Devices Can Detect Suspicious Compounds Through Glass, Plastic

The Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday a machine utilizing new technology that screens bottles for liquid explosives will be deployed at the nation's busiest airports this summer.

The agency said it plans to set up 200 machines at airports to detect a certain explosive in containers passengers are allowed to bring through security checkpoints, according to the agency. The trial is an attempt to address concerns raised in August, when authorities foiled an alleged plot to bomb US-bound airplanes using liquid bombs, according to USA Today.

Bruce Cumming, marketing director for device maker ICx Technologies, admits the $20,000 PaxPoint machine does not find all explosives. "It's designed to detect a very specific type of liquid threat that is found in common household liquids," he said.

For that reason, TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe said the handheld devices will not ease restrictions that limit passengers to carrying small containers of liquids and gels onboard aircraft. Screeners will use PaxPoint primarily to check bottles holding medicines, baby formula, and other items that passengers may carry on board in unlimited quantities.

"It may not necessarily mean any specific benefit to the traveling public other than enhanced security," Howe said.

The device works with a sniffer that is held an inch from a container to draw in vapors. An attached sensor displays the level of explosive material in the vapors.

 "If you don't have anything that emits a vapor, then you don't have a trace of a flammable or explosive liquid that it could detect," said Jerry Sellman, president of ICx competitor Sellex International, who questioned if the ICx machine could sense explosives through thick or tightly sealed containers. His company's microwave machine analyzes a liquid's molecular structure to spot explosives.

ICx's explosives detection manager Mark Prather said the PaxPoint is very sensitive and can, indeed, detect explosives through thick glass, plastic and metal.

Testing began in April at Miami, Newark, Detroit, Los Angeles and Las Vegas airports. A four-week trial began Wednesday at Boston's Logan International Airport. Even though testing is ongoing, the TSA announced its plan to go ahead and buy 200 of them because "results have shown it is effective," Howe said.

Homeland Security Department's Science and Technology division said in September its own effort to find readily available technology that can screen for liquid explosives had failed. The agency had asked companies to propose "off-the-shelf" technology that could be tested in airports to screen containers for liquids, according to USA Today.

Douglas Bauer, a Science and Technology explosives-detection expert, said the division has decided to solicit ideas for liquid-explosives detectors that will take at least a year or two to develop.

FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.icxt.com, www.sellexinternational.com