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Interview With Charles Slepian

Aired July 30, 2003 - 14:38   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush calls the threats real, but says he's confident any attempt to carry them out would be foiled. Just how vulnerable are the airlines To another 9/11 style attack? We're joined by Charles Slepian, CEO of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis center. That's a think tank on security issues. Thanks so much for being here, Mr. Slepian.
CHARLES SLEPIAN, FORESEEABLE RISK ANALYSIS CENTER: Good afternoon, Heidi.

COLLINS: What is your assessment of the aviation security system as it stands today in the United States?

SLEPIAN: I'm afraid it's not much better than it was on September 11, but in particular the issue of air marshals I do have to agree with Secretary Ridge. Remember the air marshal program is not a new one. We had sky marshals in the late '60s and early '70s. They are there to prevent hijackings of aircraft.

However, nowadays we also have re-enforced cockpit doors to keep hijackers out of the cockpit. We have or will have trained flight attendants to be able to handle and control incidents inside the cabin. You have to get through a screening system which has been in place now for about 30 years, specifically to keep weapons out of the aircraft. I'm far less concerned about hijacking than I am about bombings.

COLLINS: But clearly the Aviation Security act of 2001, all of those issues in that document, if will you, have not been instituted. Where do we stand on that? What are the main areas where we really have to say, Hey, look, we have to get this done and we've got to get it done today?

SLEPIAN: Well one of the areas that is in the act and has been totally ignored and that is the back of the airport. We have in the neighborhood of 200,000 employees working in airports around the country. They do not go through a physical screening every day. They have access to airplanes, they have access to baggage and have access to cargo. They have access to all of the maintenance materials that go onboard the airplanes.

Until we lockup the back of the airport, what we are doing in the front of the airport is almost nonsensical.

(CROSSTALK) COLLINS: ... let me be clear, if I could, for our viewers about that. Are you saying that employees of whatever airline we're talking about here, and I know this happens with several different airlines, that the employees can go and get on to employee buses before getting to the airport, never going through a security check and then have direct access to the aircraft?

SLEPIAN: That's exactly what I'm saying. They have an identification card and they may have gone through a background check. But that background check will only tell you whether they have been arrested for a crime.

The fact of the matter is, if they have direct access to airplanes and everything in their pockets and anything on their backpack, anything in their control is not checked. so if we're not screening the back of the airport, we really are not protecting the passengers and flight or the airline itself.

I think that focusing attention on individuals attempting to hijack an airplane is wasting an awful lot of time and an awful lot of money. And I think the secretary is right, passengers won't allow it, flight attendants won't allow it. But in any event you can't get through the cockpit door. And if you can't take the plane, there is no purpose in hijacking the plane.

COLLINS: Mr. Slepian, let's talk for a moment, if we could, about the TSA. Talk to me about how you think this agency has improved since it has become federalized. are these not some of the same people who worked for the privatized companies but now they work for the federal government and they have a uniform? Have they gotten any further training? Or are we talking about kind of the same kind of people here?

SLEPIAN: We're talking about 40 percent of the workers in some airports are the same people who were there before. They received 44 hours of training. That's one week's training. One week is not nearly enough to train you to be efficient at the kind of job and demands of the job of screening for bombs and other materials in an airport. TSA has been very proud of the fact they have confiscated pen knives and nail files. You can't take down an airplane with those items. I'm afraid that TSA may be well-intentioned but very poorly managed.

COLLINS: All right, Mr. Slepian, we have one second left here. A quick answer, if you could, on carry on baggage. Is it ever going to be a fact that at some point we could never have carry on baggage with us again?

SLEPIAN: Well we may get to that point. I think it would be an awful mistake to do that. Carry on baggage is really not preventing the threat that it's indicated to be.

COLLINS: All right. Charles Slepian of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center. We certainly do appreciate your insight today. Thanks so much.

SLEPIAN: Thank you.

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 July 30, 2003 - 14:38   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush calls the threats real, but says he's confident any attempt to carry them out would be foiled. Just how vulnerable are the airlines To another 9/11 style attack? We're joined by Charles Slepian, CEO of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis center. That's a think tank on security issues. Thanks so much for being here, Mr. Slepian.
CHARLES SLEPIAN, FORESEEABLE RISK ANALYSIS CENTER: Good afternoon, Heidi.

COLLINS: What is your assessment of the aviation security system as it stands today in the United States?

SLEPIAN: I'm afraid it's not much better than it was on September 11, but in particular the issue of air marshals I do have to agree with Secretary Ridge. Remember the air marshal program is not a new one. We had sky marshals in the late '60s and early '70s. They are there to prevent hijackings of aircraft.

However, nowadays we also have re-enforced cockpit doors to keep hijackers out of the cockpit. We have or will have trained flight attendants to be able to handle and control incidents inside the cabin. You have to get through a screening system which has been in place now for about 30 years, specifically to keep weapons out of the aircraft. I'm far less concerned about hijacking than I am about bombings.

COLLINS: But clearly the Aviation Security act of 2001, all of those issues in that document, if will you, have not been instituted. Where do we stand on that? What are the main areas where we really have to say, Hey, look, we have to get this done and we've got to get it done today?

SLEPIAN: Well one of the areas that is in the act and has been totally ignored and that is the back of the airport. We have in the neighborhood of 200,000 employees working in airports around the country. They do not go through a physical screening every day. They have access to airplanes, they have access to baggage and have access to cargo. They have access to all of the maintenance materials that go onboard the airplanes.

Until we lockup the back of the airport, what we are doing in the front of the airport is almost nonsensical.

(CROSSTALK) COLLINS: ... let me be clear, if I could, for our viewers about that. Are you saying that employees of whatever airline we're talking about here, and I know this happens with several different airlines, that the employees can go and get on to employee buses before getting to the airport, never going through a security check and then have direct access to the aircraft?

SLEPIAN: That's exactly what I'm saying. They have an identification card and they may have gone through a background check. But that background check will only tell you whether they have been arrested for a crime.

The fact of the matter is, if they have direct access to airplanes and everything in their pockets and anything on their backpack, anything in their control is not checked. so if we're not screening the back of the airport, we really are not protecting the passengers and flight or the airline itself.

I think that focusing attention on individuals attempting to hijack an airplane is wasting an awful lot of time and an awful lot of money. And I think the secretary is right, passengers won't allow it, flight attendants won't allow it. But in any event you can't get through the cockpit door. And if you can't take the plane, there is no purpose in hijacking the plane.

COLLINS: Mr. Slepian, let's talk for a moment, if we could, about the TSA. Talk to me about how you think this agency has improved since it has become federalized. are these not some of the same people who worked for the privatized companies but now they work for the federal government and they have a uniform? Have they gotten any further training? Or are we talking about kind of the same kind of people here?

SLEPIAN: We're talking about 40 percent of the workers in some airports are the same people who were there before. They received 44 hours of training. That's one week's training. One week is not nearly enough to train you to be efficient at the kind of job and demands of the job of screening for bombs and other materials in an airport. TSA has been very proud of the fact they have confiscated pen knives and nail files. You can't take down an airplane with those items. I'm afraid that TSA may be well-intentioned but very poorly managed.

COLLINS: All right, Mr. Slepian, we have one second left here. A quick answer, if you could, on carry on baggage. Is it ever going to be a fact that at some point we could never have carry on baggage with us again?

SLEPIAN: Well we may get to that point. I think it would be an awful mistake to do that. Carry on baggage is really not preventing the threat that it's indicated to be.

COLLINS: All right. Charles Slepian of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center. We certainly do appreciate your insight today. Thanks so much.

SLEPIAN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com