plastic explosives, right? >> right. >> reporter: but this is a full body scanner with superman vision. steve smith is its inventor. it uses x-rays to see right through clothing and identify all kinds of potential threats. critics call it an electronic strip search. >> here we have small metal objects in your left front pocket. >> reporter: keys. >> metal watch band. here we have the handgun. >> reporter: right. they are called backscatter body scanners. they were widely deployed by the transportation security administration at u.s. airports last year amid an uproar over the perceived privacy invasion. at the university of california san francisco, biochemist and imaging expert john sedat was and is concerned about the small amount of ionizing radiation from the x-rays. this the sort of radiation that

trying to help mobilize the kind of political pressure needed because essentially what we have is the american people, the american constitution have used their freedom to enact one set of people in 2008 and a different set in 2010. most people don't have that. they don't have the overlap electoral terms. so i intend to do more from the outside. now i'm more comfortable as an inside player. i think mi a better legislator than candidate but i think advocacy is important. having said that judy, there is an extraordinary situation now where i do think we have a chants to make some progress by the fact that inertia is now a progressive force. up until now it's been very frustrating for those of us that want to see constructive activity because you had a very conservative republican majority ready to say no to everything. but they've kind of been boxed. here's the situation. if congress does not act at all in 2012 all of the bush tax cuts will expire. everybody's taxes will...

between the two of them, that was less policy and more personality, i think. one person who was briefed on it told me they talked about su chi's memories as a little girl swimming in a lake near where they were eating. most interestingly, su chi said one of the things she missed about being under house arrest is that she had a lot of time to read. and so that lead to this discussion of what she's reading now. and she says she's reading a lot about military personalities, specifically military personalities who have gone into politics. and it was an interesting insight because this is exactly who she is is dealing with now, the president, a military general, who you know, has gone civilian and now is running the country ostensibly. this is the person she has to deal with. so you see her trying to grapple with how to deal with this man and make compromises is so that they can build these reforms that both have been talking about. >> warner: and how does the u.s. see aung sung su...