Chuck plea for tech to screen out terrorists

A WANNABE terrorist’s failed attempt to kill commuters and himself in an underground passageway near the Port Authority Bus Terminal last week highlights the need for the federal government to speed up plans to deploy bomb-detecting technology at transit hubs, Sen. Chuck Schumer said Sunday.

Since 2004, the Transportation Security Administration has been working on a new screening method — Standoff Explosive Detection Technology — to help police spot hidden bombs and suicide vests. It’s already been used during high-profile events like the Super Bowl.

But it has not been used at transit hubs and other terror targets in an ongoing manner, said Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“I am urging the TSA to bring these devices to New York City. Test them in our subways, in Penn Station, in our airports,” he said. “If they work as well as touted, pursue an expedited seal of approval that gives all of us another layer of security to fend off would-be lone-wolf terror.”

The TSA announced this month that it had teamed up with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to review the high-tech screening system, which can identify any metallic or nonmetallic objects that block the naturally occurring discharges from a person’s body.

“Why aren’t they testing it 24/7? Why aren’t they perfecting it 24/7? They have no timeline,” Schumer said Sunday night at the subway station at E. 53rd St. and Third Ave. “My timeline would be four letters: ASAP.”

On Dec. 11, Akayed Ullah, 27, an immigrant from Bangladesh, set off a pipe bomb that was strapped to his body inside a busy underground passageway linking the 42nd St.-Port Authority and Times Square-42nd St. subway stations, according to federal prosecutors.

Ullah suffered burns to his body and hands. The bomb caused minor injuries to three commuters.