Spokane7
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March 3, 2010 in City
TSA using hand swabs to test for explosives
Donovan Mills of the TSA holds a swab used in the new explosive detection technology at Spokane International Airport on March 3, 2010.
(Full-size photo)
Get ready for the bomb swab.
The Transportation Security Administration announced Wednesday that passengers at Spokane International Airport can expect new safety measures while attempting to get through security on their way to departing flights.
Kevin Donovan, the TSA’s acting federal security director, provided a demonstration of what the agency calls a “Explosive Trace Detection” machine. It’s now being employed in virtually all major airports across the United States partly in reaction to the failed Christmas Day attempt by a Nigerian man who tried to ignite an explosive device aboard a Northwest Airlines flight as the plane prepared to land in Detroit.
TSA agents use a swab on the passenger’s hand. The swab is inserted into the machine and within a couple seconds the machine tells the agent whether the person has traces of things that could be used as explosives, Donovan said.
“More and more travelers will see this,” he said. “There’s really not a false alarm. It doesn’t mean there is a bomb, but it does mean we … will do additional screening.”
The machine tests for residue, such as nitrates that are sometimes used in bomb making. However, farmers who recently handled fertilizer, hunters who fired weapons and those who use certain hand lotions can trigger the alarm, Donovan said.
Asked if the technology has stopped any potential bombs, Donovan said that information was “classified.”
“It’s obviously powerful, useful technology,” he said. “It’s an added layer. It makes it harder for a perpetrator” to sneak a bomb onto a plane.
Some machines are mobile, meaning that travelers can expect what the TSA called “random” searches even after passengers have arrived at the gate. Donovan said the testing takes about eight seconds.
“This procedure will not affect wait times,” he said. “There is no attempt to profile any passengers. It is just the next passenger in line.”
Man dies following early Saturday accident 
west on March 03 at 5:04 p.m.
Better not be hand loading your shells at home and then getting on a plane!!
empyrius on March 03 at 5:36 p.m.
I say it is time for full body cavity searches! In this day and age, when even white right-wingers (b/c of course not every right-winger is a mass-murdering terrorist, but every terrorist is a right-winger, except of course the radical left-wingers who destroy private property to save owls and trees), anyway, in this day and age security trumps freedom!
Every person trying to get aboard an airline take off all your clothes, turn around, bend over, and spread your cheeks!
“Representative democracy” at its finest! Har har har har . . .
yikes on March 03 at 5:39 p.m.
They really should be more worried about their maintenance manager driving drunk around the grounds & strips (whatever happened w/ that anyway?). That seems to me a greater threat these days.
bubbadave3 on March 03 at 7:44 p.m.
I see this as a complete waste of time. Statistically, how many people are going to have some form of explosives on their hands? Probably not even a terrorist. Has anyone heard of gloves? From my perspective, this is a waste of time and will probably slow down the security aspects of boarding a plane even more.
spokanada on March 03 at 7:55 p.m.
I wonder if there are any other procedures we can implement to waste time and make travelling in the USA as awkward and uncomfortable as possible.
invalid_username on March 03 at 8:14 p.m.
Im still here.
The machine tests for nitrogen. not nitrates.
and what happens if the person uses a non-nitrogen based explosive?
invalid_username on March 03 at 8:22 p.m.
and since urine contains a high amount of nitrogen compounds its advisable to wash your hands after urinination.
terrymr on March 03 at 8:26 p.m.
There are far more legal users of explosives than illegal ones.
spokanada on March 03 at 8:49 p.m.
WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR FREEDOMS???
reservedparking on March 03 at 10:04 p.m.
Much easier, more efficient screening process:
Put everyone in a chamber. Hit the detonator.
If they explode, problem solved. No boom, they fly.
cowboy on March 03 at 11:53 p.m.
Anyone committed to blowing up a airplane would have some other person make the bomb, and he carries it aboard. So much for technology.
S on March 04 at 6:06 a.m.
What a joke! What will they think of next.
cowboy on March 04 at 8:25 a.m.
they have to keep coming up with ways to appear they are trying, while in reality we know they don’t have a clue.