UK pilots against sky marshals
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British passengers will face tighter security when traveling to the U.S.
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LONDON, England -- The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has come out against the government's planned deployment of armed sky marshals on passenger flights.
"Sky Marshals with weapons seem ludicrous when we rightly spend time and money screening for weapons. The introduction of another official on board civil aircraft confuses lines of command, which need to be absolutely clear when there is an emergency, " according to security statement on BALPA's Web site.
"BALPA does not agree with this initiative" but said they would work with the government on how they should be deployed.
Britain announced the tightened security on Sunday saying it would deploy armed sky marshals on some passenger flights to the United States following an increased terrorism alert in that country.
"In response to the present heightened state of alert in the USA, additional security measures on the ground and in the air have been put in place for UK airlines operations in the USA," the Home Office and the Department for Transport said in a joint statement.
"This is judged a responsible and prudent step at the present time, but the continuing need for these measures will be kept under review. Sky marshals will be deployed where appropriate."
And on Monday, the U.S. government said it had begun ordering foreign airlines to place armed marshals on selected flights to and from the United States in a bid to thwart terror attacks. It is not clear if the two announcements are connected. (Full story)
A report commissioned by the UK government recommended earlier this month that marshals be placed first on trans-Atlantic flights. If that proved successful, the program should be extended to most flights, said the report by former Conservative Party lawmaker Sir John Wheeler.
'Responsible steps'
December's report follows British government's announcement last year that it was training undercover armed police officers to act as sky marshals and would use them "where and when we believed it necessary," The Associated Press reports.
"I can assure the traveling public that if we believed it was not safe for them to travel or fly we would say so," Home Secretary David Blunkett said in Sunday's joint statement.
"What we are proposing are some sensible additional security measures."
Transport Secretary Alistair Darling said it is "essential that we take all reasonable steps" to deter terrorist activities.
"Our aviation security program works on many levels, with measures for all stages of the process, from check-in through to the flight itself. Not all of the measures are obvious and a lot goes on behind the scenes." he said in the statement.
Aviation security has been the subject of renewed attention worldwide since the U.S. raised its alert to orange, its second-highest level.
On Thursday, Australia said that armed sky marshals would guard some Qantas flights between Australia and Singapore and may be put on flights to the United States. Australia has posted armed undercover security officers randomly on domestic flights since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Air France canceled six flights between Paris and Los Angeles on Wednesday and Thursday following security discussions between U.S. and French officials.
After the cancellations, French investigators questioned seven men pointed out by U.S. intelligence but found no evidence they planned to use a Los Angeles-bound jet to launch terror attacks against the United States, French authorities said. (U.S. may talk to flight no-shows)
Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
