• Local resistance to bomb sniffing-dogs training facility

    As fear of domestic terrorism grows, so does the need for explosive-sniffing dogs; company with DHS detection credentials wants to convert a horse barn in New York into a commercial kennel for bomb-sniffing dogs, but the neighbors object

  • New way to sniff out shoe bombs

    Triacetone triperoxide (TATP) is a high-powered explosive that in recent years has been used in several bombing attempts. TATP is easy to prepare from readily available components and has been difficult to detect. It defies most standard methods of chemical sensing: It does not fluoresce, absorb ultraviolet light, or readily ionize; University of Illinois researchers offers a solution that overcomes these problems

  • End to limits on carrying liquids on board in sight

    New bottled liquid scanners unveiled; researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory developed a magnetic resonance device to read liquids’ molecular makeup, even when the substances are in metal containers; the device is so sensitive it can tell the difference between red and white wine, and between different types of soda; satisfactory test result may spell the end of limitations on carrying liquids on board

  • Italian airport security drop body scanners

    After a six-month test, Italy is giving up full-body scanners for security checks in airports; officials said it takes longer to check a person by scanner — about thirty seconds — than by hand, and privacy measures reduced the scanners’ effectiveness

  • New TNT detector 1,000 more sensitive than sniffer dogs

    Israeli researchers develop an explosives detector that can detect extremely small traces of commonly used explosives in liquid or air in a few seconds; the device is a thousand times more sensitive than the current gold standard in explosives detection: the sniffer dog

  • DHS announces $98 million for advanced X-ray technologies

    Next-generation advanced technology (AT) X-ray systems screen carry-on baggage for explosives or prohibited items at checkpoints; currently, TSA employs more than 940 AT X-ray units at airports nationwide; $98 million will fund the deployment of additional units

  • New upgrades will make full-body scanners less privacy-offensive

    New software upgrade to full-body scanners would replace the images of a passenger’s naked body with an avatar and alert authorities to a potential hidden threat, eliminating the need to keep an employee in a remote room

  • Sandia Labs developed an IED-disabling water-blade device

    A device developed by Sandia National Laboratories researchers that shoots a blade of water capable of penetrating steel is headed to U.S. troops in Afghanistan to help them disable deadly IEDs; the portable clear plastic device is filled with water and an explosive material is placed in it that, when detonated, creates a shock wave that travels through the water and accelerates it inward into a concave opening; when the water collides, it produces a thin blade

  • Drive-by full-body scanning

    Massachusetts-based American Science & Engineering is selling van-mounted backscatter X-ray detection system to law enforcement; these vans can be driven past neighboring vehicles to see their contents

  • Skeletal scans could be newest screening technique

    The adult skeleton has 206 bones; size, shape, density, and joint structure make each skeleton slightly different; throw in an extra lumbar vertebrae or extra rib — which some people have — as well as previously broken bones, implants, screws, and other identifying characteristics, and the signatures become even more individual

  • Flir to acquire sensor maker ICx for $274 million

    Flir, maker of thermal imaging technology, is acquiring ICx for $274 million; the merger will give Flir the capability to expand into the market for advanced sensors for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear explosives (CBRN) detection for homeland security and defense

  • Detecting fertilizer-based IEDs

    Since 2008, IEDs have accounted for more than half of all fatalities incurred by NATO forces in Afghanistan; last year, 275 NATO soldiers died in IED attacks, and that number will likely be surpassed this year; already 228 NATO soldiers have died due to homemade bombs this year; the U.S. military continues to search for IED countermeasures

  • 3D, interactive X-ray to offer dramatic improvement in security scans

    The latest X-ray scanners can glean information about the atomic or molecular weight of a substance, and so help distinguish between materials, but the results are crude; the best they can manage is to show metal objects in one color, organic materials in another, and everything else in a third color; a new technique — called kinetic depth effect X-ray imaging, or KDEX — builds up a 3D image of the object which can be rotated and viewed from a wide range of angles

  • New baggage screening system from Morpho Detection evaluated

    Unlike most baggage-screening systems that create two-dimensional images of objects inside luggage, the CTX 9800 DSi scanners from Morpho Detection create three-dimensional images that can be digitally manipulated by personnel when a bag is deemed to be suspicious; the machines also use advanced software to detect suspicious items; Mineta San Jose International Airport once used 28 machines to process 1,800 bags an hour, but the new system will be able to process the same number of bags using eight machines and require fewer employees to supervise the process; the technology reduces reliance on human observation and interaction with the bags; for the majority of bags, employee contact is only required when a piece of luggage is placed on or taken off the conveyor belt

  • 100 percent air-cargo screening is going smoothly -- so far

    On 1 August a law mandating 100 percent screening of cargo transported on passenger aircraft took effect; the shipping industry says that, so far, are off to a good start; experts point out that August is relatively slow shipping month, and that the real test will come in mid-September, when the busy air cargo shipping season begins