With the national focus and outrage on the pat downs at airports, news organizations may be missing the real story: those images released by the TSA are misleading.

The TSA may not be coming clean on the resolution of the images. What they have released to the press are low quality, grainy B&W images. Actually, the technology allows for high-quality imaging. I was able to produce high quality images almost 40 years ago when I working on an instant x-ray film development system for use in dentist offices. That technology is now commonplace and produces the high quality instant teeth x-rays that your dentist uses routinely.[My original patent on the x-ray system is at http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4029510.html ]

I think the TSA may have released low quality images in order to mislead people into thinking that there is little chance that anyone would misuse such obviously bad images. In fact, I think the public would be outraged if they saw the actual image capability–especially in color and subjected to digital enhancement.

I no longer have access to the technology, but I suspect the companies that manufacture these machines and some scientists are intimately familiar with the real capabilities of these devices.

A short disclaimer. I did write a novel a couple of years in which I described these scanners and their use at airports. And the book also includes a scene involving an underwear bomb.

MSNBC also had a clip of Hillary Clinton earlier on the the x-scanners at airports in which she observed that the scanners and pat downs came about as a result of the underwear bomber and she asked the question: "Who would have thought?"

Two years ago in my book, Master Spies Die Laughing, not only did I predict the underwear bomb, I described both it and its components. I also described the next device that will be introduced in airport security–a hand-held sniffer wand. Similar to the RF metal detecting wands that TSA agent use now, the sniffer wand samples bodily emissions and analyzes these for drugs, explosives and other agents.

If you haven’t read Master Spies Die Laughing, get a copy. It is not only a fun read, but you will not believe the technology. And here’s the kicker, every device described in the book actually exists. If you think the government can’t track everything you do, you are so naive.

Dan