Airport Screeners Fail Government Bomb Tests

21 airports nationwide don’t detect bomb-making materials.

Imagine an explosion strong enough to blow a car's trunk apart, caused by a bomb inside a passenger plane. Government sources tell NBC News that federal investigators recently were able to carry materials needed to make a similar homemade bomb through security screening at 21 airports.

In all 21 airports tested, no machine, no swab, no screener anywhere stopped the bomb materials from getting through. Even when investigators deliberately triggered extra screening of bags, no one discovered the materials.

It’s unclear whether any of the chemicals which were allowed through by screeners are substances which sophisticated explosives detection “sniffing” machines deployed at some airports are capable of detecting.

Explosives detection portals like those made by GE are highly sensitive to detecting a variety of materials used in explosives. It’s not known, though, whether any of these sniffers were in use at the airports that were tested. If they were, then it would mean these and other detection machines would need to be outfitted to also detect the substances used in the testing.

As for the human screeners who allowed through substances that could be combined to make explosives, they may need to be better trained in explosives detection and educated about the kinds of substances that can be used to construct an explosive. Adequate training rather than sloppiness and lax screening is most likely to be the reason for why these substances were allowed through security.