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CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK

Bush Expected to Sign Homeland Security Bill Today

Aired November 25, 2002 - 05:21   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush expected to sign the homeland security bill into law today and it gives pilots the OK to carry guns into the cockpit, but only after some intensive training.
Here's the latest from CNN's Patty Davis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): American Airlines pilot Steve Callaghan could be packing a pistol in his MD-80 cockpit in the near future. None too soon, he says.

STEVE CALLAGHAN, ALLIED PILOTS ASSOCIATION: As we saw on September 11, when there's really no means to defend yourself, disastrous things can happen.

DAVIS: The Homeland Security Act gives guns to Callaghan and the 85,000 other pilots of commercial passenger planes if they want them, a big win for pilots' groups, who say pilots are the last line of defense against terrorists.

JOE GENNARO, PILOTS SECURITY ALLIANCE: It's going to be a hundred percent deterrence. If you were a hijacker on 9/11, you wouldn't have tried it. It would have never happened knowing that the pilot has a gun.

DAVIS: Pilot groups expect 30 to 40 percent of pilots to sign up initially. Those who volunteer will undergo extensive training based on the federal air marshal program and they'll be deputized as federal law enforcement officers.

JOE GENNARO, PILOTS SECURITY ALLIANCE: If they're trained well enough to know how to handle that, I think we're better off with it.

DAVIS: But not all passengers think pilots with guns is a good idea.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is a potential danger in it in that you're bringing a weapon on board.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I just don't think that we're ready to train pilots to become police officers on a plane.

DAVIS: Major airlines aren't thrilled about arming pilots, either. They worry about guns going off accidentally and say air marshals should be the only ones to carry guns. Even the Transportation Security Administration originally opposed arming pilots, but is now on board. The TSA has 90 days to get training in place and work out sticky questions such as what type of guns pilots will carry, where they'll store the firearms and how the agency will pay the estimated $900 million cost.

ROBERT JOHNSON, TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION: There are a wide variety of questions that need to be answered. Our task over the next 90 days is to find them and try to reach a solution or a resolution to each of them.

DAVIS (on camera): While pilots on passenger planes could be carrying weapons as early as next year, those who fly cargo planes were left out. Pilots groups call that a gaping hole in security and say they plan to lobby Congress to fix it next year.

Patty Davis, CNN, at Reagan National Airport.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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