Chicago’s O’Hare Conducts Mobile Cargo Screening

The Transportation Security Administration for the first time has used a mobile X-ray machine capable of screening contents of large cargo containers to check trucks entering Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, the Associated Press reported.

A TSA spokesman said the surprise cargo security inspections were aimed at looking for suspicious items hidden in trucks making deliveries to stores and kiosks in airport terminals, AP said.

TSA officials say the exercise, part of a drill involving federal and city agencies, will become a common security practice as a 2010 deadline approaches requiring screening of all cargo that is loaded aboard passenger planes, AP reported.

More than 10,000 tons of air freight are carried in U.S. passenger planes every day, but only passengers and their checked baggage and carry-on items are screened for explosives and weapons, AP said.