• Air cargo still vulnerable to terrorists

    DHS’s inspector general says there are many problems still with the TSA’s program to stop terrorists from sneaking a bomb into any of the tens of thousands of cargo packages carried each day in the bellies of passenger planes

  • TSA limits scope of screeners' searches

    An assistant to congressman Ron Paul was detained in a small room at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and interrogated by TSA officials for nearly half an hour after he passed a metal box containing cash through a security checkpoint X-ray machine; under a threat of a law suit, TSA has changed its search policies: TSA screeners can now only conduct searches aimed at keeping firearms and explosives off of airplanes and cannot search for crimes unrelated to transportation security, and the agency also told screeners that passengers carrying large sums of cash have not broken the law

  • GAO: TSA continues to face challenges in finding and deploying checkpoint screening technology

    Since TSA’s creation, ten passenger screening technologies have been in various phases of research, development, test and evaluation, procurement, and deployment, but TSA has not deployed any of these technologies to airports nationwide

  • Iraqis use "magic wand" at checkpoints to detect explosives; U.S. officer: this is "laughable"

    The Iraqi government has spent tens of millions of U.S. aid dollars to buy thousands of “magic wands” which are supposed to detect explosives at checkpoints; one American officer says the device works “on the same principle as a Ouija board”; another officer says that to believe the claims of the British company which is selling the device, and of the Iraqi authorities that swear by it, “would be laughable” — except that people are dying as a result; “[the company and Iraqi government have] crossed an insupportable line into moral depravity” he says

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  • Gait-recognition biometric technology to help soldiers manning checkpoints

    SET Corporation is developing a technology which directs low-power radar beams at people — who can be 50 yards or more away; early research indicates that this method could one day be augmented with video-analysis software that spots bombers by discerning subtle differences in gait that occur when people carry heavy objects

  • CBP orders advanced cargo and customs screening from OSI

    OSI’s Security division, Rapiscan Systems, has received approximately $29 million in orders from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to provide multiple units of its cargo and vehicle inspection solutions

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  • New airport security scanners raise concerns

    Canada’s privacy watchdog said it agreed with federal authorities that full-body scans should be used at Canada’s airports; security personnel would be in a separate room while viewing the image and would never come in contact with the person being screened

  • New method takes 0.2 second to test for explosive liquids

    German scientists develop a novel nanoelectronic device which uses electromagnetic radiation to identify explosive liquids, or liquid components for the fabrication of explosives, in usual plastic bottles almost instantly

  • Imagining new threats -- and countering them

    DHS air transport security lab is in the business of imagining new threats — then developing the technologies to counter them; their dream? To build a “tunnel of truth” in each airport lined with hidden sensors, scanners, and rays; passengers would get zapped and sniffed as they passed, and would not need to take off their shoes, toss their liquids, or anything else

  • French may take intrusive measures to prevent inside-the-body bombers

    Security experts are split over whether inside-the-body suicide bomb is a serious threat; the French say they may not take any chances, and warn that security measures at airports may become more intrusive

  • Kachemak sees growing interest from military, law enforcement

    Alaska-based Kachemak Research Development developed an advanced vehicles’ undercarriage inspection system; the military and law enforcement are interested

  • O'Hare gets grant for baggage screening system

    DHS’s push for better baggage screening at U.S. airports continues; the latest recipient of baggage screening upgrade grants: Chicago’s O’Hare

  • Princeton, Rice researchers develop new sensor for nitric oxide

    Researchers develop new nitric oxide detector; the sensor could now be incorporated into a portable, shoe-box-sized system ideally suited for mass deployment in large-scale unattended sensor networks

  • New York City to expand Ring of Steel's coverage

    The system of surveillance cameras; license-plate readers; and chemical, biological, and radiological sensors that protect lower Manhattan will expand to cover mid-town

  • New advanced sensors developed

    Queen’s University Belfast researchers use Raman spectroscopy, which involves shining a laser beam onto the suspected sample and measuring the energy of light that scatters from it to determine what chemical compound is present; they mixed nanoscale silver particles to amplify the signals of compounds