liquid explosives

On the surface, this cartoon resonates with many passengers who’ve had to abandon their liquids or adjust their travel to adhere to TSA’s 3-1-1 liquid policy.

Media reports and security “experts” routinely ask if TSA really makes air travelers safer or if we are simply trying to make things more inconvenient in the name of security.

Lotion is designed to keep you smooth, but apparently not smooth enough to fool our Millimeter Wave (MMW) machines.

Recently, a passenger concealed a 4 oz. bottle of lotion on their person for the sole reason that it was expensive and they didn’t want to lose it.

TSA is aware that the current liquid restrictions are a pain point for the public.

That is one reason why the agency is working aggressively to deploy technology that can detect liquid explosives.

The primary reason is: better security.

Blogging has been light this week, with some on the team out for end-of-summer vacations and Bob's out taking care of his new baby.

Over the weekend, Fox News published a story about the UK liquids plot.

Here’s an excerpt:

While American Idol fans debate the merits of the two Davids, across the pond, a terror trial has captured the attention of most of England and in fact the continent.

Eight alleged terrorists are on trial for planning to blow up seven airliners, five of which were destined for the U.S.

While this trial is barely registering in the American press, had the plot succeeded, it would have been catastrophic, killing thousands of innocent passengers and rivaling 9/11 in its ferocity.

It’s also the basis for one of our most controversial policies, 3-1-1.

So here we are in the year 2008, we have laptops as thin as a potato chip, cars that run on electricity or hydrogen and 400 channels of satellite TV beamed right to your living room…yet the best way we have to detect explosives in many environments is that 4-legged friend, the dog.

Last week, there was a post on the ars technica blog by Jon Stokes, Senior Editor and Co-Founder, posing some questions on TSA’s liquids rules similar to other questions we’ve gotten on the blog so far.

Kip Hawley wrote the following response, and we wanted to post it here for TSA blog readers to see as well.

Jon,