Airport Security Blog

New Automated Baggage Screening System

nospam@example.com (ASB) — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:40:18 -0400

Within two weeks, Dayton International Airport will begin operating a new automated baggage system that will screen luggage for explosives and automatically divert suspicious bags for examination by transportation security officers.

A $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security paid for the system, making Dayton the 77th U.S. airport to receive one. Dayton added $8.5 million to extend the airport’s terminal building to make room for the new machines, remodel the lobby and move the machines behind a wall. The five old screening machines are to be removed from the lobby in late June, after being retained for about a month as backup if the new system has problems.

The system will go live on May 17, after U.S. Transportation Security Administration officers finish training on it, TSA officials said Thursday as they gave a preview of the equipment. The city, TSA and a contractor have spent the past two months testing the system to correct problems, city officials said.

Passengers will be able to hand off their luggage at airline counters, where a conveyor belt will move it behind a wall for automatic screening. Airport officials hope that will streamline the check-in process for passengers. Behind the wall, TSA officers can use vacuum lifts to hoist baggage off conveyors for safety inspections, eliminating the current need to manually lift hundreds of bags each day. If a bag isn’t diverted for inspection, it should travel from the terminal lobby to baggage handlers in about five minutes, Fotenos said.

City officials said they are anticipating that the TSA may eventually reduce its 120-person work force at the Dayton airport, because the automated baggage system is supposed to replace the manual baggage handling that TSA officers are now doing there. TSA officials said, though, that the current work force will be retained with more officers free to focus on passenger screenings and other security duties. TSA headquarters reassesses local airport security staffing each year, taking into account passenger traffic and other factors, Fotenos said.

It is the latest phase of an extensive makeover of the airport that has included construction of a parking garage, new air traffic control tower and installation of two additional security checkpoint lanesin the terminal. The Federal Aviation Administration plans to begin operating the new air traffic control tower June 4. Once the old screening machines are removed from the terminal lobby, airport officials plan to install new carpeting and remodel restrooms, airport spokeswoman Linda Hughes said.

New Trusted Travelller System For Frequent Flyers

nospam@example.com (ASB) — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:34:48 -0400

The Transportation Security Administration is moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to airport screening. John S. Pistole, TSA administrator, is intent on gradually changing the current system, which could mean a future where some passengers go through a kind of “first-class” security procedure. Imagine this: no frisking, no scanners and no fussing about with your laptop.

Tired of having to take their shoes off or put their carry-on liquids in 3.4 ounce bottles and clear plastic bags, some passengers are clamoring for change. What the TSA hasn’t said is whether it would consider asking passengers to pay for a more streamlined experience. (The TSA declined to comment on that.)

However, the TSA tells Pay Dirt that it’s developing additional ways to further incorporate “identity-based security” into its procedures to strengthen security on board commercial aircraft, while improving the screening experience, but in a way that terrorists can’t game the system. Last month, Pistole gave a speech entitled “Transportation Security Ten Years After 9/11 And Ten Years From Now,” in which he said the agency was making good progress in developing a “truly risk-based, intelligence-driven organization in every way” to direct resources at higher-risk passengers.

It’s news that regular travellers fed up with removing their shoes and passing through body scanners when going through airport security have been waiting years to hear. Officials are looking at letting ‘trusted travellers’ keep on their shoes, leave laptops in bags and avoid body scanners when they fly from airports in the U.S. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) concept would be one of the biggest airport changes since stricter rules were brought in after 9/11.

He wants to speed the plough for the 628 million airline passengers screened per year: “I believe what we’re working on will provide better security by more effectively deploying our resources, while also improving passengers’ travel experiences by potentially streamlining the screening experience for many people,” he said.

In the aftermath of the death of Osama bin Laden, Pistole also spoke to Thursday’s The Wall Street Journal about “trusted travelers” being allowed to keep their shoes and even avoid body scanners by using their frequent-flier data. “We think we can improve the process and focus more on people we know nothing about,” he said.

James Carafano, security consultant at the conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank, says he too would like streamlined airport security: “Is the inconvenience and the cost really worth it? No. What really makes everyone safe is getting the terrorist before they get near the airplane. I’d pay $10, $20, even $50 to avoid it.”

