New Screening Technology Currently Under Development

Transportation Security Administration Chief Kip Hawley announced last week an eventual reduction of restrictions on liquids carried aboard airliners may become a reality about a year from now.

"I think realistically in one year we, the TSA and foreign colleagues, will be in a position to relax liquids restrictions. We are within a year of having the ability to differentiate threat liquids through the screening process," Hawley (right) said.

New X-ray machines able to detect bomb-making liquids have been undergoing testing by the TSA, readying the technology for use. After meeting with the European Union for several days this week, Hawley said, "We've seen it work in labs, and we've had very positive communications with international colleagues."

Still in the developmental stage, once perfected the software required for the sophisticated detection can be implemented rapidly in the US and abroad, according to the Wall Street Journal.

600 new X-ray machines are slated to be in place at most major airports by the end of 2008, with another 300 to be deployed by the end of fiscal year 2009, the WSJ reports.

The new machines will be able to utilize the new software immediately upon its completion. Hand-held liquid detection devices may still be employed at smaller airports awaiting the updated equipment.

"We are deploying the hardware now to accomplish this. It's just a matter of having the software completed. It's not ready yet, but we are highly confident it will be effective," Hawley concluded.

A concern currently under scrutiny involves the actual screening process, specifically if travelers will have to remove liquids from inside their bags, or if the new system can accurately detect the liquids within.

Following the London discovery of a plot to blow up airliners with liquid explosives, restrictions regulating the transport of liquids have been implemented by the US. The resulting screening process has been a source of both delays and aggravation for many air travelers.

FMI: www.tsa.gov