Test Checks Passenger Documents for Explosives at Reagan National Airport

The TSA says it's launching a pilot program at four airports in which passenger documents such as boarding passes or state driver’s licenses will be scanned for traces of explosives.

The pilot, which begins this week at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), uses an Explosives Trace Detection Document Scanner, the same technology recently proved effective in TSA’s Transit Rail Inspection Pilot Project in Connecticut.

"By leveraging results of last month’s tests in the rail environment, TSA utilizes proven explosives detection technologies to safeguard the traveling public in another mode of transportation," said Rear Admiral David M. Stone, USN (Ret.), Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for TSA. "This test and others studying new trace explosives detection tools, passenger identification, and air cargo screening, illustrate TSA’s commitment to improving security in all modes by utilizing the latest emerging technologies."

DCA is the first airport to conduct an operational test of the new equipment. The tests will be launched next week at Los Angeles International Airport, and at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport by the end of the month.

The Document Scanner analyzes samples collected by swiping the surface of a document over a collection disc and alerts the screener if explosive residue is detected. During the pilot, only passengers set aside for secondary screening at Terminal B’s South Pier checkpoint will have their boarding passes scanned. If the Document Scanner alarms, the screener will implement additional screening procedures.

The TSA says this is one in a series of next generation tools being tested. They include explosive trace detection portals, which are being tested in four airports with nearly a dozen more to come online in the next year. The Registered Traveler Pilot Program, in place at five airports, is another innovative instrument to improve security through identity verification. Finally, in the air cargo arena, a six-airport test is using bulk Explosives Detection Systems (EDS) machines to screen non-containerized cargo.

FMI: www.tsa.gov