World: New airport scanners could end bans on laptops and liquids

Manufacturers of airport security equipment have a message for travelers who fear they will have to give up laptops and tablet computers on international flights: They have a solution. At least four of the largest companies making screening devices say they are developing scanners so much better at detecting explosives than existing X-ray machines that passengers could leave laptops, other electronics and even liquids in their bags, vastly simplifying airport security. “It’s a no brainer,” said Joseph Paresi, CEO of Integrated Defense & Security Solutions Inc., which has developed one of the new scanning machines that has passed initial U.S. government testing. “It’s not if. It’s when it’s going to happen.” But the speed with which US, European and other security agencies can put them into widespread use remains an open question. After being burned by attempts to roll out new screening equipment in the past -- such as having to warehouse hundreds of so-called puffer machines designed to detect explosives because they didn’t perform well in real-world conditions a decade ago -- the TSA has instituted multiple layers of performance tests. And Congress hasn’t appropriated funds for large purchases of the machines. Adding the devices, which list for several hundred thousand dollars each, at thousands of airport security lines in just the US could cost $1b or more. <br/>