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CNN Live Sunday
U.S. Postal Service May Employ Dogs
Aired May 18, 2003 - 18:39 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: Since the September 11 attacks, man's best friend has been put to work at airports across the country. The detectives of the four-legged variety are hunting hidden explosives and now it seems the U.S. Postal Service may soon be going to the dogs.
Patty Davis explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS (voice-over): It's 3:00 in the morning and these dogs are hard at work at Newark Liberty International Airport sniffing for explosives in the U.S. mail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Unintelligible) if he finds something he is passive. He would sit down.
DAVIS: Since September 11, passenger planes have been banned from carrying any mail weighing more than a pound. Newark is one of 12 airports across the country where the Transportation Security Administration is testing out bomb-sniffing dogs to see if they can help mail safely return.
ROBERT JOHNSON, TSA SPOKESMAN: The dogs are very accurate. They're mobile. They can carry a lot of mail in a short period of time. There are many people who believe the dogs are better than any machine man could build.
DAVIS: Right now, dogs are used to screen domestic priority mail only. Even that would help financially crunched airlines which estimate they've lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from the ban. But some security experts say dogs will never be able to restore mail to the 2.5 billion tons airlines used to carry every year.
NEIL LIVINGSTONE, GLOBAL OPTIONS: Dogs are good but they get tired after about 45 minutes. We don't have any technology right now and that's what we really need is technology that can quickly and efficiently process all of the mail.
DAVIS: While this mail is now being screened before it boards the airlines, Congressman Adam Schiff says more needs to be done to safeguard the other cargo that passenger planes carry.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: People are shocked to learn that fully half of the cargo in the belly of their passenger plane is completely unchecked for explosives.
DAVIS: The TSA says it has tightened up restrictions on cargo carried of passenger planes and it's considering using dogs as well as new technology to help.
(on camera): As for the U.S. mail, the TSA says its experiment with bomb-sniffing dogs is working. It plans to expand the program to most large airports by the end of this year.
Patty Davis, CNN at Reagan National Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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 May 18, 2003 - 18:39 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Since the September 11 attacks, man's best friend has been put to work at airports across the country. The detectives of the four-legged variety are hunting hidden explosives and now it seems the U.S. Postal Service may soon be going to the dogs.
Patty Davis explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVIS (voice-over): It's 3:00 in the morning and these dogs are hard at work at Newark Liberty International Airport sniffing for explosives in the U.S. mail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Unintelligible) if he finds something he is passive. He would sit down.
DAVIS: Since September 11, passenger planes have been banned from carrying any mail weighing more than a pound. Newark is one of 12 airports across the country where the Transportation Security Administration is testing out bomb-sniffing dogs to see if they can help mail safely return.
ROBERT JOHNSON, TSA SPOKESMAN: The dogs are very accurate. They're mobile. They can carry a lot of mail in a short period of time. There are many people who believe the dogs are better than any machine man could build.
DAVIS: Right now, dogs are used to screen domestic priority mail only. Even that would help financially crunched airlines which estimate they've lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from the ban. But some security experts say dogs will never be able to restore mail to the 2.5 billion tons airlines used to carry every year.
NEIL LIVINGSTONE, GLOBAL OPTIONS: Dogs are good but they get tired after about 45 minutes. We don't have any technology right now and that's what we really need is technology that can quickly and efficiently process all of the mail.
DAVIS: While this mail is now being screened before it boards the airlines, Congressman Adam Schiff says more needs to be done to safeguard the other cargo that passenger planes carry.
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: People are shocked to learn that fully half of the cargo in the belly of their passenger plane is completely unchecked for explosives.
DAVIS: The TSA says it has tightened up restrictions on cargo carried of passenger planes and it's considering using dogs as well as new technology to help.
(on camera): As for the U.S. mail, the TSA says its experiment with bomb-sniffing dogs is working. It plans to expand the program to most large airports by the end of this year.
Patty Davis, CNN at Reagan National Airport.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
