Toward safer skies
Aviation security has improved since 9/11 but not by enough
"Real threat." Security checkpoints present challenges as well, especially in regard to spotting explosives. While all checked bags are scanned for bombs, passengers and carry-on bags go through detectors that can't spot most nonmetallic materials, such as plastic explosives. Only a fraction of fliers and carry-ons undergo further testing with machines that use swabs to check for explosives residue. John Lehman, a 9/11 commissioner, told a House subcommittee that attempts to bring explosives on board planes is a "very real threat" because terrorists know they can no longer access locked cockpits. Lehman made these comments just hours after bombs brought down two Russian jets on August 24. Two Chechen women who died in the attacks are suspected of bringing the explosives on board. The incident proves that terrorists "are still watching and looking for weaknesses that can be abused" in the aviation system, says Rafi Ron, former security director for Israeli airports.
Efforts to improve explosives screening in the United States have faced a rough road. In June 2003, for instance, a TSA lab director stirred controversy over technology that uses X-rays to reveal weapons or explosives a person might carry under clothing. "It does . . . make you look fat and naked," she said, "but you see all this stuff." The government is now scrambling to develop a more mannerly system that protects privacy, and walk-through portals that sniff passengers for explosives residue are being tested at five U.S. airports. Just last week, screeners got new--and likely controversial--authority to frisk some fliers.
Even if checkpoints were airtight, experts say, there are still gaping holes in cargo security. Most U.S. passenger planes carry some mail or freight, but high costs, technology headaches, and the emphasis on superfast shipping mean only a fraction is manually checked or X-rayed. The TSA has begun testing explosive-detection machines on smaller items and wants eventually to screen all "higher risk" freight. But for now, it does random screening and relies on a database of "known shippers." Lawmakers like Rep. Edward Markey have so far unsuccessfully called for 100 percent cargo screening because they say the current system is unreliable. Last fall, 25-year-old Charles McKinley flew from New York to Dallas in a cargo crate that went unchecked because it bore the name of a known shipper. Freight companies have helped keep ideas like Markey's at bay. "It would kill air cargo," says David Wirsing, executive director of the Airforwarders Association.
One way to solve that problem may be to make the cargo holds blast-proof. The 9/11 commission recommended that every plane have "at least one hardened container to carry any suspect cargo." The Federal Aviation Administration has been looking into such solutions for more than a decade. But the containers would add weight to the planes, forcing struggling airlines to burn more fuel or carry fewer passengers and less cargo. The TSA has awarded a $250,000 grant to a company to develop a lighter system, but it has no timeline for completion of the project.
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