U.S. considers ways to tighten airline security

By Christopher Newton

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Delta Air Lines announced a cut of up to 13,000 jobs Wednesday as the Bush administration readied new security measures to coax nervous Americans back into the skies. American officials worked with Pakistanis on plans to strike bases in Afghanistan, retaliation for this month’s deadly terrorist attacks.

With military strikes expected, a crowd of thousands stormed the abandoned U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan’s capital city, burning American flags and an effigy of President Bush. Shouts of “long live Osama” filled the air, a reference to the man the United States has identified as the culprit behind terrorist strikes that left nearly 7,000 dead or missing in New York and Washington.

Bush met with national security advisers and conferred by phone with foreign leaders. He also was travelling to the CIA building outside Washington, part of a string of visits he has made to agencies given a prominent role in his newly declared war on terrorist.

Delta became the latest in the aviation industry to announce layoffs. The company’s chairman, Leo Mullin, said as many as 13,000 jobs would be lost as the result of a 15 percent cut in service to take effect later this year.

Other major carriers had previously announced tens of thousands of layoffs in the wake of the attacks, in which terrorist hijacked airliners and flew them into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Another plane crashed in Pennsylvania after what officials say was a struggle between passengers and the terrorists.

Overall, U.S. airlines and the aircraft maker Boeing have announced cuts totaling well over 100,000 jobs in the wake of the attacks.

Delta spokesman Tom Donahue said the airline has lost about $1 billion since the attacks. The company will get about $600 million from the $5 billion cash relief approved by Congress last week, he said.

“The direct aid granted by the government helps Delta meet its immediate financial obligations, but with passenger demand forecast to remain depressed for at least a year, the need to reduce costs remains a financial imperative,” Donahue said.

The administration readied a concerted effort to reassure Americans it is safe to fly again. Bush arranged a visit Thursday to Chicago, where he is expected to announce his administration’s new security proposals, including armed marshals on most if not all jetliners. Congressional leaders have said they are eager to act on necessary legislation.

The protesters in Kabul set vehicles ablaze and tore the American seal from its mount on the embassy compound. The compound was abandoned in 1988.

In neighboring Pakistan, sources said the government has reached broad accord with U.S. officials on a plan for attacks on bases inside Afghanistan. There was no word on when military action might commence.

In New York, emergency crews worked through the night to dismantle a seven-story fragment of metal facade, all that remained standing of the World Trade Center, as the area was declared a crime scene off limits to cameras.

Attorney General John Ashcroft on Tuesday told Congress that terrorists may be planning an attack using a truck carrying hazardous chemicals. Twenty people have been charged with trying to obtain fraudulent licenses to drive tanker trucks, officials said. Some of those arrested in connection with the tanker licenses may have connections to the hijackers, the Justice Department said.

“Terrorism is a clear and present danger to Americans today,” Ashcroft told a Senate hearing.

Bush met Tuesday with Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to discuss airline security measures as lawmakers clamored for action.

A Bush proposal was likely to include giving the federal government a greater role in overseeing private security companies that work in airports. Bush was said to be cool to the idea of arming pilots.

The Federal Aviation Administration was advertising for air marshals – and more than 100,000 people have downloaded the application off the agency’s Web site.

Federal law enforcement officials from other agencies are being quickly trained and pressed into service until the new crop of marshals is hired.

Bush officials also want to replace relatively flimsy, easy to open, cockpit doors with something more sturdy.

The House voted in support of a $343 billion defense bill late Tuesday, boosting money to fight terrorism by $400 million, for a total of about $6 billion.

The Senate has stalled on the issue, unable to reach a vote because of attempts to attach the Bush administration’s energy bill and a proposal to let private contractors compete with prison industries for defense contracts.

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, meanwhile, arrived in Brussels, where he planned to present to NATO allies some of the information the United States has collected linking Saudi exile Osama bin Laden to the attacks.

A senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity said Wolfowitz would tell the allies there still was much to be learned about how the attacks were planned and who was involved.

A defiant bin Laden fired back a response to the U.S. military buildup in the Middle East and southwestern Asia. “Wherever there are Americans and Jews, they will be targeted,” said a statement issued by Naseer Ahmed Mujahed, chief military commander for bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.