• Weapons-Detection Algorithm Studied at Las Vegas International Airport

    This summer, DHS S&T demonstrated a new advanced algorithm to better detect non-explosive weapons like guns, knives, and other items that are prohibited on commercial aircraft in a real-world setting at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport.

  • U.S. Unveils New Cybersecurity Requirements for Rail, Air

    DHS has unveiled new measures to make sure the U.S. air and surface transportation sectors will not be crippled by ransomware or cyberattacks. The new measures will apply to “higher risk” rail companies, “critical” airport operators, and air passenger and air cargo companies.

  • Safe Airspace in the Age of Drones

    Drones are becoming more and more ubiquitous, and are being used for everything from backyard fun to military operations. As the technologies for UAS continues to improve, so has the potential for them to be used in illegal and dangerous ways.

  • Pilot Association Calls for Flight Deck Barrier Regulation

    The world’s leading air-line pilots association has called on the U.S. government to issue a final secondary flight deck barrier regulation which was mandated by Congress nearly three years ago.

  • Imaging Tool under Development Reveals Concealed Detonators — and Their Charge

    A Sandia Lab researcher is working on building a new kind of neutron-based imaging system which will enable people to safely examine sealed metal boxes when opening them could be dangerous, whether this is because inside is an explosive weapon or a malfunctioning, high-voltage fire set at a missile range.

  • Furloughed Port, Airport Workers Could Be Targeted by Organized Crime

    The U.K. National Crime Agency has issued an alert to furloughed port and airport workers warning they may be vulnerable to organized crime groups seeking to exploit the Covid crisis. The alert warns that as global restrictions on the movement of people and goods are further relaxed, staff who have a detailed knowledge of controls and processes around the border could be targeted.

  • Handheld Screening Wands May Reduce Need for Airport Pat-Downs

    Until recently, creating an effective and reliable handheld screening technology of passengers was too costly. Advancements made in 5G cell phones, automotive radars, embedded computing, and other critical enabling technologies now make screening solutions such as the handheld millimeter wave wand cost effective.

  • Evaluating Face Recognition Software’s Accuracy for Flight Boarding

    Recent tests show that the most accurate face recognition algorithms have demonstrated the capability to confirm airline passenger identities while making very few errors. Facial recognition is currently part of the onboarding process for international flights, both to confirm a passenger’s identity for the airline’s flight roster and also to record the passenger’s official immigration exit from the United States.

  • Path Forward for FAA’s Cybersecurity Workforce

    A new report offers path forward for creating and maintaining a cybersecurity workforce at FAA that can meet the challenges of a highly competitive cybersecurity labor market and a wave of future retirements.

  • Airlines Shun Belarusian Airspace as Calls for Sanctions over Plane Diversion Grow

    The global aviation industry has moved to isolate Belarus as the leader of the country’s opposition called for the international community to act in concert to stop authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka from continuing to act with “impunity” following the diversion of a commercial airline to Minsk, where one of the passengers, an opposition journalist, was arrested.

  • Belarus Kidnapping: What International Law Says about Capture of Dissident journalist Roman Protasevich

    The full details of what happened with the plane which flew from Athens in Greece to Vilnius in Lithuania on May 23, and which was forced, by the Belarus air force, to land in Minsk, remain a matter of dispute. But even if Belarus can show that its diversion of the plane was lawful, the detention by the Belarus police of opposition blogger Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend is another question entirely. Under the ICAO treaties, Flight FR4978 was under the jurisdiction of Poland as the country of registration of the aircraft. The aircraft was still “in flight,” even when diverted to Minsk. No country has the right to detain suspects on a civil aircraft for crimes that were not committed on board that aircraft.

  • Scanning People with Their Shoes On

    Taking shoes off for scanning at airports is one of the most inconvenient parts of flying and one that can slow the security screening process. But one day soon, even those without a “pre-check” status may be able to keep their shoes on, step on shoe scanner, walk through a next-generation body scanner and speed safely on to their boarding gates.

  • Supreme Court Asked to Review DHS’s Warrantless Searches of International Travelers’ Phones, Laptops

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the American Civil Liberties Union, and the ACLU of Massachusetts on Friday filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, asking the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to the Department of Homeland Security’s policy and practice of warrantless and suspicionless searches of travelers’ electronic devices at U.S. airports and other ports of entry.

  • Screening Masked Faces at Airports: 96% Accuracy in Recent Test

    A controlled scenario test by the DHS S&T shows promising results for facial recognition technologies to accurately identify individuals wearing protective face masks.

  • U.S. Charges New Suspect In 1988 Pan Am Bombing

    DOJ on Monday announced criminal charges against a new suspect in the 1988 terrorist bombing of a Pan Am airliner that blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland. The charges against Abu Agela Masud, a Libyan bombing expert, came on the 32nd anniversary of the deadly bombing and two days before Barr steps down as the nation’s top law enforcement officer.