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American Morning
Airport Security
Aired August 19, 2003 - 07:34 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: Now to airport security. It is serious business. We know that. But what you're about to hear from our next guest is sort of like someone saying you don't want to know what's in that hot dog you're eating.
Beth Pinsker, a freelance journalist, spent six weeks as an airport baggage screener checking for explosives. She's written about that experience in the new issue of "Wired" magazine. And it points to some serious flaws in the security system.
Beth Pinsker is with us now here in New York.
Good morning to you.
BETH PINSKER, FREELANCE WRITER: Good morning.
HEMMER: Did you take this job to write a piece on it?
PINSKER: No, I never -- I didn't have an assignment before I went there. I just took the job as a regular person. I was...
HEMMER: So you wanted to be a baggage screener then?
PINSKER: Well, I had been laid off twice in 2001 and so I was just getting by on freelance writing assignments.
HEMMER: OK. I've got it. TSA...
PINSKER: And that job comes with health insurance.
HEMMER: Oh, does it really?
PINSKER: Yes.
HEMMER: Well, there's a perk, certainly.
PINSKER: Yes.
HEMMER: The TSA, we asked them to join us. They declined. But they did give us a statement. I'll read it to you right now. They say, "Ms. Pinsker apparently took the job for one reason, to research and write a story she wished to sell to a national magazine. This action is, in our opinion, not only unethical journalism, but irresponsible. Her story research put the public at risk and cost taxpayers almost $20,000 for recruitment, training, employee pay and expenses."
Pretty hard charges. They say you cheated, you cost them money and security.
PINSKER: Well, I applied for the job just like anybody else. I was unemployed at the time and it's a job that comes with benefits. So I thought it would be interesting. I don't think I made quite that much money.
But the flaws that they point out -- the flaws that I point out in the system in the article are things that are known in the security world, both by the security experts and by the people who are trying to make bombs and put them on planes. So the flaws that I'm revealing are to the flying public and to Congress and people who pay for those...
HEMMER: Well, let's get to them. You say the training was slapdash. How so?
PINSKER: Well, they're supposed to give 40 hours of classroom training and then 60 hours of on the job training. I didn't receive -- I've received probably about half that amount of classroom training. And then I never received, after five weeks on the job, any on the job, official on the job training.
HEMMER: Did you ever ask for that? And, if so, what did they say?
PINSKER: Well, it was just sort of understood that you got there and you started to work. And then after about five weeks or so, they started to try to figure out a system at LaGuardia, where I was. I don't know if that goes for any other airports. But they were just starting to figure out a system whereby to administrator the on the job training.
HEMMER: How much of that was involved here when it comes to growing pains, you see just trying to figure out the system? Was that a big part of this?
PINSKER: Well, that part might be just growing pains of a new administration. The flaws in the actual machines and the systems set up for the baggage screeners to check bags, that's an inherent problem in the system that has nothing to do with the TSA being a young agency or not.
HEMMER: You say in your article too many false positives in these large scanners, the CTX machines, right now.
What do you mean by that?
PINSKER: Well, the machines ask for hand checks of a bag about 25 to 35 percent of the time. So about every fourth bag that goes through the machine some screener has to open up and check. And mostly what they're finding are normal household items. So after three or four, seven or 10 bags, the screeners start to get bored. And they stop looking for specific items. They stop being as careful as they should be.
So, you know, their fourth week, their fifth week, their sixth month on the job, they're not really paying as much attention as they should.
HEMMER: So you're saying that the attitude becomes lax at that point, is that what you observed?
PINSKER: Yes. And you open up the bag and you're looking for the most expedient item to find that the machine has been, that the machine has asked you to find. So you're not really looking for a bomb, you're looking for the thing the machine has asked you to find in the bag. And that could be any sort of normal item. But you never, once you take that item out, you never actually check the bag again to make sure that's what the machine was looking for.
HEMMER: OK, after you've had this position, after you've written this piece, you're now left to look back on your experience and look at the flying public and say what in terms of the answer right now? Is it money? Is it better machines? Is it more vigilance? Is it training? Or do you see ultimately in the end that this is a system that can never be completely a hundred percent safe?
PINSKER: Well, the experts in the security field and the technology experts have a lot of suggestions for what do and they're working on a lot of different technologies. The problem is is where you put the resources to develop those technologies. These are very high tech machines that they're trying to build that involve nuclear technology and various X-ray technologies that are very, very advanced.
HEMMER: Sure.
PINSKER: And if you're putting all your resources in trying to fix the current system we have, you're not putting enough resources trying to find the new thing that'll make it better.
HEMMER: Interesting conclusion.
Beth, thanks.
Beth Pinsker, a freelance writer.
Her piece is in the magazine "Wired."
