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Top Stories - Chicago Tribunehttp://us.rd.yahoo.com/DailyNews/trib/chi/SIG=chdc3v/*http://www.chicagotribune.com/ Experts: Aviation security outdated
Thu Aug 26, 9:40 AM ET
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By Jon Hilkevitch Tribune transportation reporter
Government security and spy agencies responsible for safeguarding the flying public are poorly prepared to prevent the next terrorist attack because they remain focused on tactics used almost three years ago, experts and lawmakers said Wednesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ch...SIG=110chdc3v/*http://www.chicagotribune.com/•Chicago Tribune home page•Subscribe to the Tribune•Search the Tribune•More Chicago news
Too much emphasis is being placed on scanning airline passengers' bare feet with metal detectors or confiscating their household items at security checkpoints, while most travelers and cargo loaded onto commercial jets are not screened for explosives, authorities testified at the first congressional hearing on aviation security since the Sept. 11 commission issued its recommendations.
"If we continue to wait for the next tragedy to implement new ideas, we will have more bodies," said Rep. James Oberstar (news, bio, voting record) (D-Minn.).
Bombs smuggled onto aircraft and surface-to-air missiles aimed at low-flying planes are considered among the biggest threats to commercial aviation, in part because other security weaknesses were tightened after the Sept. 11 attacks, members of the House Aviation Subcommittee were told.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (news, bio, voting record) (D-Ore.) raised concerns, based on intelligence reports, about terrorists testing explosives-laden "suicide belts" that would be undetected by current screening technology at airport security checkpoints.
"Suicide belts are one of the most extraordinary points of vulnerability," DeFazio said. "Can you find a suicide belt with a [metal-detecting] wand? No. Can you find most explosives with the primitive X-ray devices given to the screeners? No."
Homeland Security officials have cautioned repeatedly that commercial aviation remains a prime target of terrorists. That's why the Transportation Security Administration spends about 90 percent of its resources on aviation security, leaving little funding for inspections of cargo entering the U.S. on ships, or for ground transportation.
TSA's multipronged approach
David Stone, administrator of the TSA, said he is pursuing a multipronged approach to security. He told lawmakers that specific plans for each transportation sector will be ready by the end of the year.
Stone said top agency officials spend several hours every morning analyzing "events, trends and risks from the past 24 hours" at airports nationwide and figuring out responses.
But a member of the Sept. 11 panel said the agency has failed to develop an integrated strategic plan to respond to the terrorism threat.
"Without such plans, neither the public nor Congress can be assured we are identifying the highest priority dangers and allocating resources to the most effective security measures," John Lehman, also a former secretary of the Navy, told the subcommittee.
The Air Line Pilots Association (news - web sites) said that unlike the airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites), which have ways to flag safety issues, the TSA lacks an incident-reporting system to "connect the dots on security."
The pilots group also warned that suspicious individuals--like robbers casing a bank before a heist--appear to be riding on airliners regularly to test for security flaws by challenging flight attendants and trying to identify undercover federal air marshals on flights.
"We know of instances of passengers feigning illness, which has the appearance of an attempt to determine how cabin crews and law enforcement on the airplane will react," said Capt. Duane Woerth, president of the pilots group.
Woerth said there have been reports of individuals running toward the flight deck door, possibly to draw out any air marshals onboard or to determine if pilots on certain routes are carrying guns as part of a new program to arm flight crews.
Plot idea dismissed
Federal security officials say there is no evidence of such a plot to test the system. But the pilots said the government doesn't have a well-managed intelligence effort that uses flight attendants and other employees to report suspicious activity.
Lawmakers showed little patience about the slow pace in closing the security loopholes since the Sept. 11 attacks. Even quick fixes, including a registered traveler program aimed at reducing the number of passengers who require higher levels of security screening, are only getting started at a handful of airports.
"It's time to put things in place now. They may not all be perfect yet, but it's time," said Rep. Sue Kelly (news, bio, voting record) (R-N.Y.).
Terrorist watch lists and mandatory no-fly rolls, while expanded from only about 100 names before the Sept. 11 attacks, are not nearly complete enough to keep even all known terrorists off airplanes, Lehman said.
Lehman said the institutional obstacles that made it difficult for intelligence agencies to share information before the Sept. 11 attacks, enabling known terrorists to board and hijack four airliners, are still present. "Make no mistake: /Today these lists do not include all the known terrorists and do not include a rapid sharing of suspected possible terrorists that the intelligence community and its many different agencies develop," Lehman said. "The obstacle to sharing [data] remains virtually as high as it was at 9/11."
