Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Wednesday that he will introduce legislation to limit airport security's use of full-body scans, which he says are too intrusive.

"I want the planes to be as safe as possible, but this is just going too far," said Chaffetz, who flies regularly to and from Washington, D.C. "The name of safety is overtaking personal privacy and I think that's wrong."

The legislation, which he hopes to introduce in the next week or two, would be the first bill sponsored by the freshman Utah congressman. Chaffetz anticipates his bill will allow passengers to request the body imaging if they prefer it to a pat-down.

The Transportation Security Administration is testing the operational efficiency of the whole body imaging at Salt Lake City International Airport and five other airports around the country.

"We don't look at it as an intrusion per se," said local TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird. He would not address Chaffetz's concerns because the agency is scheduled to meet with the congressman Thursday.

The agency has said the body imaging helps detect weapons and other explosives. Steps are taken to ensure passenger privacy by making sure the officer viewing the body scans is in a remote location and never gets to see the passenger. The images are not stored, transmitted or printed, and facial images are blurred, according to the agency.

Passengers can opt out of the imaging, but TSA says very few choose to forego the imaging.

Chaffetz believes the flying public isn't getting the whole story.

"They're doing an exceptionally poor job of telling people what they're getting themselves into," he said.

He said he is troubled that the TSA is headed toward making the screenings mandatory. He said agents have been quoted as saying that they can tell how much change is in a passenger's pocket.

"If you have that kind of specificity, you can see everything," he said. Chaffetz said he wouldn't want his wife to have to be subjected to that sort of intrusion.

He also said he is concerned about the employees who have to review the thousands of images.

"I don't think we should be subjecting TSA employees to sitting around looking at naked bodies all day," he said. "There's got to be a point where you say, 'We've gone too far.'"