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CNN Live Today

Interview with Doug Laird

Aired September 04, 2002 - 13:47   ET

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


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Nearly a year after the terror attacks, gaps remain in airport security. The "New York Daily News" says its reporters were able to smuggle knives and pepper spray through checkpoints at 11 airports during the Labor Day holiday. Four of those airports were used by the terrorists last September 11.
Doug Laird is an aviation safety consultant with BGI International. He joins us from Reno, Nevada -- hi, Doug.

DOUG LAIRD, AVIATION SECURITY CONSULTANT: Good afternoon.

PHILLIPS: Well, your first reaction to this report, does this worry you?

LAIRD: Did not surprise me.

PHILLIPS: Does it scare you?

LAIRD: To some degree, although I think after September 11, the passengers wouldn't allow such an event to happen again, so it scares me to some level, but not as much as one might think.

PHILLIPS: Well, is it a good thing that guns were not able to get through?

LAIRD: I think that is the root of the issue. It is much easier to identify a gun in a bag than it is to identify a knife or a razor blade.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, November 19, the deadline the TSA is supposed to take over security at all these airports, and all the training is supposed to be completed. Is that deadline going to be met, and are these lapses happening because everything has not been completed with regard to making security top notch?

LAIRD: I am not sure that the deadlines will be met, and even if they are met, there is more to it than supplying federal agents to do the screening. There is another issue that seems to be overlooked, in my opinion, and that is that we have to have better technology. There has to be more R and D to provide the screeners with the technology they need to, for example, find a razor blade. With the current technology, it is very difficult to find a razor blade. A can of pepper spray, that should be found, as should a weapon, but again, very small pieces of metal are very difficult to find on an X-ray machine.

PHILLIPS: Now, you say better technology is the solution, but Congress and the White House both came out and said that man power was the solution here to the security problem. Is that a mistake?

LAIRD: In my opinion, it is far more complex than man power. I believe that the people we had in place, the private sector, are totally capable of carrying out the function. Again, you have to supply the operators with the proper technology and the proper training, and there have to be enough of them, of course, to not be too rushed. So it is a combination of things, it is not a simple answer, and it is going to take time.

PHILLIPS: Is the technology there, Doug, to improve security?

LAIRD: I think there is a generation of metal detectors that could be deployed, that probably are a little more effective in that they have fewer false alarms, and that way you eliminate the lines. As for X-ray to find small items such as razor blades, there needs to be more development in that area. And again, that is going to take time.

PHILLIPS: We hear that the Israelis and the Europeans do a better job with regard to security. Hey, I have been through those airports. I see how good the security is. Do we have something to learn from them? What are they doing differently that we are not doing?

LAIRD: I think, basically, that is a myth. As for the Israelis, I think, they probably do a better job because they have time and they take a lot more time to do the search, and are far more thorough. Their system would not work in America without totally bogging us down. As for the Europeans and the UK, I believe that if the newspapers had done the same testing in those cities, they would have probably come up with the same results.

Again, it comes back to providing the screeners with the right technology so that they can succeed in their job. It is a very difficult job, and we have to give them what they need to do it properly.

PHILLIPS: Doug, in any way, are you afraid to fly? Quickly.

LAIRD: No, of course not. You know, we have 30, 32,000 flights a day, and the chances of a terrorist being on my flight are pretty low.

PHILLIPS: Doug Laird, aviation security consultant. Thanks, Doug.

LAIRD: Sure.

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