Democrats say TSA lacks adequate screening technology

Three prominent House Democrats are calling for advanced screening technology to be deployed at U.S. airports in the wake of an alleged terrorist plot to take down commercial airplanes using liquid explosives, but Homeland Security officials counter that such technology is not yet ready.

"It's time for a new direction in homeland security which includes next generation technologies at our airport screening checkpoints that detect liquid explosives and plastic explosives," House Democratic Caucus Chairman James Clyburn of South Carolina said in a statement Thursday, the day that British and U.S. authorities publicly disclosed that they had disrupted the alleged terrorist plot.

Equipment now used by the Transportation Security Administration for scanning passengers and baggage is not geared for detecting explosive compounds inside liquids or gels.

House Homeland Security ranking member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said the lack of technology to ensure that liquid explosives can be detected is "a major limitation" for screening operations.

"In order to prevent future disruptions to our aviation system, this administration needs to move expeditiously to develop and install next generation explosive detection technologies with the ability to detect lethal materials like those involved in the British plot," he said.

And House Transportation and Infrastructure ranking member James Oberstar, D-Minn., said the incident "demonstrates the need to increase the number of screeners and improve our ability to detect explosives at all security checkpoints in U.S. airports."

TSA spokeswoman Amy Kudwa countered that such advanced technology does not yet exist. "The current technology is not operationally viable," Kudwa said Friday.

The Homeland Security Department did a market survey of existing technology in late 2004 and "limited operational testing" of that technology has been under way since October 2005, she said, adding that she did not know when the testing is expected to completed.

"Our operational testing is ongoing. I don't have a timeline for you," she said.

The agency is now testing products from 10 vendors to detect liquid explosive elements inside bottles, she said. The testing process is lengthy because TSA must examine how new technology will be deployed to the nation's 450 airports, Kudwa added.

A House GOP aide pointed to the funding increases Congress has made in recent years for improving explosives detection technology.

According to the aide, funding for explosives countermeasures research and development, which includes liquid explosives detection technology, increased from $18.9 million in fiscal 2005 to $43.5 million in fiscal 2006. The House version of the fiscal 2007 Homeland Security appropriations bill would further increase the funding to $76.6 million, the aide said.