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CNN Live Saturday
TSA Changes Aviation Safety Regulations
Aired December 21, 2002 - 18:19 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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Planning on flying somewhere this holiday season? Well, changes in airport security may have many of you packing your bags a little differently. And for the first time Transportation Security officials are asking passengers not to lock their bags. CNN's John Zarrella says it is all part plan to get to your destination more securely.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On average, 10,000 bags a day are check at Jacksonville International Airport. By the end of December, every checked bag here, before it is taken to plane, will wind its way on a conveyer belt to one of these five state-of-the-art explosive detection systems deep inside the airport and away from passengers.
ADM. JAMES LOY, UNDERSECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: The law says my challenge is to mandate that nothing gets on that airplane that has even a whisker's breath of security concern about it.
ZARRELLA: Not all of the nation's 429 airports will have this high-tech equipment installed by month's end. But all will have some method to electronically screen all bags for explosives. As they move to this next level of aviation security, airport officials admit there may be some initial problems.
JOHN CLARK, EXEC. DIR., JACKSONVILLE AIRPORT AUTHORITY: We have new technology. We have a brand new system. And there is the opportunity for a misread of a piece of luggage to go to the wrong aircraft.
ZARRELLA: Luggage that fails the electronic screening procedure might have to be opened and searched out of sight of the bag's owner. The Transportation Security Administration believes the public is willing to accept that.
LOY: They're more than willing to give up and inch of privacy, if you will -- this is always the security versus privacy balance. And they're willing to give up an inch of that for, you know, 10 yards of more security.
ZARRELLA: To make the process easier the TSA is asking passengers not to lock their luggage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like my privacy. I have stuff in my bags I don't want anybody to see. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never been one to travel with expensive things in my bags and I never locked my bags. I was always afraid I'd loose the key, actually.
ZARRELLA: To reduce the chance your luggage will be opened, TSA officials say, don't pack food. It can cause the machines to read a false positive.
ZARRELLA (on camera): To make the process easier for everyone the Transportation Security Administration says that when you show up at the airport it will provide a plastic luggage tag, a lock that you can put on your bag. Then, if you're bag happens to be opened, to be hand checked, this card, this notification card will be placed on top of your luggage. And then it will be resealed with another plastic locking tag.
That way, you will know when you pick up your bag that it has been checked. Chances are, it's not going to happen, but the Transportation Safety (sic) Administration says it wants to be ready and have all this in place by December 31.
John Zarrella, CNN, Jacksonville International Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 21, 2002 - 18:19 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Planning on flying somewhere this holiday season? Well, changes in airport security may have many of you packing your bags a little differently. And for the first time Transportation Security officials are asking passengers not to lock their bags. CNN's John Zarrella says it is all part plan to get to your destination more securely.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): On average, 10,000 bags a day are check at Jacksonville International Airport. By the end of December, every checked bag here, before it is taken to plane, will wind its way on a conveyer belt to one of these five state-of-the-art explosive detection systems deep inside the airport and away from passengers.
ADM. JAMES LOY, UNDERSECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: The law says my challenge is to mandate that nothing gets on that airplane that has even a whisker's breath of security concern about it.
ZARRELLA: Not all of the nation's 429 airports will have this high-tech equipment installed by month's end. But all will have some method to electronically screen all bags for explosives. As they move to this next level of aviation security, airport officials admit there may be some initial problems.
JOHN CLARK, EXEC. DIR., JACKSONVILLE AIRPORT AUTHORITY: We have new technology. We have a brand new system. And there is the opportunity for a misread of a piece of luggage to go to the wrong aircraft.
ZARRELLA: Luggage that fails the electronic screening procedure might have to be opened and searched out of sight of the bag's owner. The Transportation Security Administration believes the public is willing to accept that.
LOY: They're more than willing to give up and inch of privacy, if you will -- this is always the security versus privacy balance. And they're willing to give up an inch of that for, you know, 10 yards of more security.
ZARRELLA: To make the process easier the TSA is asking passengers not to lock their luggage.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like my privacy. I have stuff in my bags I don't want anybody to see. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never been one to travel with expensive things in my bags and I never locked my bags. I was always afraid I'd loose the key, actually.
ZARRELLA: To reduce the chance your luggage will be opened, TSA officials say, don't pack food. It can cause the machines to read a false positive.
ZARRELLA (on camera): To make the process easier for everyone the Transportation Security Administration says that when you show up at the airport it will provide a plastic luggage tag, a lock that you can put on your bag. Then, if you're bag happens to be opened, to be hand checked, this card, this notification card will be placed on top of your luggage. And then it will be resealed with another plastic locking tag.
That way, you will know when you pick up your bag that it has been checked. Chances are, it's not going to happen, but the Transportation Safety (sic) Administration says it wants to be ready and have all this in place by December 31.
John Zarrella, CNN, Jacksonville International Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
