Photo Courtesy of TSA
One model of the technology shows a “green ghost” image of an individual who has an explosive device concealed on his back, beneath his shirt.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The Transportation Safety Administration on Tuesday announced that it is partnering with Amtrak in Penn Station to test new security technology that can help officials detect whether an individual is concealing an improvised explosive device such as a suicide vest.
According to the TSA, the passive system, known as a stand-off explosive detection unit, triggers an alarm if an individual carrying/wearing a person-borne improvised explosive device passes by the mechanism. It is a type of screening technology that can be used by Amtrak and mass transit agencies to detect potential threats—metallic or non-metallic—by identifying objects that block the naturally-occurring emissions in a person’s body. No radiation of any kind is emitted by the unit, TSA officials assured, and no anatomical details of a person are displayed.
The federal agency noted that the use of such a device enables a rail or transit agency—such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority—to help safeguard against terrorist threats in the mass transit environment. It is operated by employees of the agency, not by TSA. The administration is, however, supplying two models of the equipment for the purposes of the demonstration. One model is mounted on a tripod and another is contained in a trunk.
The TSA announcement comes nearly three months after Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged the agency to test the technology that helps to detect suicide vests or other strapped-to-the-body explosive devices in NYC. Schumer also called on federal officials to deliver these devices to law enforcement and transit agencies for use in the city’s busiest transit hubs.
Schumer reached out to TSA leadership regarding the technology in December, days after an attempted terror attack at the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal at West 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue, in which Bangladesh native Akayed Ullah allegedly strapped an improvised low-tech explosive device to his body with zip ties and Velcro. The crude device detonated prematurely. In all, five people were hurt in the blast, with Ullah incurring the most severe injuries.
“The ability to detect concealed explosives worn by cowards looking to do us harm demands the federal government continue to put both the testing and the perfecting of this technology on the fast-track,” Schumer said on Monday. “America’s busiest cities, like New York, are the places where these devices will save lives, and if they work as well as touted, we must pursue an expedited seal of approval that gives all of us another layer of security to fend off would be lone wolf terror. As the threats we face evolve our preparedness and response must evolve as well to remain a step ahead of evil doers.”
