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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Special Report: How Safe Are Your Skies?

Aired January 18, 2002 - 19:00   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.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Tonight, on a special edition of WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, how safe are your skies?

New security measures at the nation's airports. Sniffed, scanned, searched, or matched up with its owner. One way or another, each piece of checked baggage must be screened.

Set after September 11, a deadline is met, but what's the impact on passengers and airlines? We'll visit major airports to see how they're coping. We'll spend a day in the life of a passenger, and we'll examine the new security steps.

I'll speak live with former Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and aviation consultant and critic Michael Boyd, and ask them: How safe are your skies?

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting tonight from Washington. Welcome to our special report.

After September 11, Congress passed legislation, signed into law by President Bush, requiring a much closer look at baggage on the nation's airlines. Today is the first day of that new reality, which requires every checked bag to be screened for explosives. Because of the changes, passengers, security screeners and airlines braced themselves for long delays today. CNN's Brian Cabell reviews day one.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Longer lines, more delays, but nothing so far that's unmanageable. That's the verdict at most airports on this first day of increased baggage checks.

By federal mandate, all checked baggage must now either be screened by explosive-detection machines, or checked by bomb-sniffing dogs, or be hand-searched, or be matched to a specific passenger who has already boarded the plane, or it could be a combination of any of the checks. Across the United States, most passengers seemed to accept the new security measures.

At Boston's Logan Airport, a few complaints about longer lines, but officials and most passengers reported things were moving smoothly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's good. However, I thought the lines were going to be a lot longer than they were, and this is actually pretty good. Curbside check-in took a minute.

CABELL: At Dulles Airport outside Washington, the lines were long, very long.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you believe it?

CABELL: Some travelers said they were confused because they were directed to a new line for a baggage check, but they didn't criticize the extra precautions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're welcome to go through anything I have, at any point. So my safety is worth my time.

CABELL: In Atlanta, passengers arrived earlier than usual at Hartsfield International Airport, and encountered long lines and increased baggage inspections, many in full view of their fellow passengers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is embarrassing. I'm sure it's something that they feel is necessary, but it's quite embarrassing.

CABELL: Denver International Airport reported no major flight delays. Some passengers said they gave themselves an extra 30 minutes to deal with the increased inspection procedures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's the best thing going. Got to tighten security.

CABELL: On the West Coast, Portland International Airport reported smooth operations, mostly on-time departures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We expected it to be different because of all the news that we've heard that it was going to be different, but when we boarded it, it didn't seem to be any different.

CABELL: One official said the airlines here had been testing the new safety measures in previous weeks, and that seemed to pay off.

(on camera): For now, responsibility for security lies with both the airlines and the federal government. On February 18, it becomes strictly a federal responsibility. And by the end of the year, all baggage must be screened by machines.

Brian Cabell, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: CNN's Jeff Flock has spent the last couple of days at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee. He joins us live from there. Jeff, give us your assessment, how did this day go over there?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been an interesting day, Wolf. Obviously, it's been a good day for the airlines. You know, I'm standing in front of one of those machines that Brian was just talking about, one of these big CT scanning machines, but the reality is, although we focused a lot on these machines, most of these bags are not being screened through these. In fact, this one here is not even yet on-line in Milwaukee.

Also, a small number of people being hand-screened. Perhaps you see it, we have got another live camera over there that shows someone now in the midst of being hand-screened, but the majority of people here in Milwaukee, as well as system-wide, are going through what they call "bag match."

How does that work? Well, no one will tell you that either, but as best we can glean, the way it works is that one of these tags with a bar code that's put on your piece of luggage -- this one from La Guardia to Boston -- these tags get put on your bag, they get scanned by a scanner somewhere back in the bowels of this airport, and then they go into a computer. They determine if you are on the aircraft and if your bag is too. If your bags are on it and you're not, then they have to go out to the belly of the aircraft and begin to pull those pieces of luggage off.

