Full-body scanner installed

GULFPORT, Miss. - The U.S. Transportation Security Administration unveiled a full-body X-ray scanner Friday at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport's security checkpoint. It's built by Rapiscan Systems' plant in Ocean Springs, Miss. Gulfport is the first airport in Mississippi, Alabama or Louisiana to use advanced imaging technology scanners before passengers board the airplanes. The scanner can detect metallic and non-metallic items including weapons and explosives, concealed beneath a passenger's clothes. Rapiscan is part of OSI Systems of Hawthorne, Calif. The federal government is buying a total of 450 advanced imaging systems with stimulus money, split between Rapiscan and a competing technology built by L-3 Communications. (Sources: Sun Herald, Mobile Press-Register, 06/18/10)