U.S. government strengthens security

U.S. government strengthens security

The machines are unable to detect explosives, according to a Homeland Security Department report on aviation screening recently obtained by The Associated Press.

The Transportation Security Administration ordered the shoe-scanning requirement as it fine-tunes new security procedures.

Those procedures were put in place after British police last week broke up a terrorist plot to assemble and detonate bombs aboard as many as 10 airliners going from Britain to the U.S, the AP reports.

Among the new procedures are a ban on liquids and gels in airline passenger cabins, more hand searches of carry-on luggage, and random double screening of passengers at boarding gates.