Fri, May 22, 2009
RIP: Puffer Machines
If you do fly the
airlines regularly, you'll notice something missing at commercial
airports - those obnoxious "puffer" machines designed to dislodge
particles from your clothing, so they can be analyzed for traces of
bomb-making materials.
The program will go down as a classic in the annals of government
excess. Four years ago, when anything labeled "security" was
difficult to oppose, TSA got the green light to spend 30 Million
dollars to buy 207 of the machines. USA Today reports the money was
spent, but only 94 of the machines were ever installed at airports.
The other 113 never left storage.
At airports, the machines couldn't handle dirt and humidity. TSA
spent another 6.2 Million dollars trying to fix and maintain them.
Now, they're giving up. 60 of the machines have already been
removed. There's no particular timetable for pulling the rest. but
apparently the TSA can't wait to see them gone.
Even Hasbrouck Miller, a VP of Smiths Detection, which made the
puffers, admits, quote - "It was a torturous four years. The TSA
finally got tired of pursuing that angle and moved on to something
else."
That something else is the new full-body scanners.
But even the decision to scrap the machines doesn't mean the
bonfire is out in the money pile. TSA will have to spend another
million dollars on decommissioning the machines.
Wouldn't you think, given the apparent bottomless budget for
anything labeled "security," the TSA could have found a few bucks
to pay for its own new mandate of security badges for private
pilots at commercial airports?
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