Can intent be detected?

CW Fisher When the Pentagon bombers set off the airport metal detector they were searched by wand, which turned up the box cutters, along with their explanation that the knives were necessary for their business. Mass murderers, yes; liars, no. Today we know better, we suppose, but who knows if we're really safer? There is no way yet to measure something that didn't happen unless you catch the guys that didn't do it. Precrime imprisonment may be one effect of the Patriot Act but the precriminals at Abu Ghraib prison never coughed up any actionable intelligence, even after being "softened up" by all those great bachelor parties. The tactics of the enemy are always designed to be unexpected. When we are only prepared for what we expect, we're in for a big surprise. Currently we're interested in one thing: metal. Yet any fool knows you can make anything out of plastic. The moment that weakness is exploited is the moment our entire security system fails us. If only we could screen for intent, then we'd really have something. People who know they're about to board a plane and blow themselves to smithereens are bound to experience a detectable level of stress. What if there's a scent for that particular kind of stress? It might be so distinctive we could drop the net and end it right there. Could the answer be a better nose? Body odor has a complex bouquet composed of several ingredients, but what if a nose with the power of Hubble could zoom deep into the molecular level of the odor to detect with pixel accuracy the undeniable fact of this passenger's intent? Like the nose we know, the artificial nose could be trained to identify any smell on Earth including odors we haven't yet discovered. Gunpowder, anthrax, drugs, counterfeit currency are obvious applications, not just in airports but throughout our society so that whomsoever is thinking anything at any moment that we don't frankly care for, we can sniff 'em out, drop the net, haul em away, next. Whether stationary or portable, made fearsome by sheer size or completely concealed, there's a smelloscope in your future. For better and worse. Another MDI?