The companies that build futuristic airport scanners take a more
old-fashioned approach when it comes to pushing their business
interests in Washington: hiring dozens of former lawmakers,
congressional aides and federal employees as their lobbyists.

About eight of every 10 registered lobbyists who work for scanner-technology
companies previously held positions in the government or Congress, most
commonly in the homeland security, aviation or intelligence fields, a Washington Post review of lobbying-disclosure forms and other data shows.

Industries routinely employ well-connected lobbyists to seek favorable legislation
and regulations in the nation's capital. But the extent of the
connections to the federal government is particularly notable given the
relatively small size of the scanner industry, which is dominated by
half a dozen specialized businesses with heavy investments in airport
and border security technology. On K Street as a whole, by contrast,
only about one in three lobbyists has previously worked in government.

Many of the scanner companies are also on pace to spend record amounts of
money for lobbying this year on Capitol Hill, where they see potential
problems as some lawmakers push for limits on airport-security
practices. Top scanner businesses have reported spending more than $6
million on lobbying this year, records show. That doesn't include
industrial giants such as General Electric, which also dabbles in
scanning technology and has spent more than $32 million on lobbying
this year.

The stepped-up lobbying efforts by the industry come amid growing rancor on Capitol Hill over the Transportation Security
Administration's use of airport full-body scanners, which are
undergoing their first widespread deployment during the holiday travel
season.

The devices have come under fire from privacy and civil liberties advocates as ineffective and overly invasive because they
generate revealing images of passengers.

The agency has purchased nearly 500 of the cutting-edge scanners - at $200,000 or more
each - and plans to buy thousands more, meaning that any restrictions
would pose a major threat to the industry's bottom line....
MORE

---

http://www.washingtonpost.com