Special Report: Major UK air terror plot thwarted

BEIJING, Aug.15 (Xinhuanet)-- "It is true thatthe small amount of explosive in a shoe bomb would be difficult to detectwith X-ray machine, butthat's exactwhat Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) equipment for,"a bloger of NewsBusters,Al Brown said on hisown blog on Tuesday.

"X-ray machines that screen airline passengers' shoes cannot detect explosives," APreported on Monday. Itimpliedthat itwas unsafe for the U.S.government fine-tunes new security procedures after British police disrupted the terror plot to blow UK-U.S. flights.

Is it unsafe like AP reported?

"The AP headline is inaccurate andmisleading," Al Brown stressed.

"Screeners are trained to use x-ray machines to detect the components of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs): timing devices, detonators, switches, and the main charge - the explosive," he said, adding that Screeners can followthe Anomalies in the x-ray image of the shoe to determine which shoes might deserve to be tested by the ETD.

ETD involves a screener using a dry pad on the end of a wand to wipe a surface — baggage, shoes, clothing — and then putting the pad into a machine called an ion mobility spectrometer. The machine can detect tiny particles, or traces, of explosives.

Screeners do use ETD on passengers who have been selected to be screened a second time after going through the checkpoint.

TSA spokeswoman Yolanda Clark also said: "putting shoes on the X-ray machines makes the screening process more efficient and eliminates confusion." Enditem

(Agencies)