Swab for Security

The latest screening technology to hit airports nationwide is perhaps less controversial than full-body scanners but less familiar to travelers: Explosive Trace Detection units that test swabs of luggage and passengers' hands for explosives.

The Transportation Security Administration announced on Wednesday that it is expanding the random use of ETD technology at airports nationwide. To date, $15 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds have been awarded for 400 fixed ETD units, and President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget includes $39 million to purchase about 800 portable ETD machines. They'll be used on a random basis, so passengers should not expect to see the same thing each time they travel.

"ETD tests are used in checkpoint, checked baggage, and cargo environments" to swab things such as laptops, shoes, film, cell phones, bags, wheelchairs, hands, casts, and so on, wrote a member of the TSA blog team known as Blogger Bob.

"Basically, our officers run the white swab over the area in question to collect a trace sample. They then place the swab in the ETD machinery which analyzes the sample for extremely small traces of explosives. The test takes a matter of seconds."

TSA recently piloted the use of ETD technology in both checkpoint lines and boarding areas for two weeks at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Orlando International Airport, and Pitt-Greenville and Coastal Carolina Regional Airports in North Carolina.

"Why the move? Since the attempted attack on 12/25, we looked at ways to immediately strengthen security using existing technology and procedures in different ways," Bob the Blogger wrote. "ETD is quick, good for security and cost efficient."