints simply stated, “advised caller they have the option to chose a pat-down inspection, or if available, walk-thru metal detector at the airport screening checkpoint.”

According to a 2009 Privacy Impact Assessment, the TSA employee who views the travelers images must be located remotely from the actual checkpoint.

The backscatter technology currently being used in public airports and court buildings is also making it’s way into Department of Defense operations and law enforcement  strategies.

In an August 24 blog posting by Andy Greenberg of Forbes.com, the manufacturer of a new cargo and vehicle inspection system called Z Backscatter Vans  said U.S. and foreign government agencies have purchased more than 500 of the scanners.

“This product is now the largest selling cargo and vehicle inspection system ever,” said Joe Reiss, a vice president of marketing at American Science & Engineering in the exclusive interview with Greenberg.

According to the company’s website, the X-ray inspection system used in the ZBV vans can detect multiple threats, including:

• Illegal Drugs
• Illegal Immigrants
• Plastic Weapons & Explosives
• Radioactive Threats
• Smuggled Goods
• Metal Weapons
• Radioactive Material Shielding

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