I can tell you today, Wolf, here in Milwaukee, Midwest Express says that that has happened on a few occasions, although it hasn't caused any major problems. There weren't any flights that were delayed as a result of having to retrieve those bags off. So the bag match has worked at least today.

And Midwest Express says it they expect it will continue. The only problem, Lisa Bailey (ph), a spokesman for Midwest Express told me, would be if there were large numbers of people that didn't show up that had bags on those aircraft; that could be a problem. But that doesn't happen, hasn't happened today, and is not likely for the future. So all in all, a good day here in Milwaukee, a good day system-wide -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And Jeff, as you know, for the past 60 days the airlines knew this day was coming, but to what extent were the new systems already in place even days, perhaps even weeks ago?

FLOCK: I can tell you about two different airlines. One, Midwest Express here, again according to a spokesman, they began on Wednesday, ramping up on Thursday. It was pretty much happening already, and then today it was seamless, because they had already been doing it. Another airline, American, gave us some indication that they had also been testing it as well, and it's believed that all airlines in some sense at least tested it beforehand, if in fact didn't have it completely up and running before today.

BLITZER: Jeff Flock in Milwaukee, thank you very much.

And CNN's Frank Buckley traveled an airline passenger's route today from Los Angeles to Phoenix to San Diego. Here's how his day went.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any unknown person asked you to carry anything on the plane for him?

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): OK. We are here at LAX in the pre-dawn darkness. It's about 5:00 in the morning. We've been told to be here two hours in advance of our fright, so we are. Here's what we are bringing onto the plane. This is the carry- on laptop, this is the duffel bag that I'm checking, a book, some clothes. That's what we have, and we are about to begin our adjourn.

(voice-over): While checking in, I'm chosen for a random X-ray search of my bag.

(on camera): OK, so far so good. It took us about five minutes to get through the line, and now we are headed to the X-ray machine.

(voice-over): This is the kind of machine that everybody's talking about today. It's a CTX X-ray machine. The bag quickly goes through it, and then on the other side it's hand searched by security personnel.

Once that's complete, we line up to have our carry-on bags searched.

(on camera): These are my socks. I've had to take my shoes off as everyone does here at LAX as they go through the machines back there. It's fairly painless procedure for me, just a couple of minutes, but right back there, one member of our crew is still having his bag searched. He's been there for about 10 minutes now. Everything in his bag is being looked at.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It takes a lot longer to get into airports, and people are patient, but there seems to be a culture of fear that has ripped us beyond reason.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's great, security. Makes your flying more comfortable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Frank. Welcome aboard.

BUCKLEY: So, we've arrived here on time in Phoenix, but we got a bit of bad news here at the gate. Up there on the monitor, flight 1930, that's the one that we were supposed to take at 10:35 to San Diego has been canceled due to aircraft maintenance.

And what's happening here in Phoenix is exactly what some critics of the system see as a major flaw or a loophole in the system. Because of our canceled flight, we are continuing onto San Diego with another carrier, but my bag has been checked all the way through to San Diego on a Southwest flight, and it will continue on without me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frank, you've been selected for a hand-on check. Just step around there, the young lady will get to you in just a second.

BUCKLEY: Thanks.

(voice-over): Another search of my bag and of me, and then we're on to San Diego.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you to San Diego, where the local time is approximately 11:47.

BUCKLEY: In San Diego, we found my bag, and while it did fly without me, it had been hand searched and X-rayed by Southwest Airlines in L.A. And experts point out that the bag match loophole is not unique to any one airline.

(on camera): So at the end of the day, we arrived here in San Diego about an hour later than we had hoped to, but of course that canceled flight in Phoenix had a lot to do with that.

Along the way, I was personally searched twice, I had to remove my shoes twice for inspection. I also had my bags that I carried on X-rayed and hand-searched twice. And the bag that I checked on in Los Angeles was also hand-searched and X-rayed once.

