<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted in the Washington Post:
Conceding that their airport bomb-sniffing machines have failed to work as well as hoped, two companies are asking the federal government to spend millions on new technology that would correct the defects.

InVision Technologies Inc. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. are working furiously to develop by next year technology that would enable 1,100 explosives-detection machines to scan checked luggage for bombs with improved accuracy. The additional component would cost $100,000 to $200,000 per machine, adding up to $200 million to the $1.1 billion the government has already spent on the machines, which cost $1 million apiece.

The Transportation Security Administration, the agency in charge of airport security, said it was willing to consider new technology but has not committed to any further purchases.

Chief executives of the firms acknowledged that the performance of their minivan-size machines needed to improve. In a report to Congress in May, the TSA said the scanning devices typically produce false alarms 30 percent of the time, requiring security screeners to open suspect bags and search them by hand. Since then, the agency has worked to improve performance; it now says that in a pilot project false alarms have been reduced to 15 percent. The TSA will not, however, divulge its current figure for the entire nation.</font>