Airport Security

In response to the recent articles in your newspaper regarding the security measures being applied at the nation's airports under Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, it is obvious that after the attacks of 9/11, security measures needed to be taken to protect travelers and our homeland. The Constitution specifically charges the federal government to protect U.S. citizens from any and all foreign and domestic enemies. However, in my opinion, it is ironic that the extreme measures being taken at the airports — including the groping of private body parts, and nude body scans which emit potentially harmful radioactivity — are in stark contrast to the government's laxity in preventing illegal aliens from sneaking across the southern border.

Regarding your recent report on a the bill to put slot machines at BWI airport, there are other means to generate revenues for Maryland and Anne Arundel County ("Bill to put slots at BWI returns," Feb. 5). Putting slot machines in the airport will only jeopardize airport security, increase the cost of airport security and have a bad influence on minors by exposing them to the gambling environment. It will also distract the passengers and make them miss their flights and compete with the newly opened Maryland Live Casino just miles away from BWI. Do we want to turn BWI into a mega-gambling airport like the one in Las Vegas?

Most airport security is cosmetic, uniformed staffs are ill-trained, and their checks to detect and deter terrorism are often lax, according to an investigative report by Conde Nast Traveler magazine.The February issue details how reporters gained easy access to off-limit airplane-loading areas at five major U.S. and five big international airports. In another test, reporters in three of nine cases were able to check unaccompanied luggage onto international flights, a technique believed to have been used in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 two years ago.They also rigged up a video camera to resemble a bomb, but only once in 55 tests of passenger checkpoints at airports in the United States did security guards spot it in carry-on luggage and act properly in investigating it.

The state set in motion Wednesday an "aggressive" $100 million renovation of BWI Marshall Airport that will streamline security check-ins, eliminate a major passenger bottleneck and give its No. 1 carrier room to grow. With minimal discussion, the state Board of Public Works unanimously approved construction money for a project that will remake the oldest part of the terminal at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport over the next two years. The project will be BWI's most ambitious undertaking since the $288 million Southwest Airlines terminal opened in 2005.

When traveling with a camera, the safest way to deal with airport security checks is not to have your film zapped at all. Instead of passing film through the machine, carry it in a clear plastic bag and ask for a hand inspection.If your request for a hand search is denied (always a possibility when traveling abroad) there's not much you can do but send your film through and hope for the best.The September issue of Popular Photography says: ". . . X-ray damage to film by airport surveillance equipment is vastly overrated and not much of a problem.

I RECENTLY flew in and out of numerous airports across the United States and parts of Canada. I passed through security at Dulles International alone eight times over three weeks. As a result, I developed an up-close and personal perspective on the post-Sept. 11 state of air travel and airport security. The inescapable conclusion is not good. What passes for heightened security at America's airports and airlines is, in fact, just a cosmetic intensification of an existing ineffectual system with built-in obstacles thwarting genuine improvement.

I UNDERSTAND the need to prosecute Nathaniel T. Heatwole. After all, the 20-year-old college student from Damascus, Md., reportedly admits that earlier this year, he sneaked box cutters and other banned items aboard aircraft at the Raleigh-Durham and Baltimore-Washington airports. He's even said to have e-mailed security officials, telling them where the items could be found and providing contact information. Officials say Mr. Heatwole sought to demonstrate that there are still a few bugs in the airline security system two years after the Sept.

Are you planning to take a trip out of town this winter? Don't let airport security delays dampen your holiday spirit. Here are four ways to breeze through - or bypass - those irksome security lines, from New York Magazine. Time your flight. You can avoid queuing up with hundreds of strangers this holiday travel season by strategically choosing your flight time. Avoid flying at night or in the early morning, as this is when foot traffic peaks. Your best bet is to choose a flight between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Do your homework.

MY CAREER as a threat to aviation security actually started as an attempt to do a good deed. My son was cutting out labels for some CDs I had dubbed for his grandfather. The labels completed, my son dropped the scissors into a bag. Which I picked up a few weeks later on the way to the airport. Next thing I know, I'm standing jacketless, shoeless, clueless, hatless and bagless at a checkpoint as two security men play a frustrating game of Find the Sharp Object. It seems the scissors show up clear as day on the X-ray device, but cannot be found by a hand search.

The world of flying has changed drastically in the past week and a half, with every day seeming to bring new changes. Here are some Web sites that can keep you updated on changes in airport security and carry-on restrictions -- as well as track and navigate flight delays and cancellations. TSA.GOV -- The Transportation Security Administration's Web site, which offers a number of useful tools for traveling during turbulent times, is a good place to start in researching the lay of the land.

