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Think-tank Says Aviation Security Deadline Hard to Meet

Aired July 11, 2002 - 14:10   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: How secure do you feel at your airport? An L.A. think-tank is questioning a deadline now, set by federal officials for improving that security. Can the government get machines and personnel in place by the end of the year?

CNN's Patty Davis is standing by with more from Reagan National Airport -- what do you think, Patty?

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A new study by the Reason Foundation finds that it will be very difficult to meet that year-end deadline, December 31, to screen all bags at airports nationwide.

Now, the study finds that not only will airports be hard pressed to get the construction done, hundreds of millions of dollars in construction to get those machines in place, those EDS machines, those explosive detection machines, but it says that the bag screening machines are slow, meaning that there could be long lines at airports, as well as flight delays. The study also questions whether the Transportation Security Administration can get enough federal screeners in place by a November deadline for them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT POOLE, REASON FOUNDATION: They only have a couple of thousand people on board right now, and they need to hire, just for passenger screening, between 7 and 8,000 people per month, and get them trained and in place at all of these airports. We don't think that's at all realistic either. So that is yet another reason why this whole plan needs to be rethought as soon as possible by Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIS: The Reason Foundation study saying and recommending, delay the December deadline for two years, until 2004.

Now, the Bush administration today, a spokesman for the Transportation Department coming out and saying, No delay, that is unacceptable. The president will not accept it. Neither will, he says, the American people who want to feel secure after September 11.

Now, the technology in these machines, the Transportation Department also saying, is sound and reliable. So the Transportation Department scrambling to meet that deadline. They say that they will -- Kyra. PHILLIPS: Patty, what can you tell us about the Reason Foundation? How credible of an organization is this, and how is that affecting the way the transportation agency is responding?

DAVIS: Well, I'm told that it is a credible foundation. It's funded by corporations, as well as individuals. They told me they were specifically not asked to do this study by any corporation, so they don't have a dog in this fight, specifically.

Now in the past, what this group has done -- airport related, has come out in favor of privatization for air traffic controllers. That is something that the Bush administration has said at least that it is open to exploring, although Transportation Department Secretary Norman Mineta said that he doesn't want, and, of course, the Air Traffic Controller's Union says that they don't want either. They are very worry about a private company running air traffic control.

The Reason Foundation has talked about issues like that in the past. In this case, they had somebody who is an adviser to the FAA involved in this study as well, so they are a very credible organization -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK, Patty Davis. Thank you.

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