Software lets machines distinguish threatening materials

Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley told the Wall Street Journal last week that new technology should permit the agency to relax its longstanding ban on carrying liquids aboard aircraft in 2009. According to the Journal, TSA has completed testing of software upgrades that permit x-ray machines to distinguish between dangerous liquids – i.e., those that could be components of an explosive – and commonplace ones. Some 600 x-ray machines that can run the new software should be operating at airport security lines by the end of this year, and 900 more will be deployed a year from now, the article said. According to the Journal, Hawley said that TSA is “within a year of having the ability to differentiate threat liquids through the screening process.” Still at issue, however, is whether the machines will be able to detect the liquids while they are inside carry-on bags, or if they will have to be removed for the technology to work properly.