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TSA turns 20 | What has changed at Sky Harbor Airport over the years

Flying changed forever two decades ago on Sept. 11, 2001, and enhanced safety measures continue to evolve.

PHOENIX — On Friday, TSA turns 20 years old. The more thorough airport security has created long lines, but also peace of mind as we take to the skies. 

Flying changed forever two decades ago on Sept. 11, 2001, and enhanced safety measures continue to evolve. Two months after the terrorist attacks, then-President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). 

It's a force of federal airport screeners that replaced the private companies that airlines were hiring to handle security. Ramped up security checkpoints that are now routine for us were once foreign: taking off our shoes, our belts, liquid limits, and CT scanners checking our bags and bodies. 

Chad Beedle, Stakeholder Manager for TSA Phoenix, has seen the change first hand. 

"Since 20 years ago, it has changed dramatically," Beedle explained. "I started here in 2002, I was one of the first officers to roll out TSA here in Phoenix. When we started we had hand wands and walk-through metal detectors and x-rays and now we have a lot more different technology here like CT scanners, we have advanced imaging technology body scanners that can detect threats on a person's body and we have bottle liquid scanners that can detect explosives in liquids."

Beedle said there hasn’t been a terrorist attack through the aviation industry on American soil since the creation of TSA. 

"So that’s one good positive and we continue to strive for that 100 percent accuracy," he said. "We have to be right 100 percent of the time because the terrorists only have to be right one time."

Beedle said Sky Harbor Airport is one of the leading airports in emerging safety and security technology, meaning Sky Harbor often gets new equipment to test out before it goes live at other airports across the nation.

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