"Official: Random Gate Screening Should End"

Monday, September 23, 2002

Official: Random Checks Should End 


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Random screening of people about to board planes
could be phased out next year as Transportation Security Administration
chief James Loy tries to make air travel less burdensome. 

As better-paid, better-trained federal workers take over at airport
security checkpoints, there is less need for an additional layer of
security at the gate, TSA officials say. The deadline for all commercial
airports to have federal screeners is Nov. 19. 

Once all the federal screeners are in place, Loy wants to start phasing
out the random searches on an airport-by-airport basis, TSA spokesman
Robert Johnson said Monday. 

Paul Hudson, executive director of the advocacy group Aviation Consumer
Action Project, said he's alarmed by what Loy is proposing. 

``The best security involves multiple layers, where you have backups and
backups to backups,'' Hudson said. If the random gate screening is
eliminated, ``you're saying there's only one check and that's at the
main security gate.'' 

A spokesman for the Air Transport Association, which represents major
airlines, said the random checks are unnecessary. 

``Random gate screening doesn't really add any additional measure of
security,'' Michael Wascom said via cell phone from Tampa International
Airport, where he was about to be screened at the gate. He said more
sophisticated passenger and baggage screening makes random gate
screening unnecessary. 

Loy, who became head of the TSA after his predecessor was accused of
ignoring passenger convenience, said he wants to balance security with
customer service. He has already gotten rid of the requirement that
passengers be asked questions about whether they have kept a close eye
on their baggage. He has also decided to allow passengers to carry
drinks through security checkpoints. He calls the random gate screenings
``hassle checks.'' 

The TSA won't say how passengers are singled out for the random checks,
citing security concerns. Hudson, a member of the Federal Aviation
Administration's Aviation Security Advisory Committee, said 5 percent to
10 percent of an aircraft's passengers are screened through profiling
and random checks. 

The federal government, with help from U.S. airlines, implemented the
Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System in 1997 to root out
potential terror suspects. CAPPS' defenders say it avoids racial or
ethnic profiling, though some Arab-Americans have complained. 

CAPPS collects information about passengers' travel history from airline
reservation systems. Based on secret criteria, the system flags anyone
who might pose a security risk. Some airlines print a code on the ticket
to indicate who should be screened, Hudson said. In the past week, he
flew Southwest Airlines and was told that if he had crosshatching on his
ticket he would have to get into the separate line for gate screening. 

Hudson doesn't put much faith in the CAPPS system. ``It's not as
effective as it should be,'' he said, adding it doesn't include enough
criteria to sort out terrorists. 

Johnson said the TSA is developing a second generation CAPPS that will
do a better job identifying potential terrorists. 

``Everyone in that process views that as the next generation of
improving our ability to look at folks who need a little bit of extra
attention,'' he said. 

Prior to Sept. 11, airlines paid for security. After the attacks, the
government took responsibility and airlines agreed to reimburse the
cost, which they originally estimated at $1 billion a year. 

The airlines recently told the TSA that they only spent $300 million on
security, a claim the Department of Transportation's inspector general
is challenging. 

Wascom said the $1 billion figure was only a rough estimate, and that
it's difficult to tell how much is spent on security. 

The airlines say they can't afford to pay the full freight anyway
because they will lose between $6.8 billion and $7 billion this year. 

The House aviation subcommittee has scheduled a hearing on the airlines'
financial problems for Tuesday.


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