Airport body scanners, pat-downs to stay, Napolitano says

The nation's controversial airport pat-downs and full-body scanners are here to stay, at least for now.

"The new technology, the pat-downs, is just objectively safer for our traveling public," Napolitano said. "We pick up contraband now, and we pick up more contraband with the new procedures and the new machinery. What we know is that you can't measure the devices that we are deterring from going on a plane."

It was a year ago on Christmas when a Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, was accused of trying to blow up a Northwest flight to Detroit with plastic explosives hidden in his underwear.

Despite concerns among civil libertarians and many travelers subjected to intimate pat-downs, Napolitano said safety is the No. 1 priority.