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CNN Live At Daybreak

Homeland Defense: Airport Security Has Holes

Aired October 12, 2001 - 08:18   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to talk about the airline front now. A bill to strengthen aviation security now headed to the House on Capitol Hill after winning nearly unanimous approval in the Senate. That bill would expand the Federal Air Marshal Program. It would also increase cockpit security and hijack training for pilots.

It would add a $2.50 surcharge for passengers, but despite all of the new airport security, the head of the FAA, Jane Garvey, admitted to Congress that 19 of the newest bomb detection machines are still sitting in warehouses throughout the country.

And as CNN's Patty Davis now reports, that may not be the only hole in the airport security blanket.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A crackdown on carry-on baggage, heightened screenings, no cutting instruments allowed, a new one-bag carry-on limit.

But it's a different story and some say glaring deficiency when it comes to checked bags.

REP. JAY INSLEE (D), WASHINGTON: Right now, we do not have adequate measures to assure the flying public of safety, because 90 to 95 percent of those bags are unscreened in the belly of an airplane.

DAVIS: The FAA won't say how many checked bags are screened, but says the number has increased since the September 11 terrorist attacks. A House bill would require all baggage, mail and cargo carried in an aircraft to be screened by bomb-screening machines such as this one. It's a FIX (ph). Families of those who died when Pan Am 103 was brought down by a terrorist bomb hidden in a piece of checked luggage have been pushing for for years. Victoria Cummock lost her husband, John.

VIRGINIA CUMMOCK, WIFE OF PAN AM 103 VICTIM: We're leaving the back door unlocked and wide open if we're not looking at what's being checked.

DAVIS: Right now, the FAA and airlines rely on random screening and computer-assisted passenger screening to decide which bag should be screened based on a profile of suspicious behavior. But Cummock says terrorists can get around that. CUMMOCK: Profiling is done on the basis of the identification that you give when you check in your bags. So you're relying on the honesty of the passenger to identify themselves as a potential risk.

DAVIS: She also worries bags not being matched to their owners on domestic flights as they are internationally meaning unaccompanied bags find their way onto U.S. flights.

The airline industry doesn't advocate either bag matching or 100 percent check bag screening saying it would slow air travel down and wouldn't have stopped the recent terrorism. But the families of the Pan Am 103 victims say now is the time to take action on all fronts and be prepared for any type of terrorist attacks.

Patty Davis, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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