clrankin and InkUnderNails, I agree with what both of you said. I'm sure that the TSA will argue that the AITs are "minimally intrusive" because of the lack of physical contact. However, I think the counter argument would be that using the machines as primary screening is not "well-tailored to protect personal privacy" regardless of physical contact. I personally believe using either of these techniques as primary screening far exceeds "minimally intrusive" although it's an open question how a court would actually rule on that.

Another interesting question raised by this analysis regarding escalation is given that the AITs produce many false positives for things like bra straps and sanitary pads, whether escalating to an enhanced patdown could be justified by seeing something "suspicious" on the AIT.

I'm going to post more thoughts in InkUnderNails other thread on the subject.