TSA will test suicide vest detectors at Penn Station
The Transportation Security Administration announced Tuesday that it will test bomb-detection equipment with Amtrak at New York’s Penn Station in an effort to thwart travelers who could be wearing suicide vests.
Two versions of the technology being tested look like futuristic cameras that can detect explosives on people without initially requiring a physical search. The TSA has tested types of the equipment for more than a decade, most recently in the Los Angeles subway system in December.
The equipment tested this week is from QinetiQ, whose system sits on a tripod, and Thruvision, which houses its devices in a roll-around case. If the TSA adopts the technology, the cameras could be installed in the ceiling of a transit station or airport and be monitored remotely.
The machines don’t use radiation like an X-ray. The technology measures radio frequencies emanating from the person’s body, similar to a thermal camera.
“We’re measuring the radiation coming from the body,” said Kevin Gramer of Thruvision. “One of the simplest ways to explain it is the person’s skin is the transmitter. There are items that block the transmission.”
The technology peers through clothes, but the image is animated, to avoid privacy concerns that have come after earlier full-body scanners. A picture of a person appears on a laptop monitored by a security officer next to a green image known as a “green ghost” or a color-indicator bar overlay, depending on which model of the technology is used, according to the TSA.
“Nobody is afraid to stand in front of our system,” Gramer said.
The cameras can spot explosives made from powders or gels and can detect other weapons. It would be up to authorities to decide whether to pull someone aside for additional screening.
The New York test is the latest way the TSA is experimenting with technology to deal with travelers in public areas outside the more rigorous screening at airport checkpoints.
“The nature of the threat is evolving,” Gramer said.