• Technology for monitoring wine quality to improve airport security

    A university of California Davis professor a magnetic resonance scanner — similar to machines used in medical scanning — to check the quality of wine; he then realized that the method could be used at airports to check bottles and cans for explosives without opening them; “I’m a tinkerer, I like to build stuff,” said Matthew Augustine, a chemistry professor at the school

  • TSA blog does little to allay fears of Domodedovo-like incident

    At Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport a few weeks ago, a suicide bomber walked into the arrivals hall and killed 35 people and injured 168; on its blog, TSA says that one of the measures the agency has instituted — installing behavior detection officers (BDO) at U.S. airports to spot suspicious behavior — would go a long way toward preventing a Domodedovo-like incident in the United States; skeptics beg to differ

  • New explosives detectors: sniffer mice

    An Israeli company is training mice to sniff explosives; mice beat dogs for olfactory talent, and by much more than a nose: dogs have 756 olfactory receptor genes, while mice have 1,120, resulting in a more acute sense of smell; unlike dogs, which are often trained for explosives and drugs detection, mice do not require constant interaction with their trainers or treats to keep them motivated

  • TSA halts private security screener program

    In an about face, the TSA has halted its private screening program at airports; last December the TSA declared that it was neutral on the program, however last Friday the TSA denied an airport in Missouri its request for private screeners and declared that it would reject all incoming proposals; Representative John Mica, a vocal advocate for the program, was shocked to hear of TSA’s new plan and promised to launch an investigation into the matter; currently less than twenty airports use private security screeners

  • Syracuse mayor determined to use private contractors at airport

    With more than 100 police officers working overtime at the Syracuse airport, the average cost to the city, after salary, pension costs, and Social Security taxes amounts to $63 an hour per officer; the city mayor says that high air fares from the major air carriers affiliated with Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport are mostly due to security costs — and one way to reduce these costs is to replace the officers with a private sector contractor

  • Air laser will sniff bombs, pollutants from great distance

    Princeton University engineers have developed a new laser-sensing technology that may allow soldiers to detect hidden bombs from a distance and scientists better to measure airborne environmental pollutants and greenhouse gases; the new technique differs from previous remote laser-sensing methods in that the returning beam of light is not just a reflection or scattering of the outgoing beam; it is an entirely new laser beam generated by oxygen atoms whose electrons have been “excited” to high energy levels

  • Handlers' beliefs affect explosive- and drug-sniffing dog performance

    Drug- and explosives-sniffing dog/handler teams’ performance is affected by human handlers’ beliefs, possibly in response to subtle, unintentional handler cues; a new study found that detection-dog/handler teams erroneously “alerted,” or identified a scent, when there was no scent present more than 200 times — particularly when the handler believed that there was scent present

  • New bomb detection tool: Ferns

    Researchers engineered fern proteins to turn airport plants into bomb detectors; the researchers rewrite the fern’s natural signaling process so the plant turns from green to white when chemicals are detected in air or soil

  • United States susceptible to Moscow-style bombing

    The TSA has invested $212 million to train hundreds of Behavioral Detection Officers (BDOs) in the Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program; the program is supposed to train security personnel to notice suspicious behavior by people in crowds, but lawmakers and academics question its value

  • "Sniffer technology" may replace detection dogs

    Humans have approximately 5,000,000 sensory “smelling” cells, while certain breeds of dogs, such as the Alsation, can have up to 220,000,000; dogs trained for detection jobs are effective enough, but require much more maintenance than a machine — and researchers have just developed a sniffer machine which may well compete with dogs; the new device uses what is called quantum cascade (QC) lasers to detect any trace vapors of explosive material emitted by a passenger, without the passengers having to remove any article of clothing in the process

  • Sensors to detect explosives, monitor food

    University of Houston (UH) chemist and his team have developed materials for use in creating sensors for detection devices — able to monitor everything from explosives to tainted milk; the materials are based on what the team calls “the artificial receptor concept”: this is akin to an enzyme functioning as a biochemical catalyst within a cell, like an antibody, binding with specific molecules to produce a specific effect in the cell

  • Materials for fertilizer bombs not regulated

    Mixtures of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO) are used in about 80 percent of all explosives used in North America each year, mostly in the mining and demolition industries; they were also used by Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City, and in insurgents’ IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan; explosives-grade ammonium nitrate can be refined from commercial-grade fertilizers using processes readily found online; there are even YouTube videos that break down the process step by step; commercial grade fertilizers are not regulated; those states that address the issue typically require merchants to keep records of who buys what, but there are no limitations on who can buy what and no reporting requirements

  • Napolitano says Israeli-style security is not suitable for U.S.

    DHS secretary Janet Napolitano is in Israel on a visit; during her private briefing with Israeli officials at Ben-Gurion Airport, they discussed cargo screening and how to stop non-metallic explosives, such as those used in the recent plots, from getting onto a plane; Napolitano was also briefed on other airport security measures used in Israel; Napolitano said, however, that what is effective in Israel, a nation of 7.3 million, would not necessarily work for 310 million Americans; Ben-Gurion is Israel’s only major international airport; the United States has 450 such facilities; about eleven million people pass through Israeli airports each year, while seventy times that many passengers go through American airports each year

  • Privacy pants for airport security

    “Privacy pants” would allow airport security personnel to do their job while keeping passengers’ privacy and dignity intact

  • TSA to pay special attention to insulated beverage containers

    TSA announced terrorists might use insulated beverage containers to conceal explosives, so in the coming days, passengers flying within and to the United States may notice additional security measures related to insulated beverage containers