Originally Posted by
GUWonder
Combining the cheaper WTMDs with way more expensive strip-search machines into a joint device of sort means that when a screening machine breaks, then the costs (in money and time) from a recovery from a device problem skyrockets more than if a separate WTMD or separate strip searching machine go down.
Cheaper equipment is good enough (if not even better) for the relevant purpose.. And providing more expensive capital equipment to the TSA is like giving each of the poorest farmers in India a tractor dedicated for just their own field’s use — a waste of money, akin to a Starbucks near Piccadilly Circus in London buying a snowblower for use to clean the streets.
The benefit would mean a machine that requires no divestment and doesn't require the person to stop moving during the screening. If TSA used it under those conditions would mostly negate the need for Pre Check. That in turn could justify cutting checkpoint staffing which would be a big savings to taxpayers.