• Growing unease with DHS Terror Watch Lists

    As DHS’s consolidated Terrorism Watch List grows — there are now about 800,000 names on it — criticism by individuals who find themselves on the list for no reason, and by privacy and advocacy groups, grow as well; DHS established Travelers Redress Inquiry Program to allow individuals to have their inclusion on the list examined, but problems persist

  • New T-ray source would improve airport security, cancer detection

    Terahertz radiation does not have sufficient energy to “ionize” an atom by knocking loose one of its electrons, which is good news, because this ionization causes the cellular damage that can lead to radiation sickness or cancer; T-ray absorption patterns could not only detect but also identify a much wider variety of hazardous or illegal substances than X-ray

  • Unmanned aircraft will challenge air traffic control

    The rapid growth in the number of UAVs flying the skies for a variety of purposes leads to serious discussion of a UAV air-traffic control system to monitor their flight and prevent accidents

  • UAVs to be used for mid-air refueling

    U.S. Air Force, Boeing conducts tests to see whether a UAV can perform mid-air refueling

  • DSC receives Home Office funding for improved explosive detector

    U.K. company has developed technology to produce from vapor single crystals of the compound semiconductor cadmium telluride, which can be used as detectors of X-rays and gamma rays

  • Continental first in nation to use paperless boarding

    Continental passengers at Houston airport can now board planes by showing their cell phones or PDAs to security checkers; checkers scan rectangular bars on the cell phones’ or PDAs’ screens, which contain passengers personal and travel information

  • New X-ray technique developed

    The tomographic energy dispersive diffraction imaging (TEDDI) harnesses all the wavelengths present in an X-ray beam to create 3D pictures; could be used to detect hidden explosives, drugs, and human cancers more effectively

  • TSA to begin thorough background checks of 1.2 million aviation workers

    TSA takes over from the FAA the task of background checks of 1.2 million U.S. aviation workers; this will be a “perpetual vetting,” as licensed aviation workers will be rechecked every time the Terrorist Screening Center’s database is updated, which happens almost daily

  • TSA regulations create business, branding opportunities

    Businesses typically prefer fewer rather than more government regulations, but some regulations are a boon to business; in evidence: TSA’s 3-1-1 travel rules, which led large companies such as Hefty and Glad – and start-ups such as 311Travel Bag – to meet the need for TSA regulations-compliant consumer products

  • Perception psychologists come to the aid of airport security screeners

    A small but growing field of vision and perception psychologists try to improve the performance of airport security personnel; playing video games would help, as would overcoming evolution-inspired (yes, yes — evolution) tendency to ignore extremely uncomon events

  • DHS relaxes, backs off some Real ID requirements

    In the face of persistent opposition from the states, DHS relaxes or backs off some provisions of Real ID, and extends deadlines for compliance; critics say this back-pedaling is but an attempt to deny that Real ID is dying

  • Thanksgiving travelers face different wait-times at different airports

    The average pre-screening wait time at U.S. airports shows these tendencies: Wait times at the busiest airports gets a bit shorter, while wait times at mid-size airports increases

  • Paper-free air freight era begins

    IATA launches six e-freight pilots; air cargo transports 35 percent of the total value of goods traded across borders, generating $55 billion for ailiners; e-freight will make air cargo more competitive

  • U.K. to relax one-bag luggage rule

    Following the terrorist alert of summer 2006, British aviation security authorities imposed a one-bag carry-on rule on passengers; this rule will soon be relaxed

  • New baggage screening tool

    U.K. researchers to combine scattered X-ray signals with high-resolution 3D X-ray images to give baggage screeners previously unseen information regarding luggage size, shape, and chemical composition of the contents contained in the luggage