The Department of Homeland Security and its industry partners are working to develop automated target recognition (ATR) capabilities for whole body imaging systems so that the machines purchased with FY ’11 funds incorporate this advanced feature, a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) official told Congress.
The ATR capability that will hopefully be built into the 500 Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) systems that are planned to be purchased and deployed by the end of 2011 would also be retrofitted on the first 490 AIT machines that are scheduled to be deployed by the end of 2010, Robin Kane, TSA’s assistant administrator for Operational Process and Technology, told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation Security.
Kane said that DHS is working with industry to obtain the auto-detection capabilities. Currently, TSA has two qualified vendors for the AIT systems, L-3 Communications [LLL], which supplies a millimeter wave-based system called ProVision, and OSI Systems [OSIS] Rapiscan division, which supplies a backscatter X-ray-based system called Secure 1000.
Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam currently uses the L-3 machines with the ATR feature.
Bradley Buswell, the DHS deputy under secretary for Science and Technology, said that “minimum criteria” for ATR algorithms is that they have to “be at least as good as the human operator monitoring these images.”
Currently, a Transportation Security Officer in a remote location at an airport views the images produced by an AIT for any anomalies. If the officer sees something irregular on a person’s body, a screener at the checkpoint is alerted so that a further examination of the individual can be conducted.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), a proponent of the AIT systems, said there is an apparent discrepancy on the throughput of the systems, which process individuals slower than walk- through metal detectors. He said some airports are reporting that it takes as long as 45 seconds per person using the AIT.
Kane said that TSA is finding that the total time to move a passenger through an AIT system and interpret the image is between 20 and 22 seconds. Once an ATR capability is installed in the machines throughput will speed up, he said.
So far, TSA has deployed over 40 AIT systems to 21 airports. The agency’s long-term budget plans call for the deployment of 1,800 systems total, although no monies were specified for this full-up capability beyond 2011 in the budget request sent to Congress last month.
Steve Lord, director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues for the Government Accountability Office (GAO), said that TSA has yet to perform a cost-benefit analysis associated with moving ahead with the AIT deployments relative to other checkpoint technologies. He estimates that going from the original planned deployment of 878 AIT systems to 1,800 could add up to $2.4 billion in life-cycle costs to the program.
“Moreover, the total staff cost for the 1,800 units could range as high as $4.7 billion,” Lord said. “These costs were not reflected in TSA’s most recent February 2010 life- cycle cost estimate.”
As for costs to airports where TSA will deploy the AIT systems, Kane said that the agency’s goal is make sure these expenses are minimal.
Charles Barclay, president of the American Association of Airport Executives, which represents the nation’s airports, said that airports support the deployment of the AIT systems. He praised TSA for coordinating its AIT deployment efforts with airports but said closer consultation with individual airports is needed.
And sooner or later there will be significant costs for an airport to install the AIT systems due to the need for checkpoint modifications, Barclay said. These costs should be borne by DHS, he said.
Kane also testified yesterday that TSA is about to begin field testing of upgraded versions of Advanced Technology (AT) X-ray systems that are used to screen carry-on bags at airport checkpoints. These upgrades will feature automated explosives detection capabilities, he said.
TSA so far has deployed more than 900 AT X-ray systems and plans to buy and deploy 1,300 more systems. The agency currently purchases AT systems from Rapiscan and Britain’s Smiths Detection.