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TSA Relaxes Airport Screening Rules

Posted on: Thursday, 22 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By LESLIE MILLER

TSA relaxes airport screening rules

WASHINGTON Airport screeners in the past three years have confiscated a steel mountain of scissors, knives, screwdrivers and box cutters from forgetful or unaware airline passengers more than 30 million banned items.

The Transportation Security Administration said Friday that screeners were spending too much time and effort piling things that arent dangerous onto that mountain.

And so airline passengers will soon be allowed to carry small scissors and some sharp tools onto planes. There will be a trade- off, though: the prospect of more thorough pat-downs and other extra security checks before they get to the gate.

The changes announced by TSA chief Kip Hawley are aimed at catching terrorists carrying explosives, which the agency considers a greater threat than dangerous objects smuggled into an airplane cabin.

The American Airlines pilots union, flight attendants and relatives of some 9-11 attack victims strongly oppose the change, saying it will make airliners more vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Theyre just inviting trouble, said Marcus Flagg, a cargo pilot whose parents died in the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

Airlines and airports generally support the plan, as does the largest pilots union.

Hawley said screeners recently renamed transportation security officers spend too much time looking for objects that dont pose much of a risk, slowing security lines.

This year alone, the agency has confiscated 12.6 million prohibited items from carry-on bags. Hawley said about one-fourth of those were small scissors and tools, which will be taken off the list Dec. 22.

As part of the effort to focus on bombs, Hawley said more than 18,000 screeners have received enhanced explosives detection training. As a result, a screener searching a carry-on bag at St. Louis airport found a bomb detonator in November. The person carrying the device was someone who worked with such items and was not a terrorist, Hawley said.

Other changes are aimed at making security checks less predictable for terrorists.

All passengers still will walk through metal detectors, and their carry-on bags still will go through an X-ray machine. But more will be chosen randomly at checkpoints for secondary screening, though the type of extra check may vary: They might be patted down, their shoes may be checked for bombs, their bags may be searched, or they may just be checked with a wand.

By incorporating unpredictability into our procedures and eliminating low-threat items, we can better focus our efforts on stopping individuals who wish to do us harm, Hawley said.

Pat-downs will be more thorough. Now, screeners check only passengers backs and abdomens. Starting Dec. 22 theyll be checking arms and legs.

Passengers also may notice more bomb-sniffing dogs roaming airports. Hawley said there are now 420 teams of such dogs, 70 percent more than in 2003, at about 80 airports. The TSA also plans to increase the number of walk-through bomb-detection machines from 43 to 340 by September, he said.

Airline passengers had mixed reactions to the announcement that scissors and tools would be allowed on planes.

It doesnt make me feel less safe, said Mario Ortiz, 32, who had just arrived at Washington Reagan National Airport from Miami for a vacation. No, because if anybody gets up Im coming after them.

Passengers willingness to confront terrorists along with other post-Sept. 11 security changes such as air marshals, armed pilots and bulletproof cockpit doors are why the TSA believes bombs are now a bigger threat than objects.

But flight attendants say more needs to be done to make commercial aviation safe. The flight attendants unions have been lobbying for mandatory self-defense training and for screening of the cargo thats loaded onto passenger airplanes.

We are appalled that we are not being listened to by the federal government as they downgrade cabin security standards, said Tommie Hutto-Blake president of American Airlines flight attendants union.

Software consultant Sumil Gubidi, 35, who commutes every week between Dallas and Washington, said the changes give him some pause, partly because of the flight attendants opposition.

Source: Advocate; Baton Rouge, La.

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