Air Cargo Security?

Pilots, lawmakers slam air cargo security


By Shaun Waterman
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor


WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The Transportation Security Administration
came under fire Wednesday from airline labor unions, survivors of
terror attacks, consumer advocates and lawmakers, who said the agency
was failing to fix "a gaping loophole" in the nation's aviation
security.

They charged that allowing unscreened cargo on board passenger planes
leaves the back door of air travel wide open to terrorists.

"As the TSA takes away travelers' nail clippers, passengers are biting
their nails, because no one inspects for bombs without boarding passes
in the cargo hold of airplanes," Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told
reporters.

But TSA spokesman Brian Turmail said the agency was doing all it could
to ensure passenger safety, without destroying the air cargo business
-- vital to "just-in-time" delivery and therefore to the U.S. economy.

Wednesday, an advisory group set up by the TSA -- consisting of
representatives of various aviation industries, labor unions and
advocacy groups -- presented its recommendations on air cargo security
to the agency. Several of its members, who joined Markey and Rep.
Christopher Shays, R-Conn., at a Capitol Hill news conference,
dissented from the report.

The report recommended enhancing the so-called known-shipper program,
under which airlines register shipping companies thought to be
trustworthy, based on criteria such as how long they have been in
business. The exact criteria are not made public for security reasons.

The TSA audits the registration and only those companies who have it
are allowed to put cargo on passenger planes.

The advisory panel recommended that the registration criteria be
expanded -- effectively making it harder to get into the program --
and that the TSA begin doing the registration itself.

Critics say the system is inadequate, and point to the recent case of
a man who had himself shipped from New York to Texas by a registered
company.

"The known-shipper program should be called the unknown-cargo
program," said Markey, and Shays added, "(The program) turns screening
into a piece of paper, and a piece of paper is not going to tell
anyone what's in (a)... box which is being placed on a plane."

"In order to have true cargo security," American Airlines pilot Paul
Rancatore said, "there has to be inspection of everything that's
placed on board an aircraft."

The TSA will produce a strategic plan on air cargo security at the end
of October, and then draft regulations, which will come into effect
next year.

"Our goal is to screen as much cargo as we possibly can," said
Turmail.

He said that the technology used to screen checked baggage cannot be
used on most cargo, which is palletized, because the pallets are too
large. He acknowledged that there are machines which are used to
screen sea-borne cargo containers in ports, but "they have a very
large footprint," which means it may not be practical to site them in
airports.

He pointed out that $55 million had been set aside in the
appropriations bill President Bush signed Wednesday to develop new
technology to make electronic screening of cargo pallets possible, and
that a pilot program involving the electronic screening of cargo for
passenger planes would begin "as soon as we can."

The bill also provides $30 million for enhancing the known shipper
program, and funds to expand TSA's canine and human inspection force
-- there is cash for 100 new inspectors, Turmail said.

Critics charge that the TSA's progress is too slow.

"There are no deadlines ... so unless Congress does something to order
TSA to implement inspections it will be 20 years and we still won't
have them," said Chris Witkowski from the Association of Flight
Attendants, part of the AFL-CIO.

He said that the Aviation Security Improvement Act, passed 13 years
ago in 1990 had included provisions about cargo security. "It is time
for congress to act," he concluded.

Rancatore, speaking for the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations,
pointed out that the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which
set up the TSA in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, had
mandated the screening of all passengers, luggage, mail and cargo
placed aboard passenger planes.

"Unfortunately, a game of semantics had been played where congress'
intent has been diluted (to a point where) 'screening' (means) the
known shipper program."

Markey had put forward an amendment to the appropriations bill that
would have mandated screening of cargo on passenger planes by the end
of the year. Despite being passed by a large, bi-partisan majority on
the House floor, it was stripped out of the bill in conference.

He and Shays vowed to continue pressing their cause.

Five members of the advisory panel -- the Aviation Security Advisory
Committee -- dissented from its recommendations: the Coalition of
Airline Pilots Associations, the Association of Flight Attendants, the
Allied Pilots Association, the Aviation Consumer Action Program, and
the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 group, which represents relatives of
those killed in the bombing of that plane above Lockerbie, Scotland,
in 1988.

Turmail said the TSA was "excited to get both the recommendations and
the dissent. This kind of discussion is essential. We will listen to
everyone and consider everything they say when drawing up our
strategic plan."

