The plan was to copy what Australia had done. Its version of a transportation department had successfully employed bomb detection dogs, and in 1999, the U.S. Department of Transportation obtained eight dogs from the same squad to protect all aspects of transportation in the United States. The program was moving along, but in 2001, a terrorist attack on 9/11 thrust the program into high gear.

The Transportation Security Administration, or TSA, was established on November 19th the same year. A dedicated breeding program became a priority in order to produce the number of dogs that would be needed, and the new effort was based at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. It would come to be considered the “center for excellence” for explosives detection canine training. The $12 million Canine Training Center has 25,000 square feet of space with classrooms, office space, a 100-seat auditorium, and kennels that can accommodate some 250 dogs. The program is now the largest explosives detection canine program in the Department of Homeland Security, and the second largest in the federal government after the Department of Defense.

Because 9-11 was the tragic impetus that got the program going, it was decided to name each of the pups born in the program after a person killed on 9/11.

The program works with seven breeds: German Shepherd Dogs, Labrador Retrievers, German Short-haired Pointers, Wirehaired Pointers, Vizslak, Belgian Malinois, and Golden Retrievers. It costs, on average, $24,000 to train a dog, and at any given time, about 125 dogs are in training. Approximately 83% of the dogs graduate, the others are adopted out.

These are the dogs who are part of some 900 TSA canine teams deployed nationwide. They screen passengers, luggage, cargo, and freight at airports, bus, ferry and rail terminals. They also operate in aviation, maritime, mass transit, and cargo environments.

Here’s one dog in action who shows that, “there’s no piece of equipment that can do what these dogs do:”