AIRLINE INSECURITY
By Michael Hammerschlag 2450 wd
The battle in Afghanistan, despite
the bravery of our troops, isn’t really a war- for the last 15 years our
dominance has been so complete that we simply annihilate our designated enemies.
This war, as the President warned, would be fought at home- by bystanders and
victimized innocents. If so, they are still mostly defenseless, because the
security measures taken to defend the air transport system have been pitifully
lacking. From the beginning the foolish conclusion was that the problem wasn’t bad people getting on planes, it was weapons; so little old ladies and pilots
were terrorized for their nail clippers without any thought or reason. Weapons,
though, can be made from anything- a plastic knife, a rope to strangle, a pen,
a baggage cart. 5 burly hijackers might not even need weapons. The screening
was promiscuous, stupid, overwhelming- not directed towards likely threats, so
mostly wasted. The only solution is armed skymarshals.
Meanwhile,
while pilots were subject to humiliating searches by minimum wage screeners; 3
million unsearched and unscreened checked bags a day were dumped into
the holds; and 600,000 ramp workers- cabin cleaners, gas refuelers, caterers,
cargo haulers + mechanics, were allowed access to planes with NO daily security check.
“It is assumed, dangerous as it may be, that if you’ve issued that badge to a
person, they have successfully undergone a background check of the last 10
years,” says FAA Northwest rep Mike Fergus, though he’s talking about new
regulations that are just now finishing checking current employees. Although the law says all bags must be
inspected by end of the year, that’s impossible, unless Congress and the FAA
take radical action. When Transportation Secretary Mineta admitted they
wouldn’t be able to make the impossible Jan 17th deadline, he was pilloried
instead of given the funding and power necessary, so he just changed the rules
to call passenger bag-matching “screening”. The new Transportation Security
Administration, created Nov 16, has
only been allotted $1.5 bil. of the $3-8 bil. they need for airport security;
it is supposed to be paid for by the $2.50 a flight segment fee started Feb. 1,
which should bring in about $2 billion a year. This could rise to $5 a segment.
Bush’s massive new proposed $38 billion homeland security budget also requests
$4.8 bil. for airline security.
There
are only 162 of the CT scanners ($ .7 to 1.4 million) used to detect explosives
installed in the US, but some 2200 more are needed to scan all
bags. 90% of these machines are made by one company- Invision, which has been
turning out only 8 a month but claims it could make 50. Another company-L3,
could make 40 a month, so if they both instantly had the orders, funding, and
facilities- it would still take over 2 years. But 4 ½ months after the
bombings, according to Invision spokesman Alisa Hicks, “There have been no new orders as a result of 9-11.”
There is a $16 mil order that was in the works before that time, but the
massive urgent order from Dept. of Transportation hasn’t materialized- they finally
did order 100 machines and the parts to make 300 more on March 5, a half year
after 9-11. They also ordered 10 more for test-bed airport San Francisco, which
now screens 20% of checked bags with it’s 13 machines, but the average across
the US is under 9%. “SFO ordered CTX’s directly on their own”, said
Hicks. Dallas has 30 of the 78 machines needed. Only 55 airports out of
455 even have bomb detector machines, which search for the densities of plastic
explosives- now 100% of the time by law. 1 out of 5 bags will typically trigger
an alert, which “usually can be resolved by the operator” by adjusting settings
on the machine, otherwise hand inspection is called for. According to FAA
whistle-blowing security tester Bogdan Dzakovic though, they were able to
repeatedly sneak simulated bombs through the new machines. There are also bomb
sniffer machines, that search for the chemical scent of explosives, which may
be even more effective than CT; and live human MRI-like scanners, which tend to
be too anatomically correct. Air cargo (60% carried on passenger
planes), including postal packages, must also be screened or sniffed- Pan Am
103 was supposedly brought down by 8oz of explosives.
Forget
the stories of hurrying passengers shutting down terminals: since Oct., a Miami
Airport employee was found guilty for making fake security badges, then
with his 12 compatriots deported as illegal aliens; a man arrested in Dallas
had a fake pilot’s certificate, fake airman’s medical certificate, multiple
passports and Social Security numbers; an employee at the LAX duty-free
shop in an Inspector General’s test smuggled 10 guns, 7 blocks of inert C-4,
and 4 hand grenades past Argenbright security by just flashing his badge.
Inspectors examining security have been terrified ramp workers smuggling
supposed drugs, which happened in Miami, would unknowingly put a bomb on board.
