Aviation Security

Congress has at last recognized and moved to fix a gaping breach in America's homeland security: railroad and transit system security. Unfortunately, the Senate and House bills come with veto provocations. The Senate bill enacting much of the 9/11 commission's recommendations has a provision authorizing collective bargaining by aviation security workers. The House bill embraces whistleblower protections for employees involved in security projects. Both bills apparently are nonstarters in the White House's view.

Once again, The Baltimore Sun's editorial board is successful in cutting against the grain, admonishing the majority of air travelers and aviation security who just do not like the embarrassing and futile preventive measures that TSA uses ( "'Don't touch my junk,'" Nov. 22). Ill-timed and ill-considered, really? once again, your editorial protects bureaucracy, while overlooking what the public wants. And yes, we have the right to demand that from TSA, and let's not forget who is here to serve whom.

Once again, The Baltimore Sun's editorial board is successful in cutting against the grain, admonishing the majority of air travelers and aviation security who just do not like the embarrassing and futile preventive measures that TSA uses ( "'Don't touch my junk,'" Nov. 22). Ill-timed and ill-considered, really? once again, your editorial protects bureaucracy, while overlooking what the public wants. And yes, we have the right to demand that from TSA, and let's not forget who is here to serve whom.

Congress has at last recognized and moved to fix a gaping breach in America's homeland security: railroad and transit system security. Unfortunately, the Senate and House bills come with veto provocations. The Senate bill enacting much of the 9/11 commission's recommendations has a provision authorizing collective bargaining by aviation security workers. The House bill embraces whistleblower protections for employees involved in security projects. Both bills apparently are nonstarters in the White House's view.

DEPENDING ON which path Congress takes, airport security will improve a little or improve a lot. The Senate already has voted for a lot, in the form of a bill that would create a federal law enforcement unit for the nation's airports. Its 28,000 skilled screeners would be paid more and trained better than the high-turnover, minimum-wage earners who now are the last line of defense against airline terrorism. This bipartisan measure would root out a system that is nothing more than a security masquerade at the metal detectors.

GOP's aviation bill secures safety, leaves president with options The Sun's editorial on the House Republican aviation security bill did not accurately reflect the legislation I authored ("Airport security masquerade," Oct. 23). Last week my bill was endorsed by President Bush as "the quickest, most effective way to increase aviation security." The bill includes numerous programs and measures discussed in detail with aviation security experts. We mandate important changes in aviation security to give the public confidence that vital security measures will be taken immediately.

WASHINGTON - Two months after hijacked airliners were turned into bombs, Congress voted overwhelmingly yesterday to approve a federal takeover of airport security that calls for sharply tightened screening of passengers and baggage. The legislation, passed before lawmakers left town for their Thanksgiving recess, sets in motion the most sweeping upgrade of aviation security in decades. It calls for the hiring and training of up to 28,000 additional federal workers to serve as screeners, sky marshals and security supervisors.

WASHINGTON - Significant gaps in security at the nation's airports could be curtailed even at a time of rising passenger traffic by quickly making a wide range of relatively modest changes in screening people and bags, a confidential report by the Department of Homeland Security has concluded. Fixing serious weaknesses in the nation's aviation security system is critical as passenger traffic rises beyond levels seen before the Sept. 11 attacks, the report observed. This summer, passengers are expected to take about 200 million trips globally on the nation's airlines, up about 4 percent from last year.

WASHINGTON - Despite a tumultuous year in which two major airlines went bankrupt and the nation's aviation security system was overhauled, America's skies were so safe that no one had died in commercial airliners as 2002 was drawing to a close yesterday. That would make the third no-deaths safety record in 10 years. The record is all the more remarkable because it follows the worst year in two decades of American commercial aviation, when terrorism helped push the death toll to 525. Worldwide, there had been 19 fatal accidents for passenger flights in 2002, an all-time low for the post-World War II era. "From a passenger's point of view, 2002 has been the safest year since 1946," said Harro Ranter, president of the Aviation Safety Network, a Netherlands-based group that tracks worldwide airliner accidents.

