WASHINGTON - X-ray machines that screen airline passengers' shoes cannot detect explosives, according to a Homeland Security Department report on aviation screening.

Findings from the report, obtained by The Associated Press, did not stop the Transportation Security Administration from announcing Sunday that all airline passengers must remove their shoes and run them through X-ray machines before boarding commercial aircraft.

<snip>

TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said putting shoes on the X-ray machines makes the screening process more efficient and eliminates confusion. "We do not have a specific threat regarding shoes," Clark said. "In an abundance of caution we require all shoes to be removed and X-rayed to mitigate a variety of threats."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060815/..._plot_security


Wow... they don't practice what they preach... another item to include in my letter to my congress people....

EDITED TO ADD CACHED GOOGLE LINK...

Well it seems DHS doesnt want anyone to know about their "in-security" and have had the link changed... thanks to the others for posting on this... cowtowing to DHS ... this is ridiculous...

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:m...ient=firefox-a

And TSA's defense of this absurd policy, "In an abundance of caution we require all shoes to be removed and X-rayed to mitigate a variety of threats". What threat, pray tell, do they hope to mitigate that a stroll through the WTMD with shoes on wouldn't catch?

And now that all shoes are being x-rayed, my bet is the % that will get the ETD swab will go down; thus TSA's new policy will actually increase the risk that a shoe bomb could get through.

NO <bad word> SHERLOCK!!!



Yeah, about a truckload of fertiler's worth.

Yeah, no kidding. At least pax will feel better that shoes are being x-rayed, thus 'preventing' a Richard Reid copycat attack.

Proof positive this is all nothing but theater for the masses.

Well, well.

DHS has finally admitted what I've been saying for years.

That's mighty big of you, Comrade Chertoff. Got anything else you'd like to share with the group?

I just read that story before coming to FT and wanted to throw my laptop across the room. Just infuriating!

If I hear one more politician or bureaucrat utter the phrase "abundance of caution," I am absolutely going to flip out.

This has suddenly become the justification for everything. It means "we have absolutely no logical justification for this rule, but it makes us feel good." I wish some reporter would punch the next idiot who uses that phrase.

In line for the WTMD at ORD Mon. morning I was really disgusted at seeing how many people were walking through barefoot. As discussed elsewhere, plantars warts, athletes foot, other fungi and infections- it was really gross, and I'm not easily grossed out.

Is this making us safer?

BTW, how did the DHS figure out that x-rays don't detect explosives? Did they have to hire consultants?

"TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark said putting shoes on the X-ray machines makes the screening process more efficient and eliminates confusion. �We do not have a specific threat regarding shoes,� Clark said. �In an abundance of caution we require all shoes to be removed and X-rayed to mitigate a variety of threats,� such as potential weapons."

Under the "no specific threat/abundance of caution" doctrine, everything else is a danger equal to shoes. All clothes and underwear need to be run through the x-ray, too. I know, logic and TSA are rarely in the same sentence.

"I just read that story before coming to FT and wanted to throw my laptop across the room."

Careful its not a Dell with one of those exploding batteries. Will this fire hazard be enough excuse to ban laptops and all items with rechargeable lithium batteries?

Heavy sigh......as if we didn't already suspect this. Window dressing at the shoe carnival, anyone? From CNN:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government's new order that all airline passengers put their shoes through X-ray machines won't help screeners find a liquid or gel that can be used as a bomb.

The machines are unable to detect explosives, according to a Homeland Security report on aviation screening recently obtained by The Associated Press.

The Transportation Security Administration ordered the shoe-scanning requirement as it fine-tunes new security procedures.

Those procedures were put in place after British police last week broke up a terrorist plot to assemble and detonate bombs aboard as many as 10 airliners crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Britain to the U.S.

Among the new procedures are a ban on liquids and gels in airline passenger cabins, more hand searches of carry-on luggage, and random double screening of passengers at boarding gates...

Its not as devastating as the report says. It depends on a variety of factors.

Yes, it is as devastating.

Millions are forced to de-shoe under the false premise that the x-ray will determine if these shoes are laden with explosives.

As I've saying all along explosives do not appear differently under x-ray inspection.

The would-be shoe bomber would have to do a really sloppy, careless job and the drone at the x-ray would actually need to have a few neurons fire and see the bomb maker's poor workmanship.

Meanwhile, there are two devices, ETD and the "puffer" that actually do detect explosives accurately. These two devices are eschewed in favor of passenger harassment that is ineffective.

That's nothing less than devastating, if not damning.

Comrades Hawley and Chertoff should both be fired and required to explain to Congress why they have been engaging in known passenger harassment instead of actually looking for explosives with tools that have been proven to work.

It's wiring in the shoes more than explosives that are being looked for via the X-ray check still, right? There is a problem with that too in that the wires and detonator can be placed later (i.e., airside, in-flight). ETD and puffers (and things of the sort) are a better solution than an x-ray shoe carnival.

Or is it sloppy shoe cavities? Even then, ETD and puffers (and things of the sort) are a better solution than an x-ray shoe carnival.

We (the non-lemmings of the world) already knew this, but:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/15/Ter...cnn_topstories

Of course, you will all be happy to hear:


In short, the shoe fetish as we know it is completely useless.