Travelers at airports around the country will soon find more of their items are subject to separate screenings.
The Transportation Security Administration is conducting new screenings for paper products - including books and magazines - as well as food items. The screenings are in place at airports in Missouri and California and could soon be rolled out across the U.S.
The screenings will include passengers removing all reading materials and food out of carry-on luggage and placing the items in separate bins. TSA screeners will flip through the books to make sure nothing in concealed in the pages but officials said will not be examining the content of the reading material.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said the agency would "likely" expand the checks across the county.
"What we're doing now is working out the tactics, techniques, and procedures, if you will, in a few airports, to find out exactly how to do that with the least amount of inconvenience to the traveler," Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said.
The American Civil Liberties Organization said it has concerns over the policy.
"Books raise very special privacy issues... there is a long history of special legal protection for the privacy of one's reading habits in the United States, not only through numerous Supreme Court and other court decisions, but also through state laws that criminalize the violation of public library reading privacy or require a warrant to obtain book sales, rental, or lending records," ACLU senior policy analyst Jay Stanley wrote in a recent blog post.
The ACLU is recommending TSA implement additional training around privacy issues related to books and papers and provide the option to have reading material screened in private.
The agency is also considering prohibiting laptops as carry-on items for all international flights in and out of the U.S. Laptops currently must be removed from bags for additional screenings but can be carried onto the aircraft.