All of it designed to get passengers to their destinations safely, and today that's exactly what happened.

Frank Buckley, CNN, San Diego.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Let's take a closer look now at the steps being taken to screen airline baggage. Let's go live to our Kathleen Koch. She's at Dulles International Airport in nearby Northern Virginia. Kathleen, tell us what's going on out there.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, these new bag screening measures that are in place today, it took months for the federal government and the airlines to determine just what they would be. There was a lot of haggling over how tough they would be, and it's left many people debating even today just how much more secure air travel really was.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH (voice-over): They are by now familiar security measures -- dogs to sniff bags, bag matching on international flights, explosive detection machines and hand searches when a passenger is red-flagged as a potential security risk.

What's new and improved security, say the federal government and the airlines, is that they will now be used in unison to screen checked bags on all U.S. flights.

JANE GARVEY, FAA ADMINISTRATION: The law and Congress did outline a number of options that the airlines can take and I think the fact that there are those options there, the fact that it's a menu, if you will, of opportunities, I think that the deadline certainly is achievable and was achievable.

CAROL HALLET, AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION: I think that is the smart way to, among other things, keep these terrorist thugs off track. They're never going to know what particular tool or tools we are using on a day to day basis.

KOCH: But some aviation experts insist it is still not enough.

MICHAEL GOLDFARB, FORMER FAA CHIEF OF STAFF: I think we have a patchwork right now of trying to respond to the latest threat that we hear about. The system is not a system yet in this country. It is a patchwork of different approaches to security. We're playing catch up.

KOCH: Most do agree that trace detection units and explosive detection machines are effective, though there aren't enough and airports are adding more.

BEVERLY SWAIM-STALEY, ACTING DIRECTOR, BWI AIRPORT: We will have to acquire new machines in order to fully implement the procedures that will be required in December as will all airports across the country.

KOCH: The most problematic measure is bag matching. Critics say it doesn't stop suicide terrorists and that only requiring it on the first leg of a flight and not connecting flights still leaves a security gap. Others reluctantly say it was better than some alternatives.

DAVID STEMPLER, AIR TRAVELERS ASSOCIATION: Most bags probably would have had to have been hand-searched and that would have taken a tremendous amount of time without much of an improvement of security. So this way, we get some improvement but without the tremendous delays.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOCH: Checked-bag screening will eventually get tougher and become more comprehensive. That's because Congress has mandated that by December, by the end of the year, enough explosive detection screening machines be in place, some 2,200, to truly screen every single checked bag -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kathleen, how certain can the government be that the airlines are in fact screening 100 percent of the bags and what happens if the airlines don't do that?

KOCH: Very good question, Wolf. The FAA does have inspectors in place at every single airport around the country, checking up on the airlines, talking to them, watching what they're doing. And the FAA had said it was willing to evacuate entire terminals, rescreen hundreds of bags if it was not happy with what it saw. There's also an $11,000 penalty for every single violation.

But at this point, we haven't seen any of those today, but they're going to be on place. They're going to be on site watching in the days to come -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Kathleen Koch at Dulles Airport outside of Washington, thank you very much. And when we come back, will these new security measures measure up? I'll ask the former transportation secretary, Rodney Slater and aviation consultant and critic Michael Boyd. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back.

With some new security measures now in place, how safe are your skies? Joining me here in Washington, Rodney Slater. He was secretary of transportation during the Clinton administration; and from Denver, Michael Boyd. He's an aviation consultant with a blue- ribbon client list, ranging from cities and states to airports and airlines, including Continental, Delta and Northwest. He's also been a sharp critic of government agencies. We invited current department of transportation officials to appear on this program tonight. They declined. You can e-mail your questions to our guests. Go to cnn.com/wolf.

And, Michael Boyd, let me begin with you. Should the American public feel more secure flying as a result of these new security measures implemented today?