The
truth is it’s a miracle that 5 to 10 planes haven’t been brought down by
checked luggage bombs- Ashcroft’s much maligned roundup may have been
successful in breaking up Al Qaeda cells. The lame compromise to allow bag
matching to passengers (done for years in Europe) to substitute for actual
inspections accomplishes nothing- if the fiends are ready to die. They even
made an insane exception for connecting flights, but Ramzi Yousef (the ’93 WTC
bomber), in his ’95 plan to blow up 11 planes over the Pacific, was planning to
do just that- put bombs on planes
that went from Philippines to Seoul, Taipei, + Hong Kong and get off as the
planes continued to LAX.
Before
he allowed the security screeners to become Federal employees (which 100
Senators had approved), President Bush was more worried about Democratic unions
than untrained screeners- the JFK crash broke the stalemate. He supported
British owned Argenbright security (which operates in 40% of US airports,
including Dulles), which was notorious for their security breaches- they were
booted out of Logan Airport after they were discovered to have a felony
conviction for falsifying employee records and hiring felons. The February 17th
TSA takeover of the passenger screening contracts will eventually exclude
Argenbright security, but they probably need to hire their workers. The 28,000
screeners will not even be required to be high-school graduates, though they
need to be citizens (forcing 25% to be fired by November 19th when
they are fully federalized.). Republicans were concerned that as federal
employees, incompetent screeners couldn’t be easily fired or disciplined. On
March 4, the TSA hired a British co. to do Web-based hiring of the screeners,
who are to make $23-40,000. One Congressman thinks it would actually require
about 40,000 to cover new bomb detection machines.
The
Skymarshal program has been another disappointment- apparently only a handful
(2-6%) have been hired. A pilot, in a devastating January commentary says, “I
have yet to see an air marshal on any
of my flights and I have not spoken to another pilot who has (except those
flying out of Reagan National Airport).”
Like Enron execs, Congress ensured resources go where they are needed.
I
have a simple cheap solution: allow
local, state, and federal police to fly free anywhere - they know how to
handle weapons and recognize shady characters. Train marksmen from larger
departments in using low velocity fragmenting bullets in aircraft, and certify
them. Police Departments could even donate officers for 1 or 2 days a month:
wars should entail some sacrifice. National Guardsmen in the airport are
another cosmetic gesture, useful if, as the pilot says, someone tries to hijack
the airport and fly it into a building. I’m waiting for them to start firing
into a crowded terminal when a late passenger races for a plane and doesn’t
hear the panicked order to stop. Put them on the tarmac access to check ramp
workers’ ID and belongings. Pilots, however, should be allowed to carry
aircraft guns, and flight attendants stun guns, which still haven’t been
approved. The USAir pilot led off in handcuffs said, “Why are you
worried about tweezers when I could crash the plane?” Zero
tolerance? No, zero brains. Pilots are not the same as everyone else: unlike
ramp workers, they actually should bypass security, except for verification of
identity. They are reportedly ready to strike over having to repeatedly
go through tortuous security- including removing clothing and ripping the liner
of suitcases- even Michigan Congressman Dingell had to drop his pants.
Screeners, many to be canned under Federalization, are taking great pleasure in
showing bigwigs how thorough they can be. Profiling is essential if we don’t
want to waste resources and cause huge delays; a young Middle Eastern man
doesn’t present the same threat as an elderly woman from Dubuque. Many airports
are using CAPPs (computer assisted passenger profiling), which analyzes
passenger’s travel history to detect suspicious patterns, but that requires
positive ID. Supposedly 9 of the hijackers were flagged and questioned
after they triggered CAPPs protocols, but none were stopped. Cal. Governor Grey
Davis has just offered state police to function as air marshals. The job
requirements on the Dept. Transportation web site for air marshals seem
unnecessarily high- when they were last seriously tried in the 70’s, air
marshals went half-crazy with boredom, since they are waiting for one in a
million events. A much larger pool of part time and volunteer marshals would minimize
that- the courageous actions of alert passengers and attendants show a huge
level of training isn’t mandatory.
