WASHINGTON - Airport screeners for the first
time will begin roving through airports taking chemical swabs from
passengers and their bags to check for explosives, the Transportation
Security Administration said Tuesday.
The program, already tested at five airports
after the attempted Christmas Day bomb plot on a U.S.-bound airliner,
begins nationwide in a few weeks, TSA spokeswoman Sterling Payne said.
Screeners will push carts with bomb-detection machines around airport
gates and checkpoint lines to randomly check passengers' hands and
carry-on bags for explosive residue.
