Often the target of comedians and critics in Congress, airline security
screeners may find their jobs taken by machines.
A new screening system at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
that minimizes human interaction will expand this year. It will
eventually handle all 55,00 bags checked each day at that airport.
The system, at an expected cost of $220 million, is to be installed
in remaining terminals at the airport by August.
Bags are taken by conveyer belt from the curbside or ticket counters
to a large machine inside the terminal, where they will be scanned
for suspicious items and flagged for closer inspection if they do
not pass muster.
Luggage that triggers an alarm will be sent to a resolution room,
where security officers will search them. Officials with the Transportation
Security Administration said the machine alarms about 19 percent
of bags on domestic flights and about 25 percent on international
flights.
Inspectors will use the three-dimensional pictures of the bags’
contents to examine suspicious items quickly.
A report issued by the Government Accountability Office estimated
the new system at DFW will save the TSA about $250 million over
seven years, by screening bags twice as fast with far fewer screeners.
TSA also is currently testing a new concept of screening passengers
that is called Secure Flight.
The Department of Homeland Security late last year cancelled the
development of its computer assisted commercial pre-screening program
and instead started development of Secure Flight. TSA, as opposed
to air carriers, will operate the new system and use a larger, more
consolidated watch list database that is not currently available
to the private sector.
When a passenger makes flight arrangements, the air carrier or
travel service company will complete the reservation by entering
existing passenger data in its system. Once the reservation is completed,
the air carriers will store the data electronically and send it
to Secure Flight through a network connection provided by DHS. Reservations
made less than 72 hours before flight time will be sent immediately
to TSA.
The National Commission on Terrorists Attacks upon the United States
reported in 2004 that the passenger watch lists used by the air
carriers did not include all terrorism suspects because of concerns
about intelligence sharing. The commission recommended that passenger
screening be performed by the feds, to make use of a larger, consolidated
watch list database maintained by the government.