Thu Aug 26, 9:40 AM ET
Add Yahoo!
By Jon Hilkevitch Tribune transportation reporter
Government security and spy agencies responsible for safeguarding the flying public are poorly prepared to prevent the next terrorist attack because they remain focused on tactics used almost three years ago, experts and lawmakers said Wednesday.
http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ch...SIG=110chdc3v/*http://www.chicagotribune.com/•Chicago Tribune home page•Subscribe to the Tribune•Search the Tribune•More Chicago news
Too much emphasis is being placed on scanning airline passengers' bare feet with metal detectors or confiscating their household items at security checkpoints, while most travelers and cargo loaded onto commercial jets are not screened for explosives, authorities testified at the first congressional hearing on aviation security since the Sept. 11 commission issued its recommendations.
"If we continue to wait for the next tragedy to implement new ideas, we will have more bodies," said Rep. James Oberstar (news, bio, voting record) (D-Minn.).
Bombs smuggled onto aircraft and surface-to-air missiles aimed at low-flying planes are considered among the biggest threats to commercial aviation, in part because other security weaknesses were tightened after the Sept. 11 attacks, members of the House Aviation Subcommittee were told.
Rep. Peter DeFazio (news, bio, voting record) (D-Ore.) raised concerns, based on intelligence reports, about terrorists testing explosives-laden "suicide belts" that would be undetected by current screening technology at airport security checkpoints.
"Suicide belts are one of the most extraordinary points of vulnerability," DeFazio said. "Can you find a suicide belt with a [metal-detecting] wand? No. Can you find most explosives with the primitive X-ray devices given to the screeners? No."
Homeland Security officials have cautioned repeatedly that commercial aviation remains a prime target of terrorists. That's why the Transportation Security Administration spends about 90 percent of its resources on aviation security, leaving little funding for inspections of cargo entering the U.S. on ships, or for ground transportation.
TSA's multipronged approach
David Stone, administrator of the TSA, said he is pursuing a multipronged approach to security. He told lawmakers that specific plans for each transportation sector will be ready by the end of the year.
Stone said top agency officials spend several hours every morning analyzing "events, trends and risks from the past 24 hours" at airports nationwide and figuring out responses.
But a member of the Sept. 11 panel said the agency has failed to develop an integrated strategic plan to respond to the terrorism threat.
"Without such plans, neither the public nor Congress can be assured we are identifying the highest priority dangers and allocating resources to the most effective security measures," John Lehman, also a former secretary of the Navy, told the subcommittee.
The Air Line Pilots Association (news - web sites) said that unlike the airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites), which have ways to flag safety issues, the TSA lacks an incident-reporting system to "connect the dots on security."
The pilots group also warned that suspicious individuals--like robbers casing a bank before a heist--appear to be riding on airliners regularly to test for security flaws by challenging flight attendants and trying to identify undercover federal air marshals on flights.
"We know of instances of passengers feigning illness, which has the appearance of an attempt to determine how cabin crews and law enforcement on the airplane will react," said Capt. Duane Woerth, president of the pilots group.
Woerth said there have been reports of individuals running toward the flight deck door, possibly to draw out any air marshals onboard or to determine if pilots on certain routes are carrying guns as part of a new program to arm flight crews.
Plot idea dismissed
Federal security officials say there is no evidence of such a plot to test the system. But the pilots said the government doesn't have a well-managed intelligence effort that uses flight attendants and other employees to report suspicious activity.
Lawmakers showed little patience about the slow pace in closing the security loopholes since the Sept. 11 attacks. Even quick fixes, including a registered traveler program aimed at reducing the number of passengers who require higher levels of security screening, are only getting started at a handful of airports.
"It's time to put things in place now. They may not all be perfect yet, but it's time," said Rep. Sue Kelly (news, bio, voting record) (R-N.Y.).
Terrorist watch lists and mandatory no-fly rolls, while expanded from only about 100 names before the Sept. 11 attacks, are not nearly complete enough to keep even all known terrorists off airplanes, Lehman said.
Lehman said the institutional obstacles that made it difficult for intelligence agencies to share information before the Sept. 11 attacks, enabling known terrorists to board and hijack four airliners, are still present. "Make no mistake: /Today these lists do not include all the known terrorists and do not include a rapid sharing of suspected possible terrorists that the intelligence community and its many different agencies develop," Lehman said. "The obstacle to sharing [data] remains virtually as high as it was at 9/11."
