A new GAO Report details how bomb parts and like items were smuggled past screeners at 19 checkpoints across the United States.

Click here to read the entire report.

There still seems to be a challenge within TSA to properly train screeners to:

#1 Identify a possible prohibitive item

#2 Isolate it

#3 Resolve whether it is or is not so.

Despite the call for new technologies, screener training needs to remain at the forefront. This requires a ?back to the basics? approach. That is, one which involves:

? Identification, Isolation, and Resolution Training

? Rigorous and constant testing

? Assessment of the testing results

? Recurrent training based upon the outcomes

The threats posed to transportation networks are human. The solutions, therefore, must be human ones, aided with new technology. Not the other way around. Training is not sexy, nor it is glamorous. However, it must drive the human component of the security equation. This is the foundation of a true risk-based approach.