The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing changes that will make airport checks easy, more reliable and quickly, according to The New York Times published Sunday.

Prepared at the request of Congress, the DHS in a confidential report examines four areas: passenger checkpoints, checked baggage, air cargo and in-bound international flights.

The DHS report said the most severe domestic shortcomings involved passenger checkpoints, and included unnecessary bottlenecks and less-than-satisfactory security.

Widespread delays caused by security breaches could be reduced by simply preventing passengers from dashing through exits leading from secure areas, the report said.

Checkpoints operated by the Transportation Security Administration, the DHS division that oversees airport security, should have gates or lockable doors at those exits, the report suggested.

For baggage checks, the DHS recommended the installation of more scanning devices to replace the time-consuming process of opening up the bags.

It also proposed wider use of explosives trace detection machines to enhance security for passengers flying to the United States, saying it is a measure "that can be taken very quickly at relatively low costs."

Fixing serious weaknesses in the nation's aviation security system is critical as passenger traffic rises beyond levels seen before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the DHS report said.

This summer, passengers are expected to take about 200 million trips globally on the nation's airlines, up about 4 percent from last year.

Air cargo on passenger planes is rarely physically inspected today, said the report, adding several alternatives were proposed for systems that could handle such a complicated task, given the many different sizes and weights of packages.

The House of Representatives has allocated 30 million dollars to Homeland Security for testing such options in the coming year, said the report.

Source: Xinhua