How Safe Can We Get?

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The few bags that are scanned this way are flagged with the help of a computer-assisted profiling program. While the success rate of profiling, which looks for telltale signs such as people paying with cash or changing travel plans at the last minute, isn't yet clear, the growing practice is controversial, viewed by some as a potential attack on civil liberties. But after Tuesday, the American public may be shedding its qualms. More than half those interviewed in the TIME/CNN poll said it would be acceptable to profile by age, race and gender to help identify suspicious passengers. And thanks to a new software program dubbed the Threat Image Protection System that will soon appear on X-ray machines across the nation, the FAA will periodically be able to paint virtual images of guns or explosives onto the monitor to test and better prepare screeners for the real thing.

Scientists are busy developing even more advanced detection schemes--from digital bomb sniffers and 3-D holographic body scanners to biometric, facial-recognition systems that can potentially be used to check passengers against an electronic national counterterrorism database. "Terrorists aren't born overnight. They are indoctrinated, schooled," says Joseph Atick, founder of Visionics, which has deployed its technology at an Iceland airport, at English stadiums to keep out soccer hooligans and, controversially, this summer in the entertainment district of downtown Tampa, Fla. "Somebody checks your credit card when you buy something. Why can't we check if you're a terrorist or not when you're boarding a plane?" Unfortunately, after last week, that's one more question Americans wish they knew the answer to.