WASHINGTON -- Despite a huge investment in security, the U.S. aviation system remains vulnerable to attack by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, with noncommercial planes and helicopters offering particularly tempting targets, a confidential government report concludes. Intelligence indicates that al-Qaida may have discussed plans to hijack chartered airplanes, helicopters and other general aviation aircraft for attacks because they are less well-guarded than commercial airliners, according to a previously undisclosed 24-page special assessment on aviation security by the FBI and the federal Department of Homeland Security two weeks ago. But commercial airliners are also "likely to remain a target and a platform for terrorists," the report says, and members of al-Qaida appear determined to study and test new U.S. security measures to "uncover weaknesses."

WASHINGTON -- All week long, government lawyer Carla J. Martin badgered them. She sent 100-page court transcripts. She harried them with e-mail criticizing prosecutors and fretting about the government's image. She called them at home. By Friday, Lynne Osmus had had enough. As a top security official at the Federal Aviation Administration, and soon to be a key prosecution witness in the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, she did not like being used to further the lawyer's interest in making the FAA look good over telling the truth in a capital murder case.

WASHINGTON - Significant gaps in security at the nation's airports could be curtailed even at a time of rising passenger traffic by quickly making a wide range of relatively modest changes in screening people and bags, a confidential report by the Department of Homeland Security has concluded. Fixing serious weaknesses in the nation's aviation security system is critical as passenger traffic rises beyond levels seen before the Sept. 11 attacks, the report observed. This summer, passengers are expected to take about 200 million trips globally on the nation's airlines, up about 4 percent from last year.

WASHINGTON -- Despite a huge investment in security, the U.S. aviation system remains vulnerable to attack by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, with noncommercial planes and helicopters offering particularly tempting targets, a confidential government report concludes. Intelligence indicates that al-Qaida may have discussed plans to hijack chartered airplanes, helicopters and other general aviation aircraft for attacks because they are less well-guarded than commercial airliners, according to a previously undisclosed 24-page special assessment on aviation security by the FBI and the federal Department of Homeland Security two weeks ago. But commercial airliners are also "likely to remain a target and a platform for terrorists," the report says, and members of al-Qaida appear determined to study and test new U.S. security measures to "uncover weaknesses."

WASHINGTON - Over strenuous objections from the Bush administration, Congress is moving to increase protections for federal employees who expose fraud, waste and wrongdoing inside the government. Lawmakers of both parties say the measures are needed to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers, who reveal threats to public health, safety and security. But the administration says the bill unconstitutionally interferes with the president's ability to control and manage the government. A House committee approved a whistleblower protection bill Wednesday.

WASHINGTON - Despite a tumultuous year in which two major airlines went bankrupt and the nation's aviation security system was overhauled, America's skies were so safe that no one had died in commercial airliners as 2002 was drawing to a close yesterday. That would make the third no-deaths safety record in 10 years. The record is all the more remarkable because it follows the worst year in two decades of American commercial aviation, when terrorism helped push the death toll to 525. Worldwide, there had been 19 fatal accidents for passenger flights in 2002, an all-time low for the post-World War II era. "From a passenger's point of view, 2002 has been the safest year since 1946," said Harro Ranter, president of the Aviation Safety Network, a Netherlands-based group that tracks worldwide airliner accidents.

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.

WASHINGTON - Over strenuous objections from the Bush administration, Congress is moving to increase protections for federal employees who expose fraud, waste and wrongdoing inside the government. Lawmakers of both parties say the measures are needed to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers, who reveal threats to public health, safety and security. But the administration says the bill unconstitutionally interferes with the president's ability to control and manage the government. A House committee approved a whistleblower protection bill Wednesday.

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.

WASHINGTON - Two months after hijacked airliners were turned into bombs, Congress voted overwhelmingly yesterday to approve a federal takeover of airport security that calls for sharply tightened screening of passengers and baggage. The legislation, passed before lawmakers left town for their Thanksgiving recess, sets in motion the most sweeping upgrade of aviation security in decades. It calls for the hiring and training of up to 28,000 additional federal workers to serve as screeners, sky marshals and security supervisors.

GOP's aviation bill secures safety, leaves president with options The Sun's editorial on the House Republican aviation security bill did not accurately reflect the legislation I authored ("Airport security masquerade," Oct. 23). Last week my bill was endorsed by President Bush as "the quickest, most effective way to increase aviation security." The bill includes numerous programs and measures discussed in detail with aviation security experts. We mandate important changes in aviation security to give the public confidence that vital security measures will be taken immediately.