It plans to take data from airline frequent-flyer programmes and give ‘trusted travellers’ a special status on their boarding pass bar-codes, reported the Wall Street Journal. But exceptions would include if someone on the plane is on the government’s watch-list of suspect terrorists or if the flight is seen as high-risk.

An initial programme to give separate screening without body scanners or pat-downs will begin this summer and tests at other airports will follow. Former FBI deputy director and counterterrorism expert Mr Pistole is confident his programme will improve security without unnecessary risk. He said it will be based on travel history, therefore taking time for new frequent-flyer members to get up to ‘trusted traveller’ status. Only 450 U.S. citizens are on the no-fly list and 6,000 are on the watch list. These were numbers previously kept secret, but Mr Healy said the lists are now operating more efficiently and he wants to dispel myths and build confidence.

Mr Pistole looks at a daily report of flyers on the watch list, and when several passengers from it were on one flight he got air marshals moved onto the aircraft. The TSA said the number of people who receive secondary searches has remained constant at about three per cent. ‘We do want to do something that acknowledges that virtually everyone who travels is not a terrorist,’ Mr Pistole told the Wall Street Journal. The announcement comes after security was stepped up across the U.S. as officials warned of 'enhanced potential' for violence following Osama Bin Laden's death. It also follows a number of concerns over intrusive pat-down searches, after former Miss USA Susie Castillo, 31, complained she was ‘violated' by a female TSA agent.

Newark Airport Closes For Twenty Minutes After Security Breach

nospam@example.com (ASB) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 22:44:53 -0500

Following at least five security lapses in 30 days at Newark Airport — starting with the bizarre case of a dead dog in a cardboard box — an airport checkpoint was closed for 20 minutes this week after another breach.

An improperly screened passenger was allowed to enter a secure area of the airport in Terminal B at 2:10 p.m. Monday, the Transportation Security Administration said today. The passenger was found and rescreened.
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Orlando Airport Saving Body Scan Pictures

nospam@example.com (ASB) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 22:43:00 -0500

At the heart of the controversy over "body scanners" is a promise: The images of our naked bodies will never be public. U.S. Marshals in a Florida Federal courthouse saved 35,000 images on their scanner. These are those images.

An investigation has revealed 100 of the photographs saved by the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner from Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc., obtained by a FOIA request after it was recently revealed that U.S. Marshals operating the machine in the Orlando, Florida courthouse had improperly-perhaps illegally-saved images of the scans of public servants and private citizens.

We understand that it will be controversial to release these photographs. But identifying features have been eliminated. And fortunately for those who walked through the scanner in Florida last year, this mismanaged machine used the less embarrassing imaging technique.
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Airport Security Misses Gun

nospam@example.com (ASB) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:43:00 -0500

An undercover investigator with the U.S. Transportation Safety Administration passed through an airport body scanner repeatedly while carrying a handgun that went undetected, according to an NBC report. A high-ranking source inside the TSA divulged the information, NBC said, after a covert test of body-scanning security at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The female undercover agent concealed a pistol in her undergarments and passed through the body scanners several times, and each time the handgun was undetected.

None of the TSA security personnel who failed to spot the handgun in the body scans was disciplined, according to the source cited by NBC. The TSA acknowledged it frequently conducts covert testing, but does not comment on the results. "However, advanced imaging technology is an effective tool to detect both metallic and non-metallic items hidden on passengers," it said. The effectiveness of the scans still relies on people monitoring the screens to pay close attention.

Ten Airports To Install Xray Body Scanners

nospam@example.com (ASB) — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 22:42:00 -0400

Body-scanning machines that show images of people underneath their clothing are being installed in 10 of the nation's busiest airports in one of the biggest public uses of security devices that reveal intimate body parts.

The Transportation Security Administration recently started using body scans on randomly chosen airline passengers in Los Angeles, Baltimore, Denver, Albuquerque and New York's Kennedy airport.

Airports in Dallas, Detroit, Las Vegas and Miami will be added this month. Reagan National Airport near Washington starts using a body scanner Friday. A total of 38 machines will be in use within weeks.
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