Airport game-changer: 3-D scanners
Bags can be ‘unpacked’ digitally, speeding lines
Technology used in the medical field for years may soon revolutionize screening of carry-ons at airports by bolstering security while dramatically cutting bottlenecks at checkpoints.
Computed-tomography (CT) machines currently being tested at airports in Phoenix and Boston allow Transportation Security Administration screeners to rotate a three-dimensional image of a suspicious object without opening up a bag. That means travelers can whisk through faster without removing items such as laptops.
CT machines produce crisper images than standard X-rays and can automatically detect explosives by their density, which eases concerns about screeners missing suspicious items.
“We feel that CT technology will enable us to become much more effective at the checkpoints, and when fully implemented, much more efficient at the checkpoints as well,” TSA Administrator David Pekoske told USA TODAY in an
exclusive interview. “We don’t know whether we can fully get there or not. But we’re pretty confident.”
The country’s largest carrier, American Airlines, has been a pioneer in acquiring the machines and plans to install one early next year in coordination with the TSA at New York’s John F. Kennedy International, the country’s fifthbusiest airport with nearly 27 million passengers last year.
Preventing terrorists from smuggling an explosive aboard an airliner remains a top priority for security officials worldwide. A laptop bomb blew a hole in the side of Somalia’s Daallo Airlines flight as it departed Mogadishu in February 2016, killing the presumed bomber before the plane landed safely.
A terror plot in Australia was foiled in July when police charged suspects with developing a pipe bomb from parts of a meat grinder. Authorities found the bomb in checked luggage because the bag was overweight.
“Luck is never going to last here. The terrorist operation had faults in it that they’ll be able to correct,” said Joe Paresi, CEO of Integrated Defense and Security Solutions of Armonk, N.Y., whose Detect 1000 machine is being tested in Boston.
Security concerns have consequences for travelers. In March, the Department of Homeland Security temporarily prohibited electronics larger than cellphones in carry-on bags on direct flights of nine airlines from 10 airports in Turkey, the Middle East and Africa. The last of the carriers was removed from the ban in July after security was tightened.
But concerns linger. TSA screeners missed 96% of contraband in an inspector-general’s test, whose results leaked in June 2015. The inspectorgeneral told the House Homeland Security Committee in closed session this month that screeners were still missing a worrisome but undisclosed portion of suspicious items.
Pekoske acknowledged the findings and vowed to aggressively improve security. CT scanners were among the mix of remedies.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who heads the panel, urged faster approval of CT machines as part of that strategy. He wants the machines at all U.S. airports and the 10 riskiest airports that send flights to the United States.
CT scanners have been used in the medical field for years to allow doctors to peer inside someone, slicing and dicing images to distinguish brain from tumor. And the machines have been used to screen checked luggage for 15 years. But the technology could become the new standard for carry-on bags. European airports also have begun to deploy them.
The clutter inside carry-ons is part of what makes it hard to find suspicious items. CT scanners offer a threedimensional image, so a screener can zoom in or rotate an image.
“That cluttered bag can be digitally unpacked,” said Mark Laustra, vice president for global business development at Analogic Corp. of Peabody, Mass., which is working with TSA and American Airlines to place ConneCT machines in airports. “It can be digitally rotated around so they can see underneath. They can see if anything is concealed in the lining.”