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CNN Live At Daybreak

Government Memo Reports Airport Security Failures

Aired March 26, 2002 - 06:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: If you have been afraid to fly since the September 11 attacks, this report by our Mark Potter will not ease your mind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): According to a classified government memo, first reported in "USA Today" and confirmed by CNN, federal investigators went undercover at 32 U.S. airports from November to mid-February. They found failures nationwide, despite a heightened state of alert after September 11.

MICHAEL JACKSON, DEPUTY SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: We put the smartest people that we could find and trained them very aggressively on how to penetrate the system and asked them to work as hard as they could to find vulnerabilities.

POTTER: Vulnerabilities were widespread. The memo says investigators smuggled guns passed airport security screeners in 30 percent of the tests. Simulated explosives passed through undetected in 60 percent of the tests. Knives made it through security 70 percent of the time. And investigators gained access to airport tarmacs or secretly boarded aircraft in 48 percent of the undercover tests.

Charles Slepian, a private security consultant, says he is not surprised.

CHARLES SLEPIAN, FORESEEABLE RISK ANALYSIS CENTER: You have amateurs doing the job that requires professionals, and until we put professionals both on the screening process and into the procedural aspects of it and the supervision of it, you can expect that this will continue into the future.

POTTER: Government officials say the undercover tests were ordered by President Bush to assess airport security and were completed before February 17, when the federal government took control of airport screening. White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, says security improvements are under way.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This week, for example, marks the beginning of a comprehensive training program for the first wave of senior federal security screeners, who are now going to be deployed at airports around the country, and that's going to be some 300 people per week for the next four weeks.

POTTER: Eight new airport security directors have already been sworn in, and 30,000 screeners will be hired by the federal government and trained more thoroughly than before. Those currently on the job will have to reapply.

(on camera): Critics say in the meantime, U.S. airports remain vulnerable. Federal investigators say they have not conducted any more undercover tests since February, but plan to resume them to see if changes in personnel, training and equipment actually lead to tighter security.

Mark Potter, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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