Experts: U.S. settles for flawed bomb-finding system

By Matthew L. Wald
The New York Times


WASHINGTON — The Transportation Department's stopgap method for detecting bombs in checked bags — a system it intends to install at 429 airports by Dec. 31 — will not reliably detect explosives in a suitcase, European and American experts say.

The technology, which is supposed to detect trace amounts of explosives, is "not really operationally viable," said Norman Shanks, who once was in charge of security at the British Airports Authority, which rejected such a system a decade ago.

The chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., called the planned system "semi-ineffective."

But it may be the best the department can do on the short notice given under the security law passed last November, Mica said.

John Magaw, who is in charge of the Transportation Security Administration, told a Senate committee May 21 that the system the department planned to use was "equivalent" to what Congress wanted — thousands of giant bomb-detection machines — if used "with the proper protocol."

But the method itself can be flawed, some security experts say, depending on how many checked suitcases are opened and how carefully searches are done.

The original plan of Congress was for the Transportation Department to buy thousands of explosive-detection systems, minivan-size machines that work like medical CAT scanners. Before Sept. 11, those machines were to be installed from 2007 to 2014. But after the attacks, Congress shortened the deadline to Dec. 31, 2002.

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