Airports look to upgrade security

New devices scan bottles and shoes

Richard Reid tried to blow up a plane with a shoe bomb. The London train bombers used liquid explosives to kill 52 people. Now the U.S. government is hoping to thwart both types of bombs with futuristic technology that’s being tested for the nation’s airports.

New devices that scan bottles and shoes for bombs could have far- reaching implications on airport security — and traveler convenience. Machines that read the molecular structure of shoes could someday halt the practice of making people take off their shoes at checkpoints.

Such a machine has been tested at the Transportation Security Administration’s lab in Atlantic City, says Jay Hill of GE Security, whose company invented the Shoe Scanner machine. Engineers designed it to “ enhance the H ow” of passengers going through airport checkpoints, he says.

Instead of removing shoes, passengers would stand on the machine for a few seconds while a highly sensitive radiofrequency coil looked for explosives.

Also being tested at the TSA lab is a bottlescanning machine that res a laser into bottles to detect dangerous substances such as gasoline, kerosene and nitroglycerin. A similar scanner that uses microwaves to see potentially explosive liquids is getting a trial run this month in Pittsburgh and Sacramento airports.

Bottle and shoe technologies are in the early stages of development and it could be years before they are rolled out in airports. But “ we’re taking a very proactive approach toward evaluating new, emerging technologies to keep America’s traveling public safe,” says TSA technology chief Clifford Wilke.

While bottle security isn’t a widely talked about issue for travelers, the threat is real. Liquid explosives are a major concern to airports. The London subway and bus bombings in July involved homemade bombs made of acetone and peroxide that were mixed in plastic containers. The TSA currently has no equipment designed speci cally to check liquids. Bottles now go through X- ray machines.

Clint Seward, an engineer with General Dielectric near Boston, says the TSA gave him a go- ahead earlier this year to test his bottle screener at two airports. Seward says the agency has shown expanded interest in novel security devices. “ There’s more funding now,” Seward says.