• LAX to receive $150 million for security upgrade

    TSA announced a $150 million funding for improving the baggage security system and speed up lines at LAX terminals; award is part of $670 million security funding for LAX and LA/Ontario International Airport

  • Freight forwarders urge TSA to create security standards

    A recent DHS inspector general report highlighted weaknesses in TSA’s inspection of air cargo, and mad six recommendation for improvement; professional forwarders agree, but also say that the inspection process should be made more transparent and that inspectors should communicate with forwarders more openly

  • Sagem Sécurité launches SmartGate in New Zealand

    Sagem Sécurité installs facial recognition system at Auckland International Airport in New Zealand; Aussie and Kiwi travelers with e-passports will be identified from the photo stored in the chip of the e-Passport

  • Air cargo still vulnerable to terrorists

    DHS’s inspector general says there are many problems still with the TSA’s program to stop terrorists from sneaking a bomb into any of the tens of thousands of cargo packages carried each day in the bellies of passenger planes

  • Pentagon looking for airborne IR sensor for ballistic missile defense

    The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has issued a request for information for airborne infrared (ABIR) sensor capable of fire-control-quality tracking of ballistic missiles at the end of the missiles’ boost phases

  • Work to start soon on Nashville airport's new baggage-screening system

    Nashville International Airport in a $31 million project to move the federally mandated explosive detection systems from the ticketing lobby to a space beneath the terminals

  • TSA considers repair station rule exemptions

    New TSA repair-shop proposal provides flexibility and recognizes differences between large and small shops, industry leaders believe, but those leaders also cautioned that many of the details of the requirements, and their impacts on small business, are still unclear

  • Global Entry to become permanent

    DHS secretary Janet Napolitano has decided to make the Global Global Entry system — a quicker way through customs and border control — permanent; U.K. and U.S. authorities are also working on an iris recognition scheme, similar to the Dutch Privium project, to fast-track entry to the United Kingdom

  • Hawaii judge throws out child porn evidence found by TSA

    U.S. judges keep telling TSA that the agency’s security screeners at airport are there to prevent weapons and explosives from being taken on board — nothing else; it is not the screeners’ job to ask passengers why they carry a lot of cash in the luggage — or child porn

  • DHS misses deadline for certifying new radiation detectors

    Back in June, the head of DHS’s nuclear monitoring division said the agency would sign off this fall on two congressionally mandated certifications for the Advanced Spectroscopic Portal monitor system; the testing and evaluation of these innovative nuclear detection systems have not yet been completed, though; the new machines are designed to not only detect radiation but identify the nature of its source, thus eliminating time-consuming secondary inspections to determine whether a material is dangerous

  • TSA limits scope of screeners' searches

    An assistant to congressman Ron Paul was detained in a small room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and interrogated by TSA officials for nearly half an hour after he passed a metal box containing cash through a security checkpoint X-ray machine; under a threat of a law suit, TSA has changed its search policies: TSA screeners can now only conduct searches aimed at keeping firearms and explosives off of airplanes and cannot search for crimes unrelated to transportation security, and the agency also told screeners that passengers carrying large sums of cash have not broken the law

  • GAO: TSA continues to face challenges in finding and deploying checkpoint screening technology

    Since TSA’s creation, ten passenger screening technologies have been in various phases of research, development, test and evaluation, procurement, and deployment, but TSA has not deployed any of these technologies to airports nationwide

  • Behavioral-detection TSA officers keep a watchful eye on people at airports

    To identify dangerous people, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has stationed specially trained behavior detection officers at 161 U.S. airports; the officers are trained to spot suspicious behavior; last year, officers nationwide required 98,805 passengers to undergo additional screenings’ police questioned 9,854 of them and arrested 813

  • Why does aviation security receive so much money relative to ground transportation security?

    Each year, more than 26 million passengers travel through Logan Airport; on an average month, more than the 20 million ride the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority; yet, more than $30 billion have been spent on aviation security since the terrorist attacks on 9/11, compared to just $1.5 billion for security on public transportation

  • New airport security scanners raise concerns

    Canada’s privacy watchdog said it agreed with federal authorities that full-body scans should be used at Canada’s airports; security personnel would be in a separate room while viewing the image and would never come in contact with the person being screened