Millions of air passengers who go through security hell each day, holding their shoes and half-unpacking their carry-ons are always eager to hear about the rosy future in which they’ll be able to walk through in their shoes, with their laptops and liquids safely packed.
While some of the new technology gets gate-tested at selected airports across the country, with several airports testing the CT scanners that may ease the need for manual inspections, the real key to the future will apparently be one level below the main floor of Terminal 3 at Las Vegas, where the TSA has just opened its live research facility, called ACE, for Advancing the Checkpoint Environment.
ACE will make it possible to test new equipment and technologies in a controlled situation, or even to cross-check several different procedures. The lab operates four hours a day, five days a week, and diverts passengers from the regular screening lines to ACE. In return, passengers get a faster screening, and a Precheck-like experience and bypass the regular screening.
