TSA to create airport screening network.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: SECURITY BEAT: Homeland Defense Briefs

THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY AGENCY is in the early stages of an effort to link the roughly 14,000 screening machines in airports throughout the nation.

The goal of the security technology integration program is to send data to a central location and create a more efficient system, TSA spokesperson Amy Kudwa told National Defense.

"There are several different data points we are looking to collect," she said. The efficiency of officers, passenger and baggage flow, and machinery performance are all of interest. The increased knowledge will lead to better staffing models, she said.

If an X-ray machine, explosive trace portal or checked baggage-screening machine begins to wear down, a message can be sent through the network to a central location, and a technician would be dispatched.

"We would be able to manage a situation before we came to a hard stop,"...