airport security

Passengers at O'Hare International Airport wait in line to be screened at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint.

National

Security Lines Are Interminable, But With Good Reason

8:34am May 21, 2016

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon just spent time waiting in a long security line at the airport. He says that even though it's easy to grow impatient, the security measures exist to protect lives.

Passengers wait in line to be screened at a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Monday.

Backyard Vacations Are So 2009. Summer '16 Air Travel Expected To Set Record

1:57pm May 18, 2016

by Marilyn Geewax

The airline industry predicts it will see a 4 percent increase in passengers between June 1 and Aug. 31. The travel rush is contributing to the long waits at airport security checkpoints.

Faced with the prospect of long wait times at airports this summer, Homeland Security is boosting its checkpoint staffing. In this photo from December, passengers line up to go through security at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

National

TSA Boosts Number Of Security Staff, Aiming At Airport Bottlenecks

1:02pm May 04, 2016

by Bill Chappell

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson hopes that adding staff to security checkpoints will prevent longer wait times that had been projected for this summer.

Passengers wait to check in at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in June 2015. TSA screenings at U.S. airports are beyond ticket counters, baggage claim and other heavily trafficked areas; after terrorist bombings at the Brussels, Belgium, airport targeted those

Officials Consider How U.S. Airports Could Stop A Brussels-Style Attack

6:40pm March 23, 2016

by David Schaper

Authorities around the world are boosting security at airports and train stations after the suicide-bombings in Belgium. One option, used in other countries, is screening passengers at the front door.

Queue Listen Now

Airports' Backscatter Scanners Met Radiation Standards, Panel Says

11:26am September 30, 2015

by Julie Appleby

The machines, pulled in 2013, expose travelers and airport workers to a dose of radiation well within acceptable limits — a factor of 10 below recommended safety standards.

The ramp to departures is blocked by emergency vehicles at the New Orleans International Airport on Friday night in Kenner, La.

National

Police: Suspect In New Orleans Airport Attack Was Armed With Molotov Cocktails

6:21pm March 21, 2015

by Christopher Dean Hopkins

A former taxi driver attacked two TSA agents with wasp spray and a large blade before a sheriff's deputy shot him three times, authorities say. Police say the man has since died, the AP reports.

TSA agents, like this one at Chicago's Midway International Airport, discovered more than 2,000 firearms at the nation's airports last year â the overwhelming majority of them loaded, according to new data.

National

TSA Agents Discovered 2,212 Guns At Airport Checkpoints In 2014

4:08pm January 23, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

Grenades and blades were also found. In most cases, people forgot they had them. Our favorite discovery: a knife in an enchilada. The TSA said "the passenger's intent was delicious, not malicious."