"U.S. Airport Screening Still Falls Short, Tests Find"

Friday, September 24, 2004

Airport Screening Still Falls Short, Tests Find
By MATTHEW L. WALD
The New York (NY) Times


WASHINGTON, - Covert government tests last November showed that screeners
were still missing some knives, guns and explosives carried through airport
checkpoints, and the reasons involve equipment, training, procedures and
management, according to a report by the inspector general of the Homeland
Security Department. 

A Congressional aide who has been briefed about the report, which is
classified, said it showed the test scores were roughly the same in November
as in earlier tests. This might actually represent progress, the aide said,
because the test had become more difficult, with the weapons "more artfully
concealed." 

"It's improving but it's got a long, long way to go," said the aide, who
asked not to be identified because he was describing details that were not
made public. 

Of the objects that screeners are supposed to detect, the explosives are the
most difficult , the aide said. Concern over explosives has risen since the
destruction of two Russian airliners by Chechen suicide bombers in August. 

The test results were first given to Congress in April. In a hearing on
April 22, the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security,
Clark Kent Ervin, compared the success of government screeners with the
performance by private screeners, used at five airports in a pilot program.
"They performed about the same, which is to say equally poorly," he said.

This week Mr. Ervin issued a final report on the tests, including
recommendations. A declassified, abbreviated version of the report was
publicly released Wednesday.

One recommendation was for recurrent training for the screeners, but the
report noted that the Transportation Security Administration began doing
that last fall. 

The report also recommended new technology, including three-dimensional
X-ray machines for carry-ons, and "backscatter" X-rays for people.
Backscatter machines bounce X-rays off the body, showing items under clothes
but have the drawbacks for passengers of giving a detailed image of the body
and delivering a small dose of radiation.

The Transportation Security Administration said it was testing several new
technologies for improving the ability to spot explosives and had recently
expanded its use of "pat downs" of passengers. Democrats in Congress have
called for adding money for screeners and equipment.


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