"Angela Gittens, aviation director of Miami International Airport, discusses air travel security in war"

Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Angela Gittens, aviation director of Miami International Airport, discusses
air travel security in war
Court TV


Court TV Host: Our guest is Angela Gittens, aviation director of Miami
International Airport, and she's going to be talking about aviation safety
and airport security in wartime.

Court TV Host: Thank you for being our guest today.

Angela Gittens: My pleasure.

Question from sparkle: Hi, Ms. Gittens. How much tighter is the security in
the airports now and in what way?

Angela Gittens: The security is tighter in that vehicles coming into the
airport are subject to inspection; vehicles coming to park in the garage are
subject to inspection. We have more police within the terminal. And all
staff are on alert for suspicious behavior, as well as unattended bags.

Question from mj: Hi, I have a daughter going to fly from NY to Florida
Friday -- what can she expect?

Angela Gittens: It might take a little longer, as I said, her vehicle may be
pulled over and inspected so she needs to allow a little extra time.

Question from eowyn: Is there a site that specifically tells us what items
we can pack or bring on planes to make to process go more smoothly?

Angela Gittens: I believe the Transportation Security Admin. has a website
under its own name still, and that is www.tsa.gov -- I believe if you look
under "travelers and consumers" on that site, it will point you to the list
of prohibited and permitted items. There's a whole section that tells you
about travel preparations, security procedures, and prohibited and permitted
items.

Question from trashbean: Have security people learned anything from the
measures taken so far in the last year or so, such as any possible second
thoughts as to what may or may not constitute a weapon? I refer to sewing
scissors and nail clippers, for example.

Angela Gittens: Yes, they've made many adjustments over the last year,
taking many items off the prohibited list and putting many items on the
prohibited list.

Question from eowyn: Have any flights been cancelled due to passenger
cancellations?

Angela Gittens: I'm not sure. That's always hard to say. I'm sure there've
been some, but I'm not aware of any.

Question from gradee: Ms. Gittens, good afternoon and thank you for visiting
with us. Why would anyone in their right mind fly right now?

Angela Gittens: I'm flying every week for the next three weeks. There's no
reason not to fly. I'm not going to Baghdad.

Court TV Host: Earlier you said that you've increased some security
measures -- have you found anything that indicates there may be increased
threats of any sort?

Angela Gittens: No.

Question from didy: I set off the drug alarms at O'Hare with my
prescriptions. Is it important now to take your bottles with you to show
proof of a Drs. orders?

Angela Gittens: It would be helpful to have your prescription or your labels
on the bottles or the pills. You would want something that has your name on
it, that says that the drugs are yours, prescribed for you.

Question from eowyn: How is parking going to be affected?

Angela Gittens: Vehicle inspections are back in place. Depending on the
airport, you might find that you can't get a close-in parking spot.

Court TV Host: We heard a great deal after September 11th about passengers
looking for signs that something might be amiss -- what do you think a
passenger should look for, and have there been lots of false alarms?

Angela Gittens: We urge passengers to be on the alert for unattended bags
and to bring that to the attention of airport police or airline employees.
We do not recommend that passengers tail suspicious looking people or in any
way put themselves in harm's way. We do have false alarms, but that's all
right.

Question from eowyn: Is air space being shut down in areas?

Angela Gittens: Yes, restrictions on airspace have been in effect since
9-11, particularly around Washington DC and some other points. There have
been no new airspace restrictions in Miami.

Court TV Host: Are there any security concerns that are particular or
specific to Miami's airport?

Angela Gittens: No, we have none. We are going by the general orange
procedures.

Question from trashbean: How about the needle that I have in my glucose test
kit? Would I be allowed to board with it in my carry-on?

Angela Gittens: Yes, bring the whole kit with the prescription with your
name on it. Don't just have the needle with everything else in your checked
bags. Again, make sure the prescription has your name on it.

Court TV Host: How will security in airports be handled after the war? In
the following months and even years?

Angela Gittens: A lot of that will depend on the intelligence regarding
terrorism -- the general and specific threats. One of the changes made at
the federal level since 9/11 is to better integrate the intelligence
gathering resources with the law enforcement and security resources so the
latter can react to the former. With respect to airports, it is a lot easier
now for airports to move up and down the security measure profile in
response to general and specific threats. So you could have one condition
for months, and within that a week or a day or a few hours, of a higher
level, It's much more adaptable now.

Court TV Host: In the debate over how screening should take place at
airports, what do you think about the two arguments that screening should
look at everyone and all their objects as opposed to giving increased
attention to passengers based on their profiles?

Angela Gittens: First, no matter what, everyone will be screened. There's no
profiling system that would lead to people not having any screening done at
all. As far as the concept of profiling, I'm not opposed to it, I'm just
skeptical that an effective data base is available. In my opinion, that's
going to take years of development, because you're looking for a needle in a
haystack. it's very difficult to develop a database of needles, when there's
only one per haystack at most. At least in this country, there's an
infinitesimal percentage of potential terrorists, even if we had no
screening. So it will be difficult to develop a database that we could all
agree with and accept as valid.

Question from Lorraine: Our airport security in comparison to other
countries had been lax until 9/11...what procedures (if you know) do other
countries use?

Angela Gittens: It varies. It varies a lot on the perceived risk levels in
those countries, as well as on cultural factors. For example, in some
countries it is considered acceptable to have the military play a role in
civilian activities, such as commercial aviation. Until recently, in this
country, that would have been seen as highly offensive and perhaps illegal
and unconstitutional.

Question from mj: Are there any questions we are not asking that we should
know the answers to?

Angela Gittens: That's a good question. One point: be organized. Have your
ID and boarding pass available. You may be asked several times. I would
recommend that passengers have some kind of system for carrying these items
because they'll have to be pulling them out and showing them and then
putting them away and then taking them out again and they don't want them to
be lost.

Court TV Host: Thank you very much for taking the time to be our guest
today. We hope that you'll come back again.

Angela Gittens: Anytime. Thank you.

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