A Transportation Security Administration employee gets instructions from a TSA agent on screen as they demonstrate a self-service passenger screening prototype in a joint venture with the Science and Technology Directorate at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Baggage is screened as the Transportation Security Administration and Science and Technology Directorate demonstrate a self-service passenger screening prototype at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A Transportation Security Administration employee demonstrates a self-service passenger screening prototype in a joint venture with the Science and Technology Directorate at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Karen Burke, the Transportation Security Administration’s federal security director for Nevada, speaks as the TSA and the Science and Technology Directorate host a press conference and demonstration to showcase a self-service passenger screening prototype at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Clark County Director of Aviation Rosemary Vassiliadis speaks as the Transportation Security Administration and the Science and Technology Directorate host a press conference and demonstration to showcase a self-service passenger screening prototype at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Christina Peach, the Transportation Security Administration’s deputy assistant administrator for requirements and capabilities analysis, speaks as the TSA and the Science and Technology Directorate host a press conference and demonstration to showcase a self-service passenger screening prototype at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Dimitri Kusnezov, under secretary for the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate, speaks as the Transportation Security Administration and the Science and Technology Directorate host a press conference and demonstration to showcase a self-service passenger screening prototype at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
Transportation Security Administration agents gather as the TSA and the Science and Technology Directorate host a press conference to showcase a self-service passenger screening prototype at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A new self-service passenger screening prototype from the Transportation Security Administration and the Science and Technology Directorate is displayed at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A Transportation Security Administration employee demonstrates a self-service passenger screening prototype in a joint venture with the Science and Technology Directorate at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A Transportation Security Administration employee is body scanned as she demonstrates a self-service passenger screening prototype in a joint venture with the Science and Technology Directorate at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A Transportation Security Administration employee is body scanned as she demonstrates a self-service passenger screening prototype in a joint venture with the Science and Technology Directorate at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A Transportation Security Administration employee demonstrates a self-service passenger screening prototype in a joint venture with the Science and Technology Directorate at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
A Transportation Security Administration employee speaks with a TSA agent on screen as she demonstrates a self-service passenger screening prototype in a joint venture with the Science and Technology Directorate at Harry Reid International Airport on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Las Vegas. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal) @Left_Eye_Images
There’s a new option coming soon for people flying out of Harry Reid International Airport, but it’s not a new airline.
The Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate held a demonstration Wednesday for a new self-service passenger screening system at the airport.
“It is the only system of its kind in the country,” Karen Burke, the TSA’s federal security director for Nevada, said at the demonstration. “It’s a one of a kind, and we are delighted to have it first here in Las Vegas.”
Officials say the “Screening at Speed” system is designed to let passengers go through the airport security screening process with minimal contact from TSA staff.
Those who have signed up for the TSA PreCheck security program will have the option of using the system starting in mid-March while it undergoes testing this year.
The screening system is set up at the TSA’s Innovation Checkpoint at Terminal 3 of Reid airport. A video monitor gives passengers step-by-step instructions for going through the screening process. Once passengers have completed the process and are cleared for travel, automated exit doors open so travelers can get their belongings and head to the gate.
TSA officers will be available if passengers need assistance.
“Going towards that seamless journey (through screening) is what we’re looking at here,” said Christina Peach, the TSA’s deputy assistant administrator for requirements and capabilities analysis. “Over the next several months, we will be doing a lot of data collection, so we’re really looking at things from the operational perspective, looking for things from cybersecurity aspects, as well as the human factors element, not only for the officers but for the traveling public.”
And officials say even more innovations are on the horizon.
“We’re looking at X-ray systems that should dramatically reduce the number of bags that officers have to open up and check,” said John Fortune, the S&T’s Screening at Speed program manager. “We’re looking at new passenger technologies for screening that may not be a portal at all. It may be a panel that you walk by.”
