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The nation's major
airports would be beneficiaries of one of the biggest aviation security
upgrades since 9/11 — as much as $7 billion for state-of-the-art baggage
screening — under legislation recently approved by the House and
Senate.
Key to the new system are bomb-detection machines
built onto conveyor belts that can screen luggage 10 times faster than
current systems that scan luggage piece by piece. The older machines are
being strained by the 1.5 million bags checked each day at U.S.
airports.
Louis Miller, executive director of Tampa
International Airport, called the funding "extremely important."
"We can go a long way in a hurry with that kind of
money," he said.
The biggest hurdle for the new system may come from
President Bush, who has threatened to veto bills containing the money.
Bush opposes some bills because they would allow Transportation Security
Administration (TSA) screeners to unionize. He opposes other bills because
they also contain troop-withdrawal timetables for Iraq.
Congress plans to work on the bills in coming weeks.
Even with a veto, airport officials say it's
significant that both houses of Congress favor vastly increasing federal
funding for new luggage-screening systems. The funding increases could be
approved as part of other legislation.
Airport groups are urging lawmakers to maintain
support. New bomb detectors are "an important enhancement to aviation
security," said Deborah McElroy, a lobbyist for Airports Council
International.
A report last year ordered by Congress urged billions
for new bomb detectors to replace machines that clog terminals and can
operate so slowly that flights are held up or bags don't make it onto the
flights.
The new system is called "in-line" screening. Bomb
detectors are built onto conveyor belts that carry luggage from check-in
sites to airplanes. Luggage glides through the detectors
assembly-line-fashion, monitored by screeners and untouched unless an
alarm sounds.
In-line systems require less personnel than
"stand-alone" machines used in most major airports, Congress' Government
Accountability Office said. For stand-alone machines, someone must load
each bag into the machine, take it out after scanning, and put it on the
baggage conveyor.
In-line machines improve security by reducing the
number of bags screened using less-reliable methods such as hand searches
and dogs, the congressional report said.
The TSA has spent $1.6 billion on new luggage
scanners in the past four years, the report said. If some large airports
don't get modernized scanners, they will need additional machines in their
terminals and extra screeners, it added.
Several airports have paid for all or part of in-line
systems. Tampa paid $124 million for a new system in 2004, which opened up
25% of the terminal space that had been filled by stand-alone machines,
said Miller, the airport director.
Miller celebrated the system last summer when luggage
scanners nationwide were strained after passengers were barred from
carrying liquids on airplanes and began checking more bags. In Tampa, the
additional luggage "didn't slow us down one iota," Miller said.
TSA chief Kip Hawley told a Capitol Hill hearing in
February that the administration's proposed 2008 budget has money for 10
airports to add in-line systems. TSA's plans to upgrade baggage-screening
systems nationwide by 2024 could be accelerated by the $7 billion in bills
that have passed the House or Senate.
The congressional report did not recommend a massive
federal outlay. It suggested that airports pay 25% of the new machines'
costs, while the federal government would pay 75% over years through tax
credits. | 
