Hopes are rising among air travellers that the long-standing restrictions on liquids in carry-on bags at US airports may soon be eased, a move that could alleviate the ‘endless hassles’ at security checkpoints.
However, this optimism is tempered by a significant security concern: more than a third of all airports across the country have yet to upgrade their screening systems to reliably detect liquid explosives.
While the inconvenience of discarding beverages and toiletries before security is a common frustration, the underlying challenge lies in differentiating innocuous items like hair gel from potentially lethal substances.
This threat nearly materialised in 2006, when British authorities foiled a plot to detonate homemade chemical mixtures, disguised in sports drink bottles, aboard airliners.
Security experts continue to express concern over the vulnerabilities exposed by that foiled attack.
Recent remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ignited the prospect for passengers of one day being able to fly with more than 3 ounces of their shampoos and gels, and avoiding the need to dispose of recently purchased drinks.
“The liquids, I’m questioning. So that may be the next big announcement, is what size your liquids need to be,” Noem said. “We have put in place in TSA a multilayered screening process that allows us to change some of how we do security and screening so it’s still as safe.”
A Transportation Security Administration spokesperson said Noem and the agency “are constantly looking for ways to enhance security, and improve the travel experience for the public.”
Any changes will come through the same official channels that TSA used to announce this month that travelers can keep their shoes on at checkpoints.
That change offers relief from a rule adopted after “shoe bomber” Richard Reid’s failed attempt to take down a flight from Paris to Miami in late 2001 with a small explosive device hidden in his footwear.
The limits on liquids were triggered by the 2006 UK arrests. Three ringleaders were eventually convicted.
Prosecutors told the jury in that case that authorities uncovered the plot after secretly searching the luggage of a man who was on their radar for security concerns after he returned from Pakistan and found the unusual combination of the Tang powdered soft drink and a large number of batteries, according to the BBC.
That triggered the surveillance operation that eventually grew to include more than 200 officers.
Agents discovered what appeared to be a bomb factory in a London apartment where odd devices were being constructed out of drink bottles. The plot didn’t make sense until authorities discovered that the men were researching flight timetables and realised they were only trying to make an explosive big enough to rip a hole in a plane.