The obsession with weapons and torturing passengers, and the illusion of a foolproof shield is almost a pathology that shows how fragile we are, as is the determined refusal to talk about this issue for the first 3 months. Editors groan and say, "I don't want to hear this, my daughter is flying next week", security guards will shush you like they're afraid you'll scare nonexistent children. Every time they close down a terminal or airport over a single security breach, while thousands of unscreened bags are dumped into holds, I have to laugh (as I’m sure BL is, if he’s not a charred hulk in a deep Afghani grave- nothing would frustrate us more than this guy disappearing into folklore- the DB Cooper of the Moslem world). By definition, the chance that any single random security breach is an actual terrorist is negligible, since terrorists are so infinitesimal a number. They've put Fox police locks on the doors, infrared alarms covering the yard, vibration sensors on the windows, guard dogs inside the bedroom; and then left the garage door wide open (with the baggage). Worse, they changed the meaning of the word "screened", so that even Congressmen at the hearing on airline security were confused- thinking they actually were searching or X-raying baggage- when they aren't. They even asked ‘how many machines have you ordered?’ -incredibly Federal witnesses managed to duck the question. It’s true that TSA head John Magaw, who was Director of the Secret Service and Bush Sr.’s agent-in-charge in Maine + Texas, was only finally appointed in Jan, but the screaming need for these CT machines was obvious since Sept. 12. A program is in place at Baltimore/Washington and SFO airports to test different machines and screening techniques, as if they have a year to assess alternatives (they originally planned to install these machines over 8-11 years). It’s understandable that the TSA doesn’t want to be rushed into massive expenditures on constantly changing options, but there is some urgency here. However, the Defense Dept. official charged with overseeing FAA tests said, “These (scanning) thresholds have been driven by the inability of the current equipment to perform any better… If the thresholds were tightened by only a couple of percentage points, there would currently be few, if any [explosive detection] equipment certified at all." Despite reservations, CTX machines took about 4 years to develop- a feasible alternative isn’t likely to suddenly materialize in the next half year, and really thorough operator training may alleviate many errors. There are some problems finding the space and floor support to install the minivan size 3 ton machines in airports, preferably close to check-in. In committee hearings, the DOT Inspector General, a severe critic before, claimed to be impressed and confident in the security measures and management of the TSA, which does have a massive job- they have reinforced all cockpit doors, which may have saved that Brazilian flight crew that was attacked.
I
was supposed to fly over Manhattan on 9-11 and did 4 days later. I’ve played
out again and again what I would have done in a hijacking to assuage my rage at
the terrorists and the governments’ incompetence. (The FAA might, if
they had issued a detailed warning instead of the cryptic “beware cockpit
intrusion” at 9:05am, have saved the victims in the Pentagon and Pa. planes,
which crashed 37 and 65 minutes later. Actor James Woods claims he flew with
the supposed hijackers from Boston to LA a month before 9-11; they were so
suspicious he thought they were about to hijack the plane, but nothing was
done. Tardy fighter planes had to fly 250 miles because we only had 6-7 bases on
strip alert in the entire country. 9 hijackers were flagged as suspicious at
the airport, 2 were on the terrorism watch list; one came in on an expired
visa. In the ’95 Philippines plot, the bombers warned about members taking
flight training.) I think I would have known it was a suicide attack right
away- in a political newsletter I predicted a terrorist attack on New York or
DC… last July. I would have loved
to have been on Reid’s plane. The 911 attacks have probably cost NYC, the
travel industry, the economy, the world- over a hundred billion dollars.
Another mass downing of planes would cripple the entire airline system, divide
us into separate colonies, and devastate the tentative economy, which was Bin Laden’s last instruction. In 2001
United lost $2.1 bil, US Air $2 bil, American/TWA $1.7 bil - they
wouldn’t survive another blow. West German intelligence estimates 70,000 went
through the Al Qaeda training camps, and they can’t all be as moronic as
Richard Reid, who could have crashed a $150 million plane, but for a 50¢ Bic
lighter. In the Gulf War we moved ½ million troops and equipment to the other
side of the world in 4½ months, we put a man on the Moon in 8½ years; we can do
this: take the proper defensive measures. It is true that the best defense is a
good offense, but also that an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.
We’ve reacted stupidly and slothfully to the brutal attack of Sept. 11; and the
evil ones won’t wait forever.
Michael Hammerschlag has
written commentaries + articles for
Seattle Times, Providence Journal, Honolulu Advertiser, Columbia
Journalism Review, MediaChannel, Moscow News, Tribune, and + Guardian; was a TV reporter and a former travel agent.
His website is http://mikehammer.tripod.com e-mail
hammerschlag@bigfoot.com