UPI = Moonie Bull****


"Steve Dufour" wrote in message
m...
Pilots, lawmakers slam air cargo security


By Shaun Waterman
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor


WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The Transportation Security Administration
came under fire Wednesday from airline labor unions, survivors of
terror attacks, consumer advocates and lawmakers, who said the agency
was failing to fix "a gaping loophole" in the nation's aviation
security.

They charged that allowing unscreened cargo on board passenger planes
leaves the back door of air travel wide open to terrorists.

"As the TSA takes away travelers' nail clippers, passengers are biting
their nails, because no one inspects for bombs without boarding passes
in the cargo hold of airplanes," Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told
reporters.

But TSA spokesman Brian Turmail said the agency was doing all it could
to ensure passenger safety, without destroying the air cargo business
-- vital to "just-in-time" delivery and therefore to the U.S. economy.

Wednesday, an advisory group set up by the TSA -- consisting of
representatives of various aviation industries, labor unions and
advocacy groups -- presented its recommendations on air cargo security
to the agency. Several of its members, who joined Markey and Rep.
Christopher Shays, R-Conn., at a Capitol Hill news conference,
dissented from the report.

The report recommended enhancing the so-called known-shipper program,
under which airlines register shipping companies thought to be
trustworthy, based on criteria such as how long they have been in
business. The exact criteria are not made public for security reasons.

The TSA audits the registration and only those companies who have it
are allowed to put cargo on passenger planes.

The advisory panel recommended that the registration criteria be
expanded -- effectively making it harder to get into the program --
and that the TSA begin doing the registration itself.

Critics say the system is inadequate, and point to the recent case of
a man who had himself shipped from New York to Texas by a registered
company.

"The known-shipper program should be called the unknown-cargo
program," said Markey, and Shays added, "(The program) turns screening
into a piece of paper, and a piece of paper is not going to tell
anyone what's in (a)... box which is being placed on a plane."

"In order to have true cargo security," American Airlines pilot Paul
Rancatore said, "there has to be inspection of everything that's
placed on board an aircraft."

The TSA will produce a strategic plan on air cargo security at the end
of October, and then draft regulations, which will come into effect
next year.

"Our goal is to screen as much cargo as we possibly can," said
Turmail.

He said that the technology used to screen checked baggage cannot be
used on most cargo, which is palletized, because the pallets are too
large. He acknowledged that there are machines which are used to
screen sea-borne cargo containers in ports, but "they have a very
large footprint," which means it may not be practical to site them in
airports.

He pointed out that $55 million had been set aside in the
appropriations bill President Bush signed Wednesday to develop new
technology to make electronic screening of cargo pallets possible, and
that a pilot program involving the electronic screening of cargo for
passenger planes would begin "as soon as we can."

The bill also provides $30 million for enhancing the known shipper
program, and funds to expand TSA's canine and human inspection force
-- there is cash for 100 new inspectors, Turmail said.

Critics charge that the TSA's progress is too slow.

"There are no deadlines ... so unless Congress does something to order
TSA to implement inspections it will be 20 years and we still won't
have them," said Chris Witkowski from the Association of Flight
Attendants, part of the AFL-CIO.

He said that the Aviation Security Improvement Act, passed 13 years
ago in 1990 had included provisions about cargo security. "It is time
for congress to act," he concluded.

Rancatore, speaking for the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations,
pointed out that the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which
set up the TSA in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, had
mandated the screening of all passengers, luggage, mail and cargo
placed aboard passenger planes.

"Unfortunately, a game of semantics had been played where congress'
intent has been diluted (to a point where) 'screening' (means) the
known shipper program."

Markey had put forward an amendment to the appropriations bill that
would have mandated screening of cargo on passenger planes by the end
of the year. Despite being passed by a large, bi-partisan majority on
the House floor, it was stripped out of the bill in conference.

He and Shays vowed to continue pressing their cause.

Five members of the advisory panel -- the Aviation Security Advisory
Committee -- dissented from its recommendations: the Coalition of
Airline Pilots Associations, the Association of Flight Attendants, the
Allied Pilots Association, the Aviation Consumer Action Program, and
the Victims of Pan Am Flight 103 group, which represents relatives of
those killed in the bombing of that plane above Lockerbie, Scotland,
in 1988.

Turmail said the TSA was "excited to get both the recommendations and
the dissent. This kind of discussion is essential. We will listen to
everyone and consider everything they say when drawing up our
strategic plan."