PINSKER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Nice to see 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 August 19, 2003 - 07:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to airport security. It is serious business. We know that. But what you're about to hear from our next guest is sort of like someone saying you don't want to know what's in that hot dog you're eating.
Beth Pinsker, a freelance journalist, spent six weeks as an airport baggage screener checking for explosives. She's written about that experience in the new issue of "Wired" magazine. And it points to some serious flaws in the security system.
Beth Pinsker is with us now here in New York.
Good morning to you.
BETH PINSKER, FREELANCE WRITER: Good morning.
HEMMER: Did you take this job to write a piece on it?
PINSKER: No, I never -- I didn't have an assignment before I went there. I just took the job as a regular person. I was...
HEMMER: So you wanted to be a baggage screener then?
PINSKER: Well, I had been laid off twice in 2001 and so I was just getting by on freelance writing assignments.
HEMMER: OK. I've got it. TSA...
PINSKER: And that job comes with health insurance.
HEMMER: Oh, does it really?
PINSKER: Yes.
HEMMER: Well, there's a perk, certainly.
PINSKER: Yes.
HEMMER: The TSA, we asked them to join us. They declined. But they did give us a statement. I'll read it to you right now. They say, "Ms. Pinsker apparently took the job for one reason, to research and write a story she wished to sell to a national magazine. This action is, in our opinion, not only unethical journalism, but irresponsible. Her story research put the public at risk and cost taxpayers almost $20,000 for recruitment, training, employee pay and expenses."
Pretty hard charges. They say you cheated, you cost them money and security.
PINSKER: Well, I applied for the job just like anybody else. I was unemployed at the time and it's a job that comes with benefits. So I thought it would be interesting. I don't think I made quite that much money.
But the flaws that they point out -- the flaws that I point out in the system in the article are things that are known in the security world, both by the security experts and by the people who are trying to make bombs and put them on planes. So the flaws that I'm revealing are to the flying public and to Congress and people who pay for those...
HEMMER: Well, let's get to them. You say the training was slapdash. How so?
PINSKER: Well, they're supposed to give 40 hours of classroom training and then 60 hours of on the job training. I didn't receive -- I've received probably about half that amount of classroom training. And then I never received, after five weeks on the job, any on the job, official on the job training.
HEMMER: Did you ever ask for that? And, if so, what did they say?
PINSKER: Well, it was just sort of understood that you got there and you started to work. And then after about five weeks or so, they started to try to figure out a system at LaGuardia, where I was. I don't know if that goes for any other airports. But they were just starting to figure out a system whereby to administrator the on the job training.
HEMMER: How much of that was involved here when it comes to growing pains, you see just trying to figure out the system? Was that a big part of this?
PINSKER: Well, that part might be just growing pains of a new administration. The flaws in the actual machines and the systems set up for the baggage screeners to check bags, that's an inherent problem in the system that has nothing to do with the TSA being a young agency or not.
HEMMER: You say in your article too many false positives in these large scanners, the CTX machines, right now.
What do you mean by that?
PINSKER: Well, the machines ask for hand checks of a bag about 25 to 35 percent of the time. So about every fourth bag that goes through the machine some screener has to open up and check. And mostly what they're finding are normal household items. So after three or four, seven or 10 bags, the screeners start to get bored. And they stop looking for specific items. They stop being as careful as they should be.
So, you know, their fourth week, their fifth week, their sixth month on the job, they're not really paying as much attention as they should.
HEMMER: So you're saying that the attitude becomes lax at that point, is that what you observed?
PINSKER: Yes. And you open up the bag and you're looking for the most expedient item to find that the machine has been, that the machine has asked you to find. So you're not really looking for a bomb, you're looking for the thing the machine has asked you to find in the bag. And that could be any sort of normal item. But you never, once you take that item out, you never actually check the bag again to make sure that's what the machine was looking for.
HEMMER: OK, after you've had this position, after you've written this piece, you're now left to look back on your experience and look at the flying public and say what in terms of the answer right now? Is it money? Is it better machines? Is it more vigilance? Is it training? Or do you see ultimately in the end that this is a system that can never be completely a hundred percent safe?
PINSKER: Well, the experts in the security field and the technology experts have a lot of suggestions for what do and they're working on a lot of different technologies. The problem is is where you put the resources to develop those technologies. These are very high tech machines that they're trying to build that involve nuclear technology and various X-ray technologies that are very, very advanced.
HEMMER: Sure.
PINSKER: And if you're putting all your resources in trying to fix the current system we have, you're not putting enough resources trying to find the new thing that'll make it better.
HEMMER: Interesting conclusion.
Beth, thanks.
Beth Pinsker, a freelance writer.
Her piece is in the magazine "Wired."
PINSKER: Thank you.
HEMMER: Nice to see 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
