WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. officials say they will keep introducing full-body scanners at the nation's airports with more than 1,000 in operation by the end of next year.

That will account for about half of the country's 2,000 security checkpoint lanes, The Washington Post reported Sunday.


Federal officials say the scanners represent the best technology that has passed both lab and field tests.

Researchers and security experts, however, have questioned the scanners' ability to detect odorless chemical explosives in small amounts easily molded to fool both machines and security personnel into thinking they are part of the human body.

Some security experts say the scanners are just expensive window dressing meant to put the traveling public at ease, the Post reported.

The rate of installations has increased since the failed Christmas Day terrorist attempt in 2009 when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly hid explosives in his underwear on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has said it "remains unclear" whether he would have been detected by a full-body scanner.

Transportation Security Administration officials say they are standing by the technology.

"The bottom line is that we are now able to detect all types of the most dangerous weapons -- non-metallic explosive devices," TSA spokesman Nicholas Kimball said. "Even in small amounts, it can be picked up."