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Passengers traveling through hundreds of U.S. airports may no longer be required to remove liquids from carry-on bags during screening, thanks to the latest X-ray technology—but it’s far too soon to scrap the policy nationwide, say aviation security experts.
TSA Deputy Acting Administrator Adam Stahl told attendees of the Skift Global Forum Thursday that the agency is “looking aggressively” at whether it should change its liquids rule for flyers.
Such a sweeping change could be possible in the future thanks to computed tomography (CT) scanners that create 3-dimensional images of passengers’ carry-on bags and can detect explosives, including liquids.
The TSA has installed CT scanners in 285 U.S. airports—roughly two-thirds of the 435 airports with screening checkpoints, the TSA told Forbes.
At many airports equipped with these scanners, the TSA’s liquid rules are already being “quietly, informally” being phased out, Jeff Price, the former assistant director of security for Denver International Airport and current professor in the Department of Aviation and Aerospace Science at Metropolitan State University of Denver, told Forbes.
In July, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said changing the liquids rule “may be the next big announcement” but gave no details or timeline.
Realistically, it will likely take at least a decade before all U.S. airports have CT scanners. “Certain airports have the CT technology on-site, where the TSA is letting passengers leave their liquids in the bag,” Price told Forbes. “But this is one of those times where you need to have 100% deployment before you change the rules because, A, you get inconsistent rules, and, B, you get gaps in the system. It doesn’t take long for an individual trying to penetrate the system to figure out which airports don’t have these scanners.”
The TSA told Forbes it has deployed 1,027 units across the country so far. Though the price of each unit can vary, they are expensive. The agency spent at least $2.2 billion on CT scanners between 2021 and 2023. Beyond budget constraints, a more limiting factor is coming from airports, suggested Price, as not all facilities have the infrastructure to accept the CT scanners. “It’s not simply a matter of swapping out what’s already there,” he said. “Since these machines are heavier, so you might have to reinforce the flooring. They might require more power. Some airports need to do checkpoint reconfigurations. It’s really not a case where you just pull out the old machine and plug in the new one.”
Computed tomography, or CT, is a type of X-ray scanning technology similar to the imaging technology doctors use to obtain detailed internal images of the human body. The latest airport security checkpoint scanning equipment can create 3-dimensional images of passengers’ carry-on items, which can be viewed and rotated 360 degrees for analysis. The big advantage of this technology is that it gives TSA officers a clear picture of a bag’s contents and can automatically detect explosives, including liquids. It allows airport screening to be much more streamlined, as passengers can keep laptops and liquids inside of the bag during checkpoint screening.
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