MICHAEL BOYD, AVIATION CONSULTANT: Not particularly. The problem I have is the bag matching thing. They're saying that all our bags are screened now. Bag matching does not screen for explosives. It just makes two assumptions: one, you won't have a terrorist who wants to kill himself on the first leg of the flight -- and because we don't match on connecting legs -- and most flights across America have connecting passengers on board. That's a loophole that really doesn't do us much good. It's like locking the front door of the building and leaving the side door wide open.

BLITZER: What about that, Rodney Slater?

RODNEY SLATER, FORMER TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: Well, I would disagree with Michael. It is a positive step forward. The airline industry has done this after some years of resistance. But they've come together, led by Norm Mineta, our secretary of transportation, Jane Garvey and the new undersecretary for security, John Magaw. This is but one step. They have a lot more work to do, but our system that is now safe is becoming even safer.

BLITZER: Michael Boyd, if that bag goes through the first check, even if it's transferred to a connecting flight, can't you assume it's a safe bag if it got through on the first leg of that flight?

BOYD: Well, here's the issue. It could get through. But if I'm a terrorist, and I'm not -- I add that although some in Washington might think I am -- if it gets through and the passenger just happens to get off at an intermediate stop or an intermediate connecting point, that bag can still go through. So we still are -- we still have a weakness here.

Remember, stopping terrorism or security is defining threats ahead of time and attempting to relate to them and relate to what they might do. This does leave a loophole that I think is unacceptable, if indeed, bag matching is supposed to be the solution of the century.

BLITZER: But let me repeat the question. If the bag did successfully go through one leg of a flight and there's a connecting flight, what's the problem with that particular bag even if the passenger didn't make the connecting flight?

BOYD: That's a good point, Wolf. Here's why. The majority of bags that are going through are not being screened for explosives. Some are. Some are hand-searched. But others are just assumed if they're bag matched with the passenger. So there is no screening of most of the bags for explosives on board. The assumption is that bag matching does that. That's why that bag could get through.

BLITZER: Rodney Slater, what about that point and specifically, what if the passenger is ready to die in an explosion and the bag had not been searched for explosives, as Michael Boyd points out?

SLATER: Well, first of all, bag matching is really one of the methods being used here. We are going to have the bomb-sniffing dogs. Also, you'll have manual searches. And then in some instances, we will actually be using the x-ray detection equipment that is now in place in roughly 50 of the major airports.

But this requirement again just speaks to the challenge before the department of transportation and the industry as a whole to move forward to meet the Congress' next challenge, and that's to have explosive detection equipment at all airports by the end of the year. That is a challenge before the industry. That is a challenge that will also be met.

BLITZER: On that point, let me interrupt, Mr. Secretary, for just pointing out there -- right now, there's nowhere near the explosive detection equipment that is necessary. And as far as the dogs, the bomb-sniffing dogs, they get tired very quickly. There are not enough of those dogs out there either, are there?

SLATER: That's true, but that's why the FAA has established a program to actually breed their own dogs. Also, the Congress has made a commitment to purchase the equipment that's needed and to get that online by the end of the year. And I know that Secretary Mineta is committed to ensuring that that goal is met.

But we also have to look at the technology that's in place, but also look at the technology that has been invested in through R&D, but is now ready to be deployed -- neutron scanning technology that will allow you to not only define the shape of an object but to actually get into the contents of that object, able to determine then the difference between, say, liquid wine as opposed to explosives, plastics explosives or liquid explosives.

BLITZER: Michael Boyd, you've been a sharp critic of a lot of these measures saying they're really not going to do much. What specifically do you believe the federal government needs to do to get the job done to make American passengers feel safe?

BOYD: Mr. Slater just said it. Hi hit it right on the head with a giant hammer. The neutron approach, as he mentioned, is where we have to go, because the CT machines, these CTX machines, as your own correspondent saw when he put his bag through it, had a false positive. They had to search it by hand.

