Airbus to deploy 'game-changing' bomb-sniffing sensors at airports

This may have been a good one for Airbus to keep under their hats. (as in not readily available public info) Develop it, deploy it, quietly. The word here that is missing is OPSEC (OPerational SECurity) Personally I am fascinated by new technology like this. But then, so are the people who make the devices this thing is supposed to sniff out. Yes, some of this technology has been available for quite a while. Part of any new security technology, is how it is deployed, and THAT we don't need to know quite so easily. When you know how something works, you can figure out how to make it un-work.

Smart idea!

Yep, telling everyone about it will stop terrorists . Wow

Yes. Maybe OPSEC should have been deployed quietly.

And TSA spent $77 million on dogs that can't detect explosives.

Why tell us? WTF tell us??? (Not you, FA - Airbus.)

So with any new sensor technology, the real missing piece is what happens when it alerts? Who does what? How many airports have a containment area/room for suspect devices? How many TSA secondary search areas are constructed to be hardened (as this is likely one operational area for this detection system)? Here is hoping that the manufacturer works with the public safety responder community BEFORE anything is deployed, so that these kind of critical details can be worked out.

We always get told AFTER someone installs them and have to work backwards to develop operational plans and protocols.

I remember chemical weapons sniffers that alarmed on shoe polish.