US Airways defends itself after report on security lapses
Report says FAA agents got through with bombs, guns, grenades
January 11, 1999
Web posted at: 3:49 p.m. EST (2049 GMT)
NEW YORK (CNN) -- US Airways defended its recent airport security performance after The New York Times reported Monday that lax security by the airline allowed federal agents posing as passengers to smuggle hand grenades, bombs and guns past security checkpoints.
"These cases date from the early and mid 1990s," an airline spokeswoman said. "Since that time, US Airways has taken a leading role in working with the FAA to develop enhanced security procedures and training programs for the entire industry."
US Airways' performance was typical of all the major airlines, according to Rebecca Trexler, a spokeswoman for the FAA. Each airline failed about 20 of the roughly 10,000 security tests conducted each year, she said.
The New York Times based its report on Federal Aviation
Administration documents released last week under the Freedom
of Information Act. The Times requested the documents after
the FAA announced in November 1996 that it would settle 84
charges against USAir (now US Airways) for $450,000.
The FAA tested USAir's security procedures in several cities
in 1995 and 1996. Among the incidents cited in the agency's
reports:
A security agent's baggage was checked and he was allowed
to board a plane in Kansas City after telling the ticket
agent that a stranger had given him a package to carry to Des
Moines the night before.
In another incident, agents smuggled a hand grenade past
security checkpoints at Dallas-Fort Worth by entering through
an exit door without detection. And in nine cases, firearms
passed through X-ray machines unnoticed.
In another, a female air traffic controller, acting undercover, walked through a metal detector at Indianapolis International Airport with a gun. The gun set off the metal detector, but security screeners failed to locate it with a hand scanner.
In that case, the USAir responded that its screener had
inadvertently "touched (the air traffic controller's) chest
with the hand wand, which made him very self-conscious in
being careful not to touch the tester again. In this effort,
he believes he held the wand away from her body more than the
recommended one to three inches, making the wand ineffective in detecting" the gun.
To counter the problem, the airline said it had bought hand
scanners that work within a 10-inch range.
USAir's violations were typical of those still found, Cathal
Flynn, the FAA's associate administrator for civil aviation
security, told The Times.
However, a security expert said airport security has improved markedly in the decade following the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland. Nonetheless, Larry Johnson, a former State Department terrorism expert, said he remains concerned about security for domestic air travel, which he called "security lite."
Air Travelers Association President David Stempler said it shouldn't be surprising that airlines are failing security tests. "We use the lowest paid employees to do these repetitive tasks and we shouldn't be surprised when a number of these things get through," he said.
Johnson, who now works as a managing party with a security consulting firm, said the chance that a bomb would be put on a domestic plane is fairly remote -- but he said the FAA should take responsibility for security.
"It's not your best and your brightest. It's your cheapest and least motivated," he said, describing the current situation.
Reuters Limited contributed to this report.
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