Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — Chastened by a blast of congressional criticism, the Transportation Department reversed course Wednesday and said it will comply with an early deadline in the new aviation security bill for screening all checked bags for bombs.
"We will meet the obligations we have under the law," a senior department official told reporters at a hastily called news briefing.
On Tuesday, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said it was unlikely that the Jan. 18 deadline would be met, citing a lack of equipment and personnel. That prompted bipartisan volleys of criticism from Capitol Hill, which continued to reverberate a day later.
The security of checked baggage is widely considered to be a major vulnerability of air travel in the United States. Currently, only a small proportion of bags are scanned for explosives, using a limited number of high-tech imaging machines available at major airports.
Congress has allowed the administration to use any combination of techniques to meet the 60-day deadline for screening all checked bags. The transportation official said that matching bags to passengers who actually board a flight is now a leading option.
That procedure is considered a deterrent to would-be bombers and is already used on international flights. However, airlines have long resisted applying it to domestic flights, arguing that it would cause delays.
"I think you are going to see significantly wider use of baggage matching to get us to this 60-day requirement," said the official, who could not be named under the rules of the briefing.
Other techniques include X-ray screening, hand searches and the use of bomb-sniffing dogs. A combination of several approaches appears likely.
Congress has also set a second deadline of Dec. 31, 2002, for more intensive screening of all checked bags with specialized explosives detection machines.
About 140 high-tech machines capable of detecting bombs are now in place at 50 major airports — nowhere near enough to handle luggage for the 700 million passengers who fly each year. The machines cost $1 million apiece and another $750,000 to install.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.