Travelers who fly in and out of Harry Reid International airport in Las Vegas may not know just how helpful they are to improving the nation’s airport security.
Harry Reid is considered an “Innovation Hub” – where new technology is tested before being implemented in other airports around the country. The Mountain West News Bureau got a behind-the-scenes look at how some of this new technology will impact passengers.
“The innovation checkpoint that we have here at Las Vegas is the only one like it in the world,” said Dan Wyllie, TSA’s deputy federal security director for the State of Nevada. “We're actually running live passengers through our innovation. And so they can experience the future right now.”
As the 8th busiest passenger airport in the country, many of the security measures in use today were first tried out here.
“Several of the things that we're still using are the regular x-ray, AT-X-ray machines they're called. Those were introduced right there around 2000, right after 9/11,” said Wyllie. “Our explosive trace detectors, those are the things that you see people swipe your bags with, or your shoes, or your hands with. That's still used.”
Today, new technologies are being tested with the goal of speeding up the security process.
New credential authentication technology (CAT) is being used during passengers' first encounter with security. A transportation security officer (TSO) scans the passenger’s ID, and it’s matched with flight information through the TSA’s “Sure Scan” database.
“The only thing that we're checking is, do they have a flight for today and what airline they're on,” said Wyllie.
There are also new double-decker style conveyors which quickly move bags through new scanners that use Advanced Image Technology or AIT. The technology allows TSOs to electronically unpack the bag.
“We can look at, from all angles, we can look at the items that are in the bag.” said Genie Perez as she manipulated the image allowing her to see the individual contents within the luggage.
But Perez said bags with a variety of different items can slow the process.
“Sometimes there's bags that are packed with a lot of items. So it's gonna take a little longer to look at it. Versus a, a bag that would just be with clothing.” Nonetheless, each item can be examined electronically.
Andrew Craig, TSA’s deputy assistant federal security director said the computed tomography (CT) technology is working. “With the CT technology, we're sending less bags for search because we're able to resolve most of the alarms right here on the primary viewing station.”
But, regardless of the technology, some basic items will flag an inspection, said Craig. “If there's oversized liquids, of course, we're gonna have to pull the bag to send it to search.”
Body imaging has also advanced, transitioning away from metal detectors to body scanning with the use of AIT.. The image AIT scanners create is an avatar which identifies where there may be something out of the ordinary.
“What the AIT will do is scan them and alert the officers if there’s something somewhere they need to check. So it will come up with a little target area on the avatar, which will tell the officer where to conduct the pat down,” said Craig.
Whether it’s bags or people, the next iteration of the scans, called “Image on Alarm Only,” will make the process even faster, said Craig.
“Soon our officers aren't going to have to look at every single image that comes through because the technology has gotten so advanced that the CT knows what's allowed, what's not, what has explosive components…your sharps, your knives, um, blunt objects, things like that. It’s gonna pick up on that automatically and be able to resolve those alarms even before an officer is able to put eyes on it,” said Craig.
While most passengers have come to accept long lines at the airport, many welcome new technologies that will speed up the security process.
“I think it's become the norm in the last 20 years for us all to just factor in the time it's going to take so I'm in full support,” said Erin, a traveler from New York who didn’t want to give her last name.
But many passengers would also like to see more transparency about data collection.
“It's each country's right to decide how to do that,” said Chris Horn from Germany, who was attending the CES Conference. But it's not very clear what happens with my data, of course. That's a bit concerning, to be honest.”
Kevin Monteiro from Chicago, who was also attending the tech conference said he would like more information on data security. “Because the best of the best systems are being hacked now, right, and nobody's immune to that.”
TSA officials we spoke with said data is not shared with other agencies.
“There's no personal information that's saved on it. It's literally just a check from the picture that it's taken to the picture that is on your ID. And then once the next passenger comes in, your information is deleted from the system,” said Craig.
There are over a thousand AIT units being used at about 387 airports nationwide, according to airport officials. More of these machines will be rolled out at Harry Reid International Airport for further testing this spring. They will likely be seen in other airports around the country in the future.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Nevada Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio, KJZZ in Arizona and NPR, with additional support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
