Airline Passenger Baggage Screening

Can positive passenger profiling lower the overall costs of airport security while minimizing the inconvenience to the flying public and retaining airport security at a high level? The authors calculate the cost of scanning as many bags as possible without abandoning the benefits of profiling.

Handbook of Checked Baggage Screening – Advanced Airport Security Operation is a practical guide for project managers and designers embarking on hold-baggage screening developments within the airport environment for the first time. The book clearly explains away any uncertainty about the processes and procedures to be used by the various parties involved within the industry and sets out ‘best practice’ with respect to checked baggage screening design. Valuable lessons can be learned from actual case studies contributed by leading equipment manufacturers on recent 100% hold baggage screening projects. In addition to the all-important security screening of baggage and passengers the book also looks at the following areas associated with airport security, through the use of a detailed structured security check-list evaluation questionnaire. The questionnaire allows airports to assess the state of readiness of their airports and then, using the other chapters, gain an insight regarding which technology will best solve any security gaps. The authors offer a unique perspective through their background and experience. Many of the checked baggage screening procedures and equipment discussed in the book have already been implemented in the UK, with the authors responsible for leading this effort. The combined experience they can offer to the industry world wide is invaluable.

This book addresses new technologies being considered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for screening airport passengers for concealed weapons and explosives. The FAA is supporting the development of promising new technologies that can reveal the presence not only of metal-based weapons as with current screening technologies, but also detect plastic explosives and other non-metallic threat materials and objects, and is concerned that these new technologies may not be appropriate for use in airports for other than technical reasons. This book presents discussion of the health, legal, and public acceptance issues that are likely to be raised regarding implementation of improvements in the current electromagnetic screening technologies, implementation of screening systems that detect traces of explosive materials on passengers, and implementation of systems that generate images of passengers beneath their clothes for analysis by human screeners.

Securing commercial aviation is a daunting task-with hundreds of airports, thousands of aircraft, and thousands of flights daily carrying millions of passengers and pieces of checked baggage. It has been over 3 years since the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) assumed responsibility for passenger and baggage screening at commercial airports. This testimony focuses on the progress TSA is making in strengthening airline passenger and checked baggage screening and the challenges that remain. Particularly, this testimony highlights TSA's efforts to (1) enhance the performance, management, and deployment of the transportation security officer (TSO) workforce; (2) strengthen procedures for screening passengers and checked baggage; and (3) leverage and deploy screening technologies.

This report assesses the operational performance of explosives-detection equipment and hardened unit-loading devices (HULDs) in airports and compares their operational performance to their laboratory performance, with a focus on improving aviation security.