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CNN Live At Daybreak
At Center of Congressional Deadlock Over Airline Security is Question of Whether Security Should be in Hands of Federal Workers or Private Companies
Aired November 08, 2001 - 07:51 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: At the center of the congressional deadlock over airline security is the question of whether security should be in the hands of federal workers or private companies. And one of those companies, Argenbright, was involved in the O'Hare incident, and had already been on probation for hiring criminals.
And our next guest has lobbied on behalf of a number of aviation security firms on Capitol Hill, among them Argenbright. Kenneth Quinn represents the Aviation Security Association.
Mr. Quinn, thanks for being with us.
KENNETH QUINN, COUNCIL FOR AVIATION SECURITY ASSOCIATION: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: I guess one point that is just not a subject of debate is the system is broken. Would you go along with that?
QUINN: Yes, nobody is really defending the status quo. What we need to be doing is changing the system that's really designed here, domestically, very weakly. After Lockerbie, a lot of more stringent controls were put into place internationally, whether it's domestic bag matched, whether it's x-ray of all checked baggage, and certainly, the security work force.
And in Europe, you have a system, where a public-private sector partnership is in place at 32 of the 34 airports. They realized long ago that a nationalized work force was a failed approach. They abandoned it, and after a huge number of hijackings and grenades in the airports, and that's the kind of system we're trying to move to...
O'BRIEN: All right.
QUINN: ... in Congress.
O'BRIEN: Before we get into that debate, I've got to ask you this question. If it's so plainly evident that the system is broke, so obvious to everyone. Surely it didn't take the September 11 attacks to make that evident. Is this a bit of a tombstone mentality here for your association -- your organization, and the companies you represent? QUINN: No, I think everyone, prior to September 11 -- the risk assessment in this country, based on our nation's law enforcement and intelligence community, was to put in their system something that we're all comfortable with or thought we were comfortable with. Whether that was an FAA oversight...
O'BRIEN: Well, why didn't anybody...
QUINN: ... or the security bags themselves...
O'BRIEN: Mr. Quinn -- Mr. Quinn.
QUINN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Why didn't anybody raise alarm signals prior to September 11? I mean, it seems...
QUINN: Again, you put the security countermeasures in place, and you have a work force and procedures, based on the risk assessment. Unfortunately, security companies themselves, prior to September 11 and even today, were not certificated. The individuals are not certificated. Our training requirements were far too low, and the wages were too low and turnover was too high. But if you look at the
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Why did that happen?
QUINN: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Can you give me some idea why that happened? This is...
QUINN: Well, I think success bred complacency. You had -- hijackings were huge in the 70s, early 80s. In the 90s, we really had one. And so, no one really envisioned the suicidal hijacker, and now we've all changed. We've had to change our procedures from law enforcement, intelligence community, the FAA, and certainly the security screening companies.
The most important thing, though, is to take the airlines out of the security equation. Security is not their bag. It's a very cost- sensitive industry, highly competitive. They're losing billions. The security folks need to be reporting directly to the federal government, so we can bump up the wages, bump up the compensations, the benefits, and make it a professional career check, as it is in Europe. And we're going to see, I think, a far more effective professional work environment that will be so much better for the traveling public.
O'BRIEN: I suppose there are a lot of people out there, members of the traveling public, who might feel a little more comfortable if they truly were federal agents, or at least federal employees, who are doing this screening. It might give them an added measure of security, given the track record here and the concerns that have been plainly admitted to, on your part, with the private security firms.
QUINN: Well, I think everyone believes that we ought to have a federalized approach. The debate is really do we have to have a 100 percent nationalized approach. Everyone agrees we need to have a more federal presence. They need to be doing more oversight, more standard setting, more aggressive enforcement.
What you lose in a nationalized approach, though, is accountability. The federal government doesn't fire itself. You can choose who to contract with, and who not to contract with. If there is poor performance, you can fire the company...
O'BRIEN: Well...
QUINN: ... you can fire the individual.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: I suppose you can make the same argument for the FBI. You know, the FBI are federal employees.
QUINN: Well, look at...
O'BRIEN: They are bureaucrats. The same restrictions apply to them, and generally people feel fairly secure with the FBI.
QUINN: Well, but you can also look there's a lot of other federal agencies that have their own significant shortcomings with a direct nexus to September 11 in the intelligence community, in law enforcement, INS and visas, the FAA itself. They have their own staffing challenges. They have their own standard-setting challenges today.
There's a lot of federal contracting that goes on today with low turnover, high wages for our nuclear facilities, our embassies, our military installations, NATO, the European Parliament. So many other models work, both in the United States and in Europe. It would be very silly to try to reinvent the wheel.
O'BRIEN: Kenneth Quinn is with the Council for Aviation Security Association. He represents aviation screening firms, among them Argenbright -- thank you very much for being with us this morning.
QUINN: Thank you. Good morning.
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