The Element of Surprise

The nation's fifth-biggest airport is "one of the top targets on the West Coast," says Butts. The "millennium plot" of December 31, 1999, aimed to set off explosives at LAX. Federal agents broke up the plot when they arrested Algerian Ahmed Ressam entering the U.S. from Canada with a car laden with explosives. He was later convicted on terrorism charges. On July 4, 2002, an Egyptian immigrant named Hesham Hadayet opened fire at the El Al counter at LAX, killing two and wounding four.

Airport officials have at least one new task for the software. Soon ARMOR will begin jumbling the placement of the bomb-sniffing canine patrols too, says Butts. Other potential uses are too secret to talk about. Butts says that the new random placement "makes travelers safer" and even gives them "a greater feeling of police presence" by making the cops appear more numerous. That's good for visitors, and, officials hope, bad for would-be terrorists.

© 2007