DULLES, Va.—Better security and a better passenger experience are to be expected with a new generation of baggage scanners that are being evaluated by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at select airports nationwide, including at Washington Dulles International Airport where the agency is operating a system it purchased from L3 Technologies [LLL] in a live screening lane, a TSA official said on Friday.

Using the computed tomography (CT)-based scanning system provides the operator with a three-dimensional image that can be rotated on the display screen, giving the user more views of a bag’s contents, and allows the operator to “virturally” remove a suspect item for an even closer inspection, Scott Johnson, TSA’s Federal Security Director at Dulles, said as part of a media briefing to showcase the new technology. TSA is at 11 airports is currently evaluating CT systems supplied by four vendors.

L-3's ClearScan computed tomography checkpoint screening system. Photo: L-3
L-3’s ClearScan computed tomography checkpoint screening system. Photo: L-3 Technologies

In addition to the operator having a better image to look at before allowing a bag to be cleared and move to the secure side of the terminal, L3’s ClearScan CT system at Dulles also alarms on any potential threats, a big assist to the operator. Moreover, Johnson is allowing individuals using the ClearScan-equipped lane at Dulles to not divest their laptops and personal electronics from their bags, a convenience for travelers and one reason fewer bins are needed per person.

Johnson also said the bins used with the CT systems are about 25 percent larger, which basically means each traveler needs to use one bin. Johnson is still requiring that all travelers divest their 3-1-1 compliant liquids.

In addition to supplying the ClearScan system, L3 is also providing a baggage divert system in use at Dulles if an operator wants a further examination of a suspect item. In the Dulles deployment, a suspect bag is automatically diverted to another set of rollers once it exits the CT system and is kept beyond the reach of a traveler until another TSA screener reviews the image on a separate screen or decides on a manual inspection.

Providing an automated path for a secondary inspection instead of requiring a TSA officer to pick up a suspect bag and return it to the front of the scanner, as is the case today with the Advanced Technology X-ray systems currently in use to screen carry-on bags, saves further time during the screening process.

The divert system mirrors one of the capabilities of Automated Screening Lanes (ASLs) the TSA is evaluating at about 130 screening lanes in a number of airports. The ASLs also feature mechanized rollers for faster and easier entry of bins into, and exit out of, baggage scanners, multiple divestment stations so that travelers aren’t pushing into one another from behind, and automated tray return systems.

The CT systems and ASLs take up more real estate than screening lanes configured with AT X-ray systems. There are 2,400 screening lanes nationwide, each equipped with an AT system. Johnson said Dulles has 37 screening lanes and Johnson told Defense Daily TSA hasn’t decided if it will do a one-for-one replacement of AT systems with CT machines. He also said the agency is still evaluating how the airport’s checkpoints might be configured when CT systems and ASLs are installed at Dulles.

This year, TSA shortly plans to have deployed 15 CT systems to as many airports as part of operational evaluations that began more than a year ago and 40 deployed by year-end. By the end of fiscal year 2019, which begins this October, TSA plans to deploy another 145 CT systems.

In addition to L3, Analogic, Integrated Defense & Security Solutions, and Britain’s Smiths Detection have also developed CT systems that TSA is evaluating at airports. TSA Administrator David Pekoske is pushing the agency to be aggressive in testing, evaluating and deploying the CT systems. Early in 2019, TSA is expected to select two or three contractors for CT deployment contracts.

In laboratory testing, TSA is also evaluating the CT systems for their ability to automatically detect new threats from explosives. Eventually, the goal with the CT systems is to allow travelers to not divest their liquids and electronics from their bags at checkpoints.