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Ridge: More needed to make air travel safe

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Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge  


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Although air travel is far safer than before September 11, "we're still not where we need to be," Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge said Friday, a day after a man partially broke through a cockpit door on a flight from Miami to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

"The airlines and aviation today are far better prepared," Ridge said while appearing on CNN's Novak, Hunt & Shields, which will air Saturday evening and Sunday morning.

"Every step of the way we've made aviation more secure, but we're still not where we need to be," Ridge said, praising the actions of passengers and crew in restraining the man on the United Airlines flight.

The suspect, Pablo Moreira, a 28-year-old bank employee, faces a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew. The plane landed safely in Buenos Aires, and Moreira was returned to Miami early Friday in the custody of the FBI.

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Despite the incident, Ridge does not believe pilots should be armed. "I don't think it's necessary," he said, adding that there have been "tremendous strides" in securing cockpits. "I don't think the need has arisen yet," he said.

On the United Airlines flight, the cockpit door had been retrofitted with a bar inside designed to prevent unauthorized entry, but officials said the man still managed to break through the bottom part of the door and squeeze halfway into the cockpit.

Ridge said further improvements in airport security that are to come include making baggage screeners federal employees, screening checked baggage, using more high-tech equipment and adding more air marshals on flights.

He acknowledged that Americans who are frequent fliers probably would like to have a special identification card to get through security more quickly, but that would mean added costs to them. A biometric card could be used to identify the person through facial or fingerprint recognition, he said.

On a related topic, Ridge said much of the $315 million spent on security at the Winter Olympics that kicks off Friday night in Salt Lake City is being used to thwart possible aviation problems.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, using F-16 fighters, will conduct combat air patrols over the 110-mile-by-35-mile swath of Utah where Olympic events will be held. Air space will be restricted in a 45-mile radius around Salt Lake City, and 5,600 military personnel will be helping with security.

"By and large, I think you're going to see any country that hosts Olympics -- it's a wide international stage -- to go to those lengths to provide maximum security," Ridge predicted.

There still are dangerous sleeper cells of al Qaeda and other terrorists, he said. "There are forces out there that would still do us harm."

The proposed budget for homeland security for fiscal year 2003 is enough to accomplish those goals, Ridge said.

The proposal allocates $37.7 billion to homeland defense, almost double the amount spent in fiscal 2002. Most of the money will be spent to support first responders, defend against biological terrorism and secure the nation's borders.

There is also a sizable allocation for aviation security.



 
 
 
 





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