Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano announced on Friday that $23 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds were awarded to the Orlando International airport to improve its security technology.
The recovery Act funding will be used for an inline baggage screening system at the Orlando airport as part of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) ongoing efforts to improve airport security and at the same time boosting local economy.
“This state-of-the-art technology will strengthen security for travelers by enhancing our capability to detect and disrupt threats of terrorism. The project will create local jobs, streamline the passenger check-in process and bolster security at airports across the nation,” Napolitano said.
The new baggage screening technology will improve detection of explosives and threats to aviation security; thus reducing the number of re-scans and physical bag searches. It will also allow streamlining the ticketing process.
The TSA was allocated $1 billion for its many projects. From such amount, $734 million is dedicated to screening checked baggage and $266 million is allocated for airport checkpoint screening and CCTV technologies.
