A few years back whenever I went through airport security with my laptop there was a good chance I would be pulled out of line and they would ‘swab’ my laptop and check for explosive materials, at least that’s what they told me at the time. It didn’t happen every time, but it happened often enough that I would hold off putting my laptop back in my bag until I had left the security area.
It seems they stopped doing this about 5-10 years ago, although I haven’t noticed any new security technologies that can do this testing remotely. Are they still doing it, or did they decide that laptops weren’t as hazardous as the had thought they were in the past?
WAG - TSA got better at using the Xray screening so that the swab is no longer required, unless some anomaly showed up, or your behavior triggered something.
I was having a similar situation with my CPAP (sleep apnea breathing equipment). I have to take the machine itself (but not the hose, mask, and power supply) out of its carrying case and put it in its own tray, just like I have to do with my laptop. There was a stretch where just about every time it would get pulled off the line and given the swab test. Once it appeared that the test was positive because I was asked if it had been someplace where it might have been exposed to certain substances (I can’t remember now what they were), but I was still allowed to keep it without any further problem. But that hasn’t happened for several years.
Also, it was always pulled for testing as soon as it came out of the X-Ray machine, so I never had the chance to put it back into its case only to have to take it back out.
I remember hearing about this change, but how does an x-ray machine detect chemicals that might be used in a bomb? It sounds like they aren’t routinely checking for this at this point.
Modern digital xray machines are well aware of the differing absorbtion of different chemicals. And they highlight the luggage contents which have similar absorbtion profiles to known organo-explosives.
Yes, xray machines are seeing & detecting explosives, not just opaque metals. As a result, TSA doesn’t need to routinely swab laptops.
If your laptop (or anything else, including shoes or deodarant) shows up as more organic than expected, somebody will pull the bag aside & dig through the contents and perhaps re-xray them or swab them for the GC sniffer scanner, or both.