mones and terror

[koolking1]

"Sweating In An

Airport? You Could Be A Terrorist

Reuters | March 10 2005

MALVERN (Reuters) - The "suicide bomber"

clips a shrapnel-filled belt around his waist and buttons up his jacket to conceal it.

As he turns back and

forth in front of a semi-circular white panel, about the size of a shower cubicle, a computer monitor shows the

metal-packed cylinders standing out clearly in white against his body.

This is no real security alarm: it's

a demonstration at the British technology group QinetiQ of a scanning device that sees under people's clothes to

spot not just metal but other potential threats like ceramic knives or hidden drugs.

The electromagnetic

technology, known as Millimetre Wave (MMW), is just one aspect of a potential revolution in security screening being

pioneered at QinetiQ, formerly part of the research arm of the British defence ministry.

"Actually, detecting

a suicide bomber in the lobby of an airport is not a great thing to happen," Simon Stringer, new managing director

of QinetiQ's security business, says with understatement.

"It's slightly better than having him do it in

the departure lounge or perhaps on the plane, but you're still doing to have to deal with a significant

problem."

That's why, he says, the trend for the future will be to move the scanners outside the terminal

building and operate them in "stand-off mode" -- checking people from a distance before they even set foot

inside.

The advantage is obvious: to spot potential attackers without alerting them to the fact, and gain

precious seconds for security forces to prevent an attack.

ARE YOU SWEATING TOO MUCH?

Another prospect

in store for air travellers is "hyperspectral sensing" that will check for chemicals called pheromones, secreted by

the human body, which may indicate agitation or stress.

"People under stress tend to exude slightly different

pheromones, and you can pick this up ... There are sensing techniques we're working on," Stringer said.

The

stress may have an innocent cause, such as fear of flying, but could also betray the nervousness of a potential

attacker. The point is to alert security staff to something unusual that may need further investigation.

As

with MMW, the technology could function at a distance and without the need for people to wait in line. By conducting

such checks while people are approaching the airport and moving through it, authorities could avoid bottlenecks and

queues.

SUSPICIOUS MOVEMENTS

As the passenger proceeds through the terminal, the next layer of

surveillance could be carried out through "cognitive software" which monitors his or her movements and sounds a

silent alarm if it picks up an unusual pattern.

"Someone who's been back in and out of the same place three

times or keeps bumping into the same people might be something that's worthy of further investigation ... I think

that's really the sort of capabilities we're going to be looking at," Stringer said in an interview.

While

many of these technologies are still under development, others have already been rolled out to clients by QinetiQ,

which made group operating profit of 28 million pounds in the six months to last September.

Millimetre wave,

for example, has been trialled at airports and, in a different application, is being used by immigration authorities

and Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel to detect illegal immigrants trying to enter the country as stowaways in the

back of trucks.

Stringer says the potential market for MMW runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars and

goes well beyond the transport sector.

"We're spending quite a lot of time talking to multinationals who

want to establish perimeter security systems around plant, installations and buildings," he said.

QinetiQ --

owned 30 percent by private equity group Carlyle and 56 percent by the government -- expects rapid growth for its

security business as it gears up for a stock market launch.

BIG BROTHER?

But how will ordinary people

embrace the prospect of surveillance technology that sees through their clothes, checks how much they're sweating

and tracks their airport wanderings between the tax-free shops and the toilets?

Stringer acknowledges that

some might see this as George Orwell's Big Brother come true. "There are always going to be issues of privacy here

and they're not to be belittled, they're important."

But he says smarter technology will actually make the

checks less intrusive than those now in standard practice, such as being searched head to foot after setting off a

metal detector alarm.

"Personally I find that more irritating than the idea of someone just scanning me as I

walk through," he said.

"You're under surveillance in airports anyway. What you're looking at here is just

being applied more intelligently.""

I find it interesting that the Carlyle Group is a major player in this

company.

[a.k.a.]

I can just see it now. My poor

mother, who gets so aggitated that she has to medicate herself before boarding a plane, is going to set off all the

alarms and I’ll have to spend my life savings on some ACLU lawyer just to get her out of Guantanamo.

[Gegogi]

Another prospect in store

for air travellers is "hyperspectral sensing" that will check for chemicals called pheromones, secreted by the human

body, which may indicate agitation or stress.

"People under stress tend to exude slightly different

pheromones, and you can pick this up ... There are sensing techniques we're working on," Stringer said.

The

stress may have an innocent cause, such as fear of flying, but could also betray the nervousness of a potential

attacker. The point is to alert security staff to something unusual that may need further

investigation.

I wonder if any LS forum members will be inhabiting Guantanamo in the near future?

[DrSmellThis]

I can just see

it now. My poor mother, who gets so aggitated that she has to medicate herself before boarding a plane, is going to

set off all the alarms and I’ll have to spend my life savings on some ACLU lawyer just to get her out of

Guantanamo.

..........