More intensive searches on the way

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

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Will already-long lines at airport security points get longer?

Starting Thursday, anyone traveling by air can expect heightened security measures, including an increased possibility of being frisked.

Transportation Security Administration (TSA) employees will increase the number of random searches at airports nationwide.

At the same time, they are easing restrictions on tools and sharp objects allowed on airplanes.

The TSA is working on detecting more serious threats to airline security, such as explosives. The agency will utilize more in-depth screenings of passengers and their bags, using a variety of methods.

"It is paramount to the security of our aviation system that terrorists not be able to know with certainty what screening procedures they will encounter at airports around the nation," said Kip Hawley, an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "By incorporating unpredictability into our procedures and eliminating low-threat items, we can better focus our efforts on stopping individuals that wish to do us harm."

Kip Hawley of the Department of Homeland Security has more than 20 years experience working in transportation.

Passengers will continue walking through a metal detector and still have their carry-on and checked baggage screened.

But travelers may also expect a brief additional search of their bodies, their clothing, or their luggage. Travelers may have their shoes screened for explosives, may have a hand wand run over their bodies and have their carry-on bags inspected. Those searches will take place at random and will take about a minute to complete.

The TSA said race, religion or nationality will not be factors in deciding who gets searched. Exposed skin will not be screened. But passengers may be patted down by Transportation Security officers of the same gender.

The security patdowns will cover a passenger's entire back, the front of the torso around the abdomen, arms and legs. Passengers may request that additional screening be conducted in private.

Travelers will not experience the same search every time they fly.

Federal air marshals and local law enforcement officers will continue working undercover at airports and on planes.

Dogs and machines

Hawley said approximately 420 canine teams work at more than 80 airports, a 70 percent increase since 2003.

"The canine program is highly effective, very flexible, and economically reasonable," he said.

Hawley also said more than 18,000 transportation security officers completed training in detecting explosives, including identifying X-ray images of parts of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), not just a completely assembled bomb.

Prohibited and permitted items

Items prohibited in carry-on bags include:

Scissors longer than four inches

Tools such as crowbars, drills, hammers, saws and ice picks

Lighters. Lighters are also banned from checked baggage

Tools with cutting edges

Box cutters and knives

Permitted items include:

Metal scissors with pointed tips and a cutting edge four inches or less, as measured from the fulcrum

Metal scissors with blunt tips, plastic scissors and ostomy scissors

Tools less than seven inches long

About 60 machines designed to detect explosives have been installed at 28 airports. Hawley expects to have more than 340 explosive-detecting machines at airports by the end of 2006.

No threat to security

Scissors and tools make up about 25 percent of the total number of prohibited items seized nationwide.

"The number of scissors discovered at checkpoints, and the time and effort dedicated to positively identifying them, is disproportionate to the threat they pose," the TSA said.

From April to October 2005, 468,033 tools were discovered at airport security checkpoints. Between March and September 2005, security officers found more than 9.5 million prohibited items in carry-on bags.

"We are opening a lot of bags to take away objects that do not pose a great risk," Hawley said. "We found that a disproportionate amount of our resources go to line-slowing bag searches directed at objects that do not pose a real threat of taking control of an aircraft."

Hawley wants more of the time and attention of security officers directed to detecting more serious security risks.

"Based on our research and analysis, I am convinced that the time now spent searching bags for small scissors and tools can be better utilized to focus on the far more dangerous threat of explosives," he said.