The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is starting to use CT scanners to look for explosives and other banned objects in carry-on bags. The advance in technology might—eventually—let travelers go through airport security without removing electronics, liquids, or anything else from their bags.

"We think, in perhaps five years or so, the passengers won't have to take anything out of their carry-on bags," TSA Administrator David Pekoske told CBS News in a report yesterday.

Analogic CT scanners provide a three-dimensional view of carry-on bag contents, an upgrade from the 2D X-ray scanners more commonly used by the TSA. The Analogic machine is being tested at New York's JFK airport. A different CT machine made by L3 was deployed in Phoenix in June 2017, and another CT machine from manufacturer IDSS was installed in Boston that same month.

Laptops and liquids can stay in the bag

"In the future, CT could offer the opportunity for passengers to leave liquids, gels, and aerosols, as well as laptops, in their carry-on bags at all times," American Airlines said in an announcement last week.

The machines will also improve security because they are capable of "detecting a wider range of explosives" and "a much lower weight of explosives," Pekoske told CBS.

In 2015, an internal investigation found that TSA agents failed to detect weapons and explosives in 67 out of 70 undercover tests.

American Airlines donated eight $300,000 Analogic scanners to the TSA, CBS News wrote.

Using the scanners, TSA screeners can zoom in on a bag's contents and rotate the image for a 360-degree view. Whereas a laptop might block a TSA agent's view of a knife or other banned objects with today's X-ray systems, the CT scanner should let screeners see such objects even when bags are full of other items.

"The TSA plans to have 15 scanners deployed to airports by the end of the year and are authorized to buy up to 240 in 2019," the CBS report said. "They'll need about 2,000 to cover every airport checkpoint in the country."