"TSA fears targeting of crowds at airports"

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

TSA fears targeting of crowds at airports
By Thomas Frank
USA TODAY


Air travelers could be a terrorist target when they group together in
airport lobbies waiting for their luggage to be screened, a government
report said Tuesday.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) told investigators that the
luggage-screening system it set up at airports across the USA "increases
security risks," according to the report by the Government Accountability
Office.

The office is the investigative arm of Congress.

TSA officials interviewed for the report said that "crowded airport lobbies
have been the scenes of terrorist attacks in the past" and could be targeted
by terrorists in the United States.

A post-9/11 law requires that all luggage needs to be screened for
explosives.

TSA, charged with the nation's aviation security, has placed thousands of
bomb-detection machines in airport lobbies.

The report also said luggage screening causes numerous injuries to federal
security screeners by forcing them to lift bags on and off the
bomb-detection machines.

USA TODAY reported last month that the TSA has one of the highest injury
rates in the nation and that injuries have aggravated screener staffing
shortages and weakened security.

Security directors at about half of 263 airports surveyed told the
accountability office that screener injuries were "a significant concern."

The TSA said it could reduce screener injuries by installing conveyor-belt
systems that move bags directly from check-in counters through scanning
machines without the need for handling.

Conveyor-belt systems cost up to $250 million per airport. But the report
said they could generate "significant savings" by cutting screening
personnel.

The belt systems would move luggage screening out of lobbies and into
basements or back rooms that have restricted access.

"An abundance of people in the lobby of an airport is itself a safety issue
and becomes a target for terrorists," said Stephen Van Beek, policy director
for the Airports Council International.

The airport operators group has been pressing the administration and
Congress for more money to install belt systems.

House aviation subcommittee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., said he is drafting
a measure to require belt systems be installed where they would be most
effective.

TSA spokeswoman Amy von Walter said the agency is doing a study recommended
by the accountability office.

"Our primary concern is keeping weapons and terrorists and explosives off
airplanes," she said.


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