By STEVEN LEMONGELLO Press of A.C. Staff Writer | Friday, February 19, 2010
Passengers embarking from Atlantic City International Airport can expect to face one more level of security beginning in the next few weeks – a procedure the government calls explosive trace detection, or ETD, but has become more commonly known as hand-swabbing.
Ann Davis, spokeswoman for the federal Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, said random tests for explosive materials would be rolled out in phases before eventually being conducted at all airports, for both domestic and foreign flights.
“A machine on a mobile cart will be wheeled around by officials on a random, unannounced basis,” Davis said Friday, “sometimes in the checkpoint line, sometimes beyond security checkpoints at the gate areas.”
A clean cotton swab will be passed over a person’s palm and inserted into the machine, she said and “the machine will tell us quickly if it detects the presence of explosives.”
However, passengers should not expect to see the method used every day at every airport.
Kevin Rehmann, security and incident manager for the South Jersey Transportation Authority, or SJTA, said that meetings with the TSA were scheduled for Friday to discuss how and when the ETDs would be rolled out at Atlantic City International in Egg Harbor Township.
In a statement, acting TSA Administrator Gale Rossides called the technology “a critical tool in our ability to stay ahead of evolving threats to aviation security. Expanding the use of this technology at checkpoints and at departure gates greatly enhances security to keep the traveling public safe.”
The swabs are just the latest method the TSA has employed since the botched Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound jetliner. ETDs were tested for two weeks at Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Orlando International Airport, and Pitt-Greenville and Coastal Carolina Regional Airports in North Carolina, the TSA reported.
The total cost for the 400 new ETS units has been funded using $15 million in federal stimulus money, the TSA stated. The federal budget for fiscal year 2011 also includes $39 million for 800 additional ETD machines.