"Puffer" bomb screeners a bust (and 'only' cost $30M!)

[babylonsister]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003744097_puff12.html

"Puffer" bomb screeners a bust

By RON MARSICO

Newhouse News Service


Megan Tlusty, an intern with the Transportation Security Administration, goes through a new explosive-detection machine at Newark Liberty International Airport in this 2005 photo. The machine uses a strong puff of air to dislodge and detect traces of explosives.

Three years ago, with great fanfare, federal officials unveiled a terror-fighting machine they called the "puff portal," a contraption that resembled a Star Trek transporter booth and was designed to detect explosives at airport checkpoints with unprecedented precision.

When a passenger stepped inside the puff portal, so the officials said, the machine would send sharp bursts of air to dislodge particles from the body, hair and clothing, and analyze them for microscopic traces of explosives.

But the expensive devices — each costs about $160,000 — have been largely ineffectual and the much ballyhooed $30 million program is starting to look like a techno-folly to some critics.

more...

[originalpckelly]

1. Blow me up, Scotty?

Or maybe "puff" would be better?

[KG]

2. gee, anybody really surprised?

airport 'security' is a scam.

[burrowowl]

4. Nope! eom

[Hekate]

3. Hmmm.Wonder who got the no-bid contract for this boondoggle?Any guesses?

What a crock.

Hekate

[babylonsister]

5. THAT is a great question! I might have to see if I can find out

who got that award.

[ironflange]

6. We saw one first hand

Last fall, my daughter and I flew to Portland OR for a weekend to see the touring production of "Wicked." It was fabulous, BTW. On the way home, we were selected "at random" (I doubt it was random, but that's a long story) to go through the new experimental screening. That included us leaving our bags unlocked (and things were swiped from them, naturally), and going through that newfangled machine. Maddy went first, but when my turn came the thing crashed and they couldn't get it to work. So they had to settle for going through our stuff with a fine-toothed comb. I commend the security staff, though, as they were very very nice the whole time.

[babylonsister]

8. The 'big' airport in Houston had/has one and I've been through it.

IMO all it did was take longer, but my carry-ons went through the traditional scanners; it wasn't for luggage, only people.
What a waste of $$!

[ironflange]

10. What happens if you fart in one?

Does it think methane is an explosive? And you'd have to make an excuse, just like in an elevator, but "They must have just painted this elevator" wouldn't really work here.

[MiddleRiverRefugee]

7. Nope, no explosives here....

[durtee librul]

9. I travel a great deal with my job and

it bugs me NO END that I have to let my stuff go thru the scanner and SIT at the end of the conveyor while anyone at anytime can walk off with my purse, pc or carryon case.

I have asked that if I am 'detained' by this puffer (Detroit has several), then someone better be watching my stuff. Usually I get a dirty look, but one day, someone did try and grab my purse and just as I was walking out of the puffer I screamed at them and they dropped it and ran. Did security or the TSA go after the person? Hell no, they have to stay at their posts....so a thief was loose in the Detroit airport and no-one cared. (Course it is Detroit and that is considered acceptable around here - pittsy place to live)

I have seen buisnessmen grab the wrong laptops and belts by accident.....it's scary. When you are told to put your passport in a dish to go thru the scanner and have it SIT where no-one is watching is just plain stupid nowdays.

I carry mine with me and refuse to put it thru - if they want to do it, then they take responsibility and I tell them that. Sometimes they get nasty, but for the most part, they KNOW stuff gets ripped off.

Puffers.....waste of time and money. You can't tell me the air it puffs out on you dislodges anything of any value that is IMMEDIATELY verified as non-lethal....boondoggle? I kind of think it is more like a goldberg....total crap, wortholess as hell, but it looks good and fools most everybody that it is actually doing something!