A week ago Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administrator John Pistole made a bold public statement regarding his decision to not review further airport applications to participate in the Screening Partnership Program, a decision that is a potential conflict with an Act of Congress. As of today it appears that a number of the TSA’s upper…
This morning in Las Vegas, where people go to roll the dice and play their luck, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began testing L3 Systems ProVision ATD software loaded into their Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) millimeter wave technology scanners. The current generation of AIT scanner software in use in by the TSA has been highly…
Following the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 3 created the Homeland Security Advisory System on the 11th of March 2002.  The Homeland Security Advisory System is a familiar sight to many travelers, it is the colour coded threat level advisory chart posted in many airports and…
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has frequently found itself pushing the boundaries of its original mission and facing criticism for its actions. A few days ago however the TSA pushed a new boundary … that of publicly stating it was ignoring an Act of Congress. To make matters more complex, TSA Administrator John Pistole is…
With talk of Israeli style airport security frequently popping up in the media, on blogs and in regular conversations with travelers, I’d like to introduce you to an Israeli security firm that has both the technology and credentials to potentially eliminate significant gaps in aviation security. It is rare to find a company of any…
It is not often I pose a question regarding airport and aviation security that I don’t know the answer to … or at least have an idea of what the answer should be. If you only like posts that have an answer to the question … then this post isn’t for you. During my few…
Before I delve into this post, I must first say that I am in favour of passenger profiling and the use of human security assets to detect those who may be a risk to the flight they’ll be boarding. While my research has lead me to the opinion that human security assets are effective ……
The first day of the New Year is like every other day of your life, you wake up, you brush your teeth, you put your clothes on and you start your day … but symbolically the first day of the New Year is like hitting the restart button. Most mornings we wake up, hit the…
The last day of the year is a good time to stop, take a moment, and think back over the past year. It’s also probably not the best day to write about the year in review because you’re likely to forget a lot of things … but I’ll give it a shot anyway. 2010 was…
Just in time for Christmas, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has added a new directive to its front line playbook. This morning, the 23rd of December, the TSA began mandatory explosive trace detection (ETD) on all thermoses and insulated children’s’ sippy cups. While thermoses and sippy cups must be empty when passing through an airport…
