"Airport security agency shifting its focus"

Saturday, December 3, 2005

Airport security agency shifting its focus
What's the change? Small scissors and some tools will be allowed, so that
screeners can concentrate on finding explosives. what's the reaction? There
is some concern among flight attendants and passengers over the new policy,
effective Dec. 22.
By Myron P. Medcalf and Liz Fedor
The Minneapolis (MN) Star Tribune 


The Transportation Security Administration's announcement Friday that small
scissors and some sharp tools will be allowed on board airplanes beginning
Dec. 22 was greeted with content and concern by passengers and flight
attendants. 

Kip Hawley, chief of the TSA, said passengers will also be subjected to
additional random security checks and pat-downs that will include arms and
legs, not only backs and abdomens, the current policy.

The TSA's measures are meant to catch more terrorists who might be carrying
explosives by eliminating attention given to smaller objects. One fourth of
the 30 million prohibited objects that have been confiscated by the TSA
since 2002 are no longer banned.

Hawley said screeners -- recently renamed "transportation security officers"
-- spend too much time looking for objects that don't pose much of a risk,
slowing security lines.

The Professional Flight Attendants Association, which represents Northwest
Airlines flight attendants, opposes the easing of security requirements for
sharp items. "This is not the time to re-introduce items into the cabin
which could be used as weapons and against those who are charged with the
safety and security of the flying public," the union said.

"TSA must focus on the real loopholes in this nation's aviation security
system and ensure those layers of security receive scrutiny and overhaul,"
said Jeanne Elliott, PFAA national security coordinator. Among the areas she
cited: physical screening of all airport workers, use of improved screening
technology and increased screening of cargo on all U.S. air carriers.

The Northwest pilots' union advocates "TSA screening for passengers' intent
as well as for objects they take on board," said spokesman Will Holman. 

"Rather than solely screening for scissors or lighters, it is important that
airport security personnel must also screen for the intent to do harm," said
Holman, a spokesman for the Northwest branch of the Air Line Pilots
Association.

"A ballpoint pen in the hands of a business person is a writing tool. But in
the hands of a terrorist, it could be used as a weapon. The same could be
said for similar items," he said.

At the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Friday, travelers were
torn on whether the TSA's changes were necessary.

"It's a step forward," said Karen Lamback, of Albany, N.Y., who had just
landed in Minneapolis. "Both my husband and I have had small scissors taken.
It was just an inconvenience. It doesn't feel less safe."

Yash Burgula, a graduate student at Purdue University who was in Minneapolis
for a job interview, said he appreciated the post-Sept. 11 security measure
implemented by TSA. He said he feels safer when all hazardous items are
deemed a threat. "Random checks are always a great idea," he said. "It may
be an inconvenience, but I'd rather feel safe than sorry."

Florence Nabeta of Minneapolis said she periodically makes the 14-hour trip
to her homeland, Uganda. She said she's concerned about how fast airport
lines will move now that more random searches will be conducted.

"It's OK to bring a little scissors, in case a nail break on the way; I
don't think it hurts anybody," she said. "My concern would be in they don't
staff enough people, then yes, the lines would be backed up."

Passengers also may notice more bomb-sniffing dogs in the nation's airports.


The TSA's Hawley said there are now 420 teams of such dogs, 70 percent more
than in 2003, at about 80 airports. The TSA also plans to increase the
number of walk-through bomb-detection machines from 43 now to 340 by next
September, he said.

As part of the effort to focus on bombs, Hawley said more than 18,000
screeners have received enhanced explosives detection training. As a result,
a screener searching a carry-on bag at St. Louis airport found a bomb
detonator in November. The person carrying the device was someone who worked
with such items and was not a terrorist, Hawley said.

Other changes are aimed at making security checks less predictable for
terrorists.

All passengers still will walk through metal detectors and their carry-on
bags still will go through an X-ray machine. But more will be chosen
randomly at checkpoints for secondary screening, though the type of extra
check may vary; they might be patted down, their shoes may be checked for
bombs, their bags may be searched or they may just be checked with a wand.


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