TSA's shoe scanners are a failure yet they continue to spend millions of taxpayer dollars on similar technology.

Washington, D.C. - After spending millions of dollars testing four different scanning devices that would allow airline passengers to keep their shoes on at security checkpoints, the U.S. government has decided for now that travelers must continue to remove their footwear, by far the leading source of frustration and delays at the airport.

The Transportation Security Administration said it had rejected all four devices because they failed to adequately detect explosives and metal weapons during tests at various airports. One of the scanners is now used in airports in 18 countries. 
Last September, Secretary Janet Napolitano of the Homeland Security Department raised hopes when she said that research and development on scanning machines was progressing and that air travelers would eventually be able to keep their shoes on. 
But nearly a year later, the T.S.A., which is overseen by Homeland Security, said it was not any closer to finding a solution. Lisa Farbstein, a spokeswoman for the agency, would not address why it had rejected the devices.
In 2007, the agency tested a General Electric shoe scanner at Orlando International Airport. The next year, it tested two scanning machines made by L3 Communications at Los Angeles International Airport. But none of them passed agency muster. 
It also tested a device called Magshoe, which is intended to detect metal and is made by IDO Security, an Israeli firm, that deploys the scanner in hundreds of airports and cruise ships around the world, including in China, Italy and Israel. 
Michael Goldberg, the company’s president, said the machine can detect explosives containing metal, but not plastic explosives. 
Mr. Goldberg said the machine performed flawlessly in tests with the T.S.A. But the agency did not think so. 
He said no current technology can detect all of the various chemical compounds used as explosives. Current X-ray machines used to scan shoes can detect metal but are not much help in finding liquids or gels that can be used as explosives.
The government has a $1.4 million contract with Morpho Detection, a subsidiary of the French defense giant Safran, to develop a shoe-scanning machine.
Many security experts say the security agency is too focused on technologies for intercepting things — guns, knives, explosives — instead of focusing on stopping people.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/24/us/shoe-scanners-fail-tests-at-us-airports.html?_r=1