Separate Reports Slam Flawed Airport Security

Separate Reports Slam Flawed Airport Security
Minneapolis Star Tribune, MN
  
Published February 13, 2004 

  
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Baggage-screening equipment is
sitting unused in airport terminals nationwide, and a
passenger-screening program due to be released this
summer is flawed and running behind schedule,
according to two reports released by congressional
investigators Thursday. 

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA),
which is in charge of both efforts, was criticized by
the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative
arm of Congress.

Members of Congress jumped in quickly.

"If [airline security] doesn't succeed, people will
die, and that is not an acceptable alternative," said
Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.

The GAO said that the TSA has been unable to screen
100 percent of the checked baggage at airports because
of screener shortages and out-of-service equipment.

In a separate report, the GAO said the
Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System II, an
attempt to catch potential terrorists on flights,
faces "significant implementation challenges."

Opponents of the screening plan, who view it as an
affront to privacy, applauded the GAO for its
investigation.

Rep. Martin Sabo, D-Minn., called the screening
program "potentially the largest intrusion of the
federal government."

Some screening equipment meant to detect explosives is
going unused because the TSA can't properly train
enough staff on how to use the new equipment, the
GAO's preliminary report said. 

Last year, the House Appropriations Committee imposed
a cap of 45,000 full-time screeners. Rep. Jim
Oberstar, D-Minn., said the "arbitrary" number
handicaps the administration.

"They simply don't have enough people to handle the
workload," he said.

Shortages

But Minnesota airports are doing better than the rest
of the country in the screening process, Oberstar
said. 

Tom Blank, assistant administrator of TSA's policy
department, told lawmakers that training staff is
difficult because staffing shortages in airports mean
the workers can't go to every training session.

Oberstar said the TSA is being unfairly blamed, and he
cited the progress the agency has made since its
inception after Sept. 11.

"They were given a tough job, a job with a tight
deadline. The mindset of the American people after
Sept. 11, they wanted security, they wanted it now,
they wanted it at the highest level."

The CAPPS II screening program, set to be implemented
nationwide this summer, is facing significant delays
and has addressed only one of Congress' eight concerns
about the project, the GAO reported.

Although the screening program has established a
sufficient oversight board to meet Congress' concerns,
it has failed to ensure the accuracy of data, prevent
unauthorized access to the data, meet privacy and
civil liberty concerns and provide a way for
passengers to complain if they believe they were
unfairly targeted.

LaShawn Warren, legislative counsel for the American
Civil Liberties Union, said the government had "failed
to establish a concrete plan for protecting the
privacy and civil liberties of innocent people."

Sabo said he planned to use the GAO report as a road
map in judging the Bush administration's progress in
implementing the screening program.

"Clearly, they have a long way to go," Sabo said.

The database would develop a score for each passenger
-- green, yellow, or red -- to help identify potential
threats. The majority of passengers would clear the
system as "green."Yellow" identifications would
subject passengers to further security measures, and a
"red" identification would block them from flying.

"There is no way [the program] could be properly
implemented at this time," said Bob Barr, a former
Republican House member from Georgia and an ACLU
consultant on airline security issues. He said the
program will not have "a high likelihood of catching
terrorists. We're pre-screening law-abiding citizens."

Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington
office, said the program would discriminate against
low-income airline passengers as well as passengers of
color.


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