TSA Admits New Machines Are Slowing Security To A Crawl—And Says Screening Won’t Improve Until 2040
Whenever you’re at an airport that has both new Analogic machines and older x-ray machines at the security checkpoint, get in the line with the older machines. It doesn’t matter if that line is longer, it will move faster.
Meet Analogic, it probes your luggage at TSA checkpoints pic.twitter.com/xnTQV0nwiv
— Dooner (@TimothyDooner) March 7, 2023
New carry-on bag screening machines take longer per passenger item. They are using 3D imaging. TSA says this is supposed to speed up screening because even though each item takes longer to screen, fewer items will need to be re-screened and manually inspected.
It turns out that’s not happening. A glitch in the machine’s software means that it isn’t performing as expected, and manual interventions are actually higher.
3D imaging was supposed to be what finally caused TSA to drop 3-1-1 liquid rules, where you’re only allowed to bring 3 ounce liquid items in a 100 milliliter freedom baggie. These rules were on the way out in the U.K. and Europe because of these machines, but they’re coming back because of the glitches.
TSA for its part says they want consistent rules, so they haven’t dropped the liquid ban and don’t plan to do so for many years – even after the software is improved. They want to wait until these new machines are rolled out at every checkpoint in every airport in the country, and they don’t expect to complete that process until 2040.
So even while we’re being inconvenienced by these Analogic machines, we don’t get the benefit of bringing a bottle of water through the checkpoint.
First TSA had “Rapiscan”. Now: “Analogic”. They TAUNT us with how easily they violate our rights. pic.twitter.com/QSEmtnff3N
— TheSmallestMinority (@smallstminority) August 14, 2022
TSA’s little machine is called “Analogic”- ANAL LOGIC
— Maddie Rae Gun️⚧️️⚧️ (@MadisonRaeGun) December 20, 2022
Perhaps even more troubling is that it takes decades – and a billion dollars – to deploy these machines. Shouldn’t they be several generations beyond these devices, probably from different providers, at that point?