"Terror plot spotlights passenger screening system"

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Terror plot spotlights passenger screening system
By Marnie Hunter
Cable News Network (CNN)


The long lines and bulging trash cans at U.S. airports due to increased
security after a suspected terror plot was uncovered Thursday had some
aviation experts questioning the focus of America's air passenger screening
system.

"Standing there looking to make sure no one has a tube of toothpaste is
patently ridiculous, because now we're looking for objects again -- we're
not looking for threats" said Michael Boyd, president of the Boyd Group, an
aviation consulting firm in Evergreen, Colorado.

British police overnight arrested 24 people suspected of plotting to blow up
as many as 10 jetliners bound for the United States. It is believed the
suspects planned to mix a sports drink with a gel to make an explosive that
might have been triggered by an MP3 player or a cell phone.

Liquids and gels of any kind were subsequently banned from carry-on luggage
in the United States and Britain. 

Boyd sees the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's ban as a
knee-jerk reaction that leaves Americans no safer than they were before the
9/11 attacks.

"Remember Richard Reid, the guy who tried to light up his shoe on the
airplane? After that we had to take off our shoes. Imagine what would have
happened if he had hid that bomb in his pants," Boyd said.

Aaron Gellman, a professor at the Transportation Center and the McCormick
School of Engineering at Northwestern University, is not as certain that the
new measures are unwarranted, but he sees a hole in screening technology.

"It's inadequate to meet all the reasonably required capabilities," Gellman
said. "They ought to be capable of finding the kind of things that are
offensive with much more reliability and much quicker than they do."

"The government's got to rethink both what it needs to procure and how it
needs to buy it," Gellman said. 

He said an emphasis on design rather than performance hinders the
development of screening devices.

The training and performance of airport screening personnel also has
received much scrutiny in the aviation security debate. The Transportation
Security Administration recently announced it is changing the way it grades
airport screeners on performance tests; while the TSA will still give annual
tests to screeners, it will not fire screeners for failing.

Clark Kent Ervin, a former Department of Homeland Security inspector
general, points to a recent Government Accountability Office report that
revealed that congressional investigators were able to sneak bomb components
past screeners at all 21 airports tested.

"And if bomb parts could get past then, obviously, things like liquid gel,
which nobody would typically think of as a bomb component, could do so,
too," Ervin told CNN.

"It's true that we've done a lot of things since 9/11," he said. "We've
spent $18 billion to $20 billion. Cockpit doors are hardened. We have a
larger number of air marshals. Some pilots are armed."

"But it is clear that al Qaeda, in particular, continues to focus on the
aviation sector," Ervin said. "And for every measure that we put in place,
they're working to develop countermeasures."

Ervin said he agrees with the tighter security measures.

"(DHS) Secretary (Michael) Chertoff is right to say that we should ratchet
up security to the highest levels now," Ervin said. "And if subsequently we
learn that we can relax things a bit, then fine. But, certainly, we need to
err on the side of caution."

The full impact of the current security burdens on the struggling airline
industry, which is experiencing its most profitable summer since 2000, is
uncertain.

"This could go on for some time," Boyd said. "And could it hurt the airline
industry? Yes."

"I think you could see a pretty near-term reduction in short-haul business
flying mainly because that business traveler is going to say, 'Why should I
stand in line for an hour-and-a-half at LaGuardia ... to get on a one-hour
flight to Buffalo?' " about 400 miles away, he said.

Stocks of major U.S. airlines tumbled Thursday after the suspected plot was
revealed to the public, then rebounded by midday.

Attached Photo:

George Glenn, of Dallas, Texas, transfers toiletries to a bag for check-in
Thursday at Dallas Fort-Worth Airport.

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