Remember John Tyner? He was the young man whose smartphone captured an "enhanced" pat-down at the San Diego Airport — a search immortalized when he warned, "Don't touch my junk. " This simple quote captured how many of us felt about the government getting too much into our business. After this episode, I never imagined publicly using the Department of Homeland Security as an example of government common sense. Unfortunately, recent actions by the Talbot Public County Schools — the suspension of two lacrosse players (and arrest of one of them)

Edwin F. Hale Sr. Hale, chairman and chief executive officer of First Mariner Bancorp, was detained at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Friday morning for having a loaded handgun in his carry-on luggage. Hale, who also owns the Baltimore Blast indoor soccer team, said he was traveling to Milwaukee for a game, but was stopped at a security checkpoint in the Southwest Airlines terminal. He said he had intended to leave behind the .38 caliber revolver that he regularly carries in his briefcase.

We could debate the airport screening issue indefinitely because what constitutes a reasonable search is subjective. I personally would prefer to set aside some modesty concerns and face some inconvenience in order to reduce the risk of harm. For those who think screening is unnecessary or ineffective, let's give them a hypothetical option (impractical to implement but merely to illustrate a point). Let's give passengers the choice to bypass the screenings on the condition that all of those who elected to do so would have to ride together in a separate aircraft.

I have a pretty good method for preventing bad people from getting on planes that doesn't require full body scans nor intrusive pat downs. Follow a variant of the Israeli model and interview each passenger. Make each one show their passport and check it against the national passport data base. If the face, the passport photo and the photo on the national database all are similar, and you haven't visited Yemen or Pakistan etc. lately, then you get on the plane. If you don't have a U.S. passport then you get to go through the more intrusive stuff.

The battle-cry of the outraged has turned from "Don't tread on me" to "Don't touch my junk. " Clearly, this is a good time to be in the anger management business, but not necessarily to be an employee of the Transportation Security Administration. Surely by now most everyone has seen the latest online video to go viral (surpassing even that middle school football trick play) featuring an annoyed San Diego airline passenger refusing a pat-down from a TSA worker. John Tyner, the Internet celebrity du jour, is now being hailed in some circles as the everyman victim of overzealous and insensitive government employees.

In response to the recent articles in your newspaper regarding the security measures being applied at the nation's airports under Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, it is obvious that after the attacks of 9/11, security measures needed to be taken to protect travelers and our homeland. The Constitution specifically charges the federal government to protect U.S. citizens from any and all foreign and domestic enemies. However, in my opinion, it is ironic that the extreme measures being taken at the airports — including the groping of private body parts, and nude body scans which emit potentially harmful radioactivity — are in stark contrast to the government's laxity in preventing illegal aliens from sneaking across the southern border.

WASHINGTON -- Homeland Security officials moved yesterday to re-evaluate airport security checkpoint procedures and hunt for new scanning technology that could be deployed quickly in the wake of the decision to ban liquids, gels and creams from carry-on luggage. Top officials met late in the day to check the implementation of the new procedures, monitor how information about banned items was being disseminated and examine new information from British officials to see what changes might need to be made in passenger screening.

A newly issued government report on the Federal Aviation Administration's inspections of airport security says that in some cases FAA agents overstated how well airports performed and made efforts to help airlines do well on the inspections.The report on an audit conducted at 26 airports by the inspector general of the Department of Transportation found that some FAA agents reported test results in a way that made the airports seem more secure than the tests had shown them to be.And in evaluating the airlines, the report said that some FAA agents "did not use realistic testing methods" and were trying "to give the air carrier every opportunity to pass."

1. Full-body screening: Travelers should expect to be randomly assigned to pass through either a metal detector or a full-body scanner. Those who opt out of the advanced imaging scans — and you can certainly refuse — will be asked to undergo an "enhanced" pat-down as alternative screening. 2. Pat-down procedure: The U.S. government has tightened security screening measures, including a change in how the Transportation Security Administration does pat-downs. The new technique allows TSA security officers to use their palms and fingers to probe for hidden weapons and other devices.

Cleveland Browns nose tackle Shaun Rogers apologized to his fans and his team on Friday, saying he didn't intend to carry a loaded gun in his luggage as he tried to pass through airport security. Rogers, arguably the Browns' best player, plans to plead not guilty to a concealed weapons charge, his lawyer said. A prosecutor filed the fourth-degree felony charge alleging Rogers carried a .45-caliber Kimber semiautomatic with eight rounds in his carry-on luggage at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.