The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun using L-3 Communications‘ [LLL] ProVision millimeter wave whole body imaging system in primary screening mode in lieu of using metal detectors at a checkpoint in Tulsa International Airport, Okla., as part of an ongoing pilot project using the millimeter wave imaging technology. The use of the imaging system in a primary screening application is a new twist in the piloting of the system, which up until now has been used as a voluntary secondary screening system at 20 airports in lieu of a pat down search. TSA officials have been saying since last summer that they would explore the use of the whole body imagers in primary inspection mode. The ProVision system is basically an upright cylinder that a person steps into and then stands still for a quick two-second scan. The person then exits the machine on the opposite side he entered. In addition to Tulsa, TSA plans to deploy the ProVision systems at five other airports–Albuquerque, N.M., Las Vegas, Miami, Salt Lake City, and San Francisco–for primary screening in the next two months. In the pilots, just as in secondary screening mode, passengers can opt out. If they do so, they will do through a metal detector and be subject to a pat down search.