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CNN Live Saturday

U.S. Airports Step Up Security Measures

Aired September 29, 2001 - 16:20   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. airports look very different than they did let's just say three weeks ago. If you go to the airport, you'll see that armed National Guard troops are patrolling U.S. airports today. President Bush has recommended that states call up guard units until long term security measures are in place.

Some passengers say the military presence creates an aura of fear. Others though, call it reassuring.

Our Kathleen Koch has been keeping an eye on Washington's Dulles Airport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): There has been a steady flow of traffic here at Dulles International Airport. The lines were longer this morning. They've kind of thinned out this afternoon.

One of the reasons that the lines are moving better is that this is one of two airports in the country where they have reinstated curbside check in. United Airlines got permission from the FAA, both here and at Chicago O'Hare to reinstate that curbside check in. They have met some stringent security requirements.

And the FAA says that very soon, other airlines will also follow. We're also seeing a lot of additional security here. One thing that a lot of the airlines are doing, something they've done in the past, but we seem to be seeing more of it, is passenger profiling.

And we'll step over here where you can see what it means. What they do is they randomly pick out a person's name out of the computer. And that person's bags are searched top to bottom. Now with us is Deborah Rojek. Deborah is actually a flight attendant. And her name popped in the computer.

Deborah, what's going on here?

DEBORAH ROJEK, FLIGHT ATTENDANT: A full search of all of my luggage. And I fully understand the need to do that. I don't have a problem with it. I'm on my way onto Atlanta and then onto Frankfurt, Germany tomorrow.

Two weeks ago, I came through La Guardia and I went through the very same search. So quite accustomed to it at this point and fully understanding.

KOCH: Deborah, now you're a flight attendant. Are you feeling better about flying with some of the changes that President Bush has proposed?

ROJEK: Absolutely, but as a charter airline we are just a little bit different in the respect that we do primarily cruise line and military flights. So we're a little different airline anyway.

But I've never had concerns about security. And I've always felt quite comfortable.

KOCH: Deborah, thank you very much. Now as you can pan over here, you can see they're still going through Deborah's bags. The security quite tight here.

Now here at Dulles Airport, we have a lot of employees who've come over here from National Airport, which still remains closed. We should be getting word on that very soon, on whether that will reopen.

Kathleen Koch for CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Kathleen, thank you very much.

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