TSA Trials SmartCheck System

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is to trial American Science and Engineering's (AS&E's) privacy-enhanced SmartCheck Personnel Screening System at Los Angeles International Airport.

SmartCheck uses Z Backscatter x-ray technology to provide screeners with an outline image of a passenger and an outline of any potential threats, in a similar manner to a chalk drawing, AS&E says.

The system cannot store, export, print, or transmit images.

TSA began piloting the SmartCheck system at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in February 2007 for secondary screening on a voluntary basis, and as an alternative to traditional pat-down searches.

By Elizabeth Clifford-Marsh