AVIATION/ DUTCH TO SCAN ALL U.S. BOUND PAX

The Netherlands announced yesterday it will immediately begin using full body scanners for flights heading to the United States, issuing a report that called the failed Christmas Day Airline bombing a "professional" terror attack. "It is not exaggerating to say the world has escaped a disaster," Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst told a news conference. She said the U.S. had not wanted these scanners to be used previously because of privacy concerns but said the Obama administration in Washington now agreed that "all possible measures will be used on flights to the U.S."  Officials say Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, managed to board Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport carrying undetected explosives but failed to detonate them. The plane was carrying over 300 people. In its preliminary report, the Dutch government called the plan to blow up the Detroit-bound aircraft "professional" but said its execution was "amateurish."  Abdulmutallab arrived in Amsterdam on Friday from Lagos, Nigeria on a KLM flight. After a layover of less than 3 hours, he passed through a security check at the gate in Amsterdam, including a hand baggage scan and a metal detector, and headed to the Northwest flight. Amsterdam's Schiphol has 15 body scanners, but their use has been limited because of privacy objections that they display the contours of the passenger's body. Neither the European Union nor the U.S. have approved the routine use of the scanners at European Airports. New software, however, eliminates that problem by projecting a stylized image onto a computer screen, highlighting the area of the body where objects are concealed in pockets or under the clothing and alerting security guards. At least 2 scanners have been experimentally using that software since late November and the Dutch said those will be put into use immediately. All other scanners will be upgraded within 3 weeks so they can be used on flights to the United States. Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the head of the Civil Aviation Authority said full body scanners would be acquired for all the country's international Airports in the New Year.