Wed, Jan 11, 2006
Bomb-Sniffers To Be Deployed At 40 Busiest Airports
By the end of spring,
advanced bomb-detection equipment known as "puffer machines" will
be deployed at as many as 40 of the nation's busiest airports, the
TSA announced Monday.
The machines -- which have already been installed in terminals
at Dallas-Fort Worth International, as well as Reagan National and
Dulles International Airports near Washington, DC -- "puff" air
onto a person as they walk through a portal. The air dislodges
microscopic particles from the person's skin and clothes, which are
then analyzed for traces of explosives.
The entire process takes 17 seconds, according to the Dallas
Morning News, and is far less intrusive than a patdown by a TSA
screener. The "puffer" also has the additional benefit of being far
more thorough -- the equipment can analyze particles as small as
one-billionth of a gram.
"It's more comprehensive and more accurate, and it limits the
number of patdowns," said TSA spokesman Darrin Kayser.
Maybe... but the process won't reduce the time you spend in a
security line, as passengers will still need to send their
belongings through an X-ray machine and walk through metal
detectors. Only those passengers selected to receive secondary
screening will be required to walk through the portal.
The TSA does not have the final list of airports that will
receive the machines, according to the DMN (more likely, they don't
wish to reveal it just yet)... but the Associated Press reports
citizens of such cities as Baltimore, Boston, Indianapolis, Miami,
and Jacksonville can expect to see the machines at their airports
before too long.
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