In the wake of the foiled London plotAirport security to broadened, deepen
The terrorists’ clever idea of bringing innocent liquids on board separately in order to mix them into a potent weapon has forced re-evaluation of security screening methods at airports; money will now be spent on solutions which combine several detection and snifffing technologies, and GE Homeland Security unit maker of the “puffer” machine, is working on such a combined solution
The plot to bring liquid explosives onto airplane cabins will create a wave of new security steps at airports. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is already reviewing all its processes for screening passengers and their luggage. DHS has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on (explosive detection systems (EDSs) and radiation detectors, and will now spend millions more on effective technologies for screening air freight carried in the cargo holds of commercial jets.
TSA’s task is daunting: Preventing weapons and bombs from being carried onto the cabins of jetliners, keeping explosives out of cargo holds, and preventing terrorists from blowing planes from the skies with shoulder-mounted missiles. What is more, the agency must do all this with but little disruption of the travel habits of 5.5 million U.S. passengers who take more than 30,000 flights each day. One method TSA uses to acheive these goals is the GE “puffer” machine: In addition to normal screening of passengers for suspicious or banned materials, TSA has been installing puffer machines at U.S. airports. These walk-through explosives-detection portals are used to screen passengers who arouse suspicion — those who pay cash or have last-minute ticket changes. The puffer blows puffs of air over travelers while they stand in the unit, collecting air samples and analyzes them for explosives traces. Screeners also swab carry-on luggage for explosive residue using desktop detection devices.
Steve Hill, spokesman for GE Security’s Homeland Protection business unit, says that the company’s explosives-detection portals “look for explosives and don’t particularly care what form (it comes in),” whether solid or liquid.
Some experts, however, say that the existing screening technology currently employed at U.S. airports is not able to detect the peroxide-based explosives (these were the explosives to be involved in the London plot). They point to the London plot as proof that terrorist organizations are relying on skilled engineers and computer scientists to get around existing aviation security systems and “look for soft spots,” such as concealing liquid explosives in Gatorade bottles, said Chaim Koppel, managing director of International Security Defense Systems, a Dallas-based aviation security firm.
GE Security’s Hill said his company is addressing weaknesses in the current security system. For example, GE has built an airport Checkpoint of the Future lab at the San Francisco airport. The lab is now working on combining new explosives-detection capabilities with other technologies to make passenger screening much more convenient and effective. Such a checkpoint may include laser-based substance identification equipment with high-tech millimeter-wave body-imaging devices that can see through clothes to give a detailed view of an uncovered traveler. Hill added that GE Security was working on automating such an imaging device in order to allow a machine to determine whether someone’s body has a suspicious anomaly requiring further investigation. This automation is in response to privacy issues raised about the use of backscatter X-ray technology, a technology which allowed screeners to view anatomically explicit images of passengers.
-read more in Jeffrey Leib’s and Greg Griffin’s Denver Post report
