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American Morning

Canceled Flights

Aired February 02, 2004 - 09:08   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about the latest terror concerns about airlines, and whether the U.S. is prepared to deal with the kind of attack that might be in the works. Joining us this morning is security analyst Charles Slepian.
Nice to see you, sir, always. Thanks for being with us.

Seven flights canceled. Let's talk about the six first coming from Europe. What do you think? What was really going, do you think, here?

CHARLES SLEPIAN, SECURITY ANALYST: We probably have some intelligence information and names of flights, and we have become a one trick pony. Either we ground the flights, or we provide air cover escort using fighter planes.

The fact of the matter is, if we're worried about hijacking, then if we are sure the cockpit cannot be penetrated, we needn't worry about hijacking. If we're worried about bombs or chemical devices then we need to screen every package, every piece of luggage, all the cargo that goes on board the plane.

O'BRIEN: So because that's not being done, you're saying mixed signals are being given out here. I mean, we're not screening a good percentage of the cargo that's going on board.

SLEPIAN: Well, the British have agreed that they are following the same practice we are in the United States, which is, essentially, the trusted shipper program. If we know the shipper, we don't examine the cargo. If we don't know the shipper, we don't permit the cargo. Well, that's foolishness. Every package needs to be checked before it's put on a plane.

O'BRIEN: So, do you think then that these planes are grounded because of an air marshal issue, or because of a could be biological and chemical weapons issue and we cannot -- and we have not historically checked all the cargo?

SLEPIAN: It's a pass the buck issue. What we're doing here is we're saying put an air marshal on board the plane. You know that there is no linkage between an air marshal and a package in the cargo hold. We know they will not put the air marshal on the plane, therefore we say, well, we will not allow you to land. They then voluntarily withdraw the flight.

O'BRIEN: That rational won't work for the domestic flight that was canceled, of course; the air marshal issue not an issue at all. What do you think caused that cancellation?

SLEPIAN: I think it's a lot of the same thing. The domestic flight that was canceled expresses a concern that we have that our screening on the ground is not efficient, and we know it's not. I mean, last week we had a lady get on the plane to La Guardia Airport with a stun gun and a knife. She turned herself in at her destination. We know that our system is porous on this end as well.

Until we lock in the kind of security we need on the ground, both here and abroad, you're going to see a continuation of this. And to say that we have to be extra cautious is nonsense. It's not a matter of caution on a given flight. If we have a porous system, every single flight is at risk. We need to tighten that up. And until we get the position where we're willing to do that, we're going to experience that forever.

O'BRIEN: Here's what Senator Jay Rockefeller had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know how to protect against biological. Therefore, if there's any whiff -- I mean, any sense, not whiff, any sense of biological, you play it safe and the plane doesn't fly, and people are going to have to get used to that, and people are not going to like that, but it's what you got to do in this era.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That's scary, because it sounds like he's saying we cannot prepare the American public against any kind of biological, chemical, you know, a plane being used as some kind of transport for biological or chemical weapon. And, two, this is the new reality, canceling planes. Things are just going to change.

SLEPIAN: I disagree with it. I think we can secure the aircraft. Once again, we check every person that goes, and we check every package that goes on. It's an unwillingness to do what we need to do. We know what the risk is and we know what kind of security we can put in place to stop it, but Until we begin to do that, we're going to have this problem forever.

O'BRIEN: Charles Slepian, nice to see you, as always. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.

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 February 2, 2004 - 09:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about the latest terror concerns about airlines, and whether the U.S. is prepared to deal with the kind of attack that might be in the works. Joining us this morning is security analyst Charles Slepian.
Nice to see you, sir, always. Thanks for being with us.

Seven flights canceled. Let's talk about the six first coming from Europe. What do you think? What was really going, do you think, here?

CHARLES SLEPIAN, SECURITY ANALYST: We probably have some intelligence information and names of flights, and we have become a one trick pony. Either we ground the flights, or we provide air cover escort using fighter planes.

The fact of the matter is, if we're worried about hijacking, then if we are sure the cockpit cannot be penetrated, we needn't worry about hijacking. If we're worried about bombs or chemical devices then we need to screen every package, every piece of luggage, all the cargo that goes on board the plane.

O'BRIEN: So because that's not being done, you're saying mixed signals are being given out here. I mean, we're not screening a good percentage of the cargo that's going on board.

SLEPIAN: Well, the British have agreed that they are following the same practice we are in the United States, which is, essentially, the trusted shipper program. If we know the shipper, we don't examine the cargo. If we don't know the shipper, we don't permit the cargo. Well, that's foolishness. Every package needs to be checked before it's put on a plane.

O'BRIEN: So, do you think then that these planes are grounded because of an air marshal issue, or because of a could be biological and chemical weapons issue and we cannot -- and we have not historically checked all the cargo?

SLEPIAN: It's a pass the buck issue. What we're doing here is we're saying put an air marshal on board the plane. You know that there is no linkage between an air marshal and a package in the cargo hold. We know they will not put the air marshal on the plane, therefore we say, well, we will not allow you to land. They then voluntarily withdraw the flight.

O'BRIEN: That rational won't work for the domestic flight that was canceled, of course; the air marshal issue not an issue at all. What do you think caused that cancellation?

SLEPIAN: I think it's a lot of the same thing. The domestic flight that was canceled expresses a concern that we have that our screening on the ground is not efficient, and we know it's not. I mean, last week we had a lady get on the plane to La Guardia Airport with a stun gun and a knife. She turned herself in at her destination. We know that our system is porous on this end as well.

Until we lock in the kind of security we need on the ground, both here and abroad, you're going to see a continuation of this. And to say that we have to be extra cautious is nonsense. It's not a matter of caution on a given flight. If we have a porous system, every single flight is at risk. We need to tighten that up. And until we get the position where we're willing to do that, we're going to experience that forever.

O'BRIEN: Here's what Senator Jay Rockefeller had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know how to protect against biological. Therefore, if there's any whiff -- I mean, any sense, not whiff, any sense of biological, you play it safe and the plane doesn't fly, and people are going to have to get used to that, and people are not going to like that, but it's what you got to do in this era.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: That's scary, because it sounds like he's saying we cannot prepare the American public against any kind of biological, chemical, you know, a plane being used as some kind of transport for biological or chemical weapon. And, two, this is the new reality, canceling planes. Things are just going to change.

SLEPIAN: I disagree with it. I think we can secure the aircraft. Once again, we check every person that goes, and we check every package that goes on. It's an unwillingness to do what we need to do. We know what the risk is and we know what kind of security we can put in place to stop it, but Until we begin to do that, we're going to have this problem forever.

O'BRIEN: Charles Slepian, nice to see you, as always. Thanks very much. Appreciate it.

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