Word: tsa
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...FirstDefender, is a handheld chemical identification system about the size of a hardcover book. The FBI, U.S. Customs and Immigration and the Department of Homeland Security have already begun using the gadget to detect and identify chemical hazards, but it hasn't yet been implemented in airports. The TSA recently deployed two $160,000 explosives detection machines for Chicago's Midway International Airport, but those machines, known as puffers, aren't made to identify sealed liquids. The agency has yet to put into place FirstDefender devices, which cost about $30,000, though it now confirms that it is testing...
...Older machines used to examine liquids were so large that they were generally anchored to labs. But given the portability of this 3.5-pound tool, the TSA could quickly deploy it in airports nationwide. The gadget is simple enough to use that airport screeners and security officials with just several hours of training could monitor suspicious materials in transit. In its latest iteration, the FirstDefender can identify 2,500 liquid and solid substances. The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center issued a recent assessment of the new handheld as an effective portable tool in detecting dangerous substances, including sarin...
...liquid explosive in an innocuous bottle are slim - that's why Israel's Ben Gurion airport has a laboratory in the basement to conduct instant tests of liquids found on suspect passengers. If the U.S. system lacks sufficient technology to detect liquid explosives, and if it relies on the TSA screeners to ID possible terrorists, it is, at best, a wire mesh fence...
...Percentage of TSA-seized goods that are lighters, one of 68 items passengers are forbidden to carry on planes...
...Average number of cigarette lighters the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) confiscates daily at airport checkpoints 80% Percentage of TSA-seized goods that are lighters, one of 68 items passengers are barred from carrying on planes...