Those machines may be good for some things, but I agree with Mr. Slater. We need to immediately move ahead with that neutron approach, and we are not doing it. I've talked to a couple companies that do it, and the FAA has basically blown them off. And if we want do something by the end of this year, we are going to have the biggest construction projects in the world to redo airports to get these big CTXs. We need to do what Mr. Slater just said, push ahead with that new technology.

BLITZER: And some say, Rodney Slater, that the only way that passengers, the airline industry is going to be completely safe is if the airline industry does what is not politically correct, engaging in major profiling of passengers.

SLATER: I disagree with that. I think that you can screen passengers. I think that you can focus on behavior and not ethnicity or the given appearance of an individual, but focus on behavior. You can screen a passenger, you can be very tough in doing that, but you don't have to engage in profiling. We don't have to give up our civil rights in order to have a safe and secure transportation system.

BLITZER: Michael Boyd, do you agree with him on that?

BOYD: Yeah, I'd like to say, you know, you want to define the threat, and that means defining the profiling of a passenger. I would rather err on the side, as Mr. Slater suggests, if it gets into anything that involves any kind of racial profiling, I think we need to err on the side of not doing it.

BLITZER: We have an e-mail question. I want to read it and get your response, Rodney Slater. From Ralph in Plano, Texas. He writes this: "Who absorbs the hidden costs associated with the new airport security measures?"

SLATER: Well, the traveling public, frankly. We have to have a strong aviation system in order to provide the service that we need to actually access markets around the world, to visit loved ones, to enjoy a strong economy. But that system also has to be safe, and that means that you have to invest in the safety and security of the system.

The Congress has provided for an increase in the ticket tax to provide some of those resources, but we are going to have to go back to the Congress and get more money. I know that President Bush has said that the Homeland Security Office is going get double investment. Frankly, during President Clinton's tenure, there was a doubling of investment in terrorism prevention.

So, that is a good move, it's something that is continuing, and that's where we are going to get the resources to do the job that has to be done . But if you listen to the people traveling today, they're saying, not am I willing to be somewhat inconvenienced, I'm also willing to incur a minimum increase in cost to ensure that we have the equipment we need and well-trained screeners and other employees that are necessary to make our system the safest it can be.

BLITZER: OK, Rodney Slater, I want to thank you for joining us. Michael Boyd, thanks for joining us as well. Appreciate both of you coming on this special report.

And still ahead, a look at the latest developments, including Israel's military response to a deadly attack on a family religious celebration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Topping our look at today's latest developments, here's an update on how the major airports are doing right now with the new baggage checks. At FAA.gov, the Federal Aviation Administration shows the status of major airports in the United States and whether they are experiencing any delays. The site uses a five-color system to indicate the level of any delays and explains what the delay is caused by.

Green means delays of 15 minutes or less. When there's a yellow dot next to an airport, the delay is up to 45 minutes. Orange indicates taxi or holding delays greater than 45 minutes. When traffic to an airport is being delayed at its departure point, the color is red. That means travelers should check their departure airport to see if their flight is delayed. Blue means the airport is closed. Remember, you can go to FAA.gov and click on airport status and find out what's going on. And by the way, as you can see right now, looks like almost all of the major airports, if not all of them, are doing just fine in the United States.

In other news, Israeli forces hit Palestinian forces in Ramallah in the West Bank today. Reports say an Israeli missile strike killed one person and injured between 30 and 50 others. And Israeli tanks rolled within yards of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters. The moves were a response to Thursday's deadly attack at a family religious celebration, a bar mitzvah, in Hadera, where a gunman killed six people before being killed by Israeli police.

And that's all the time we have tonight. Please join me again Monday twice at both 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

And this note, Sunday, on LATE EDITION, I'll be joined by the Attorney General John Ashcroft. That's Sunday at noon Eastern.

Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. CROSSFIRE begins right now.

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