Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON — The Transportation Department will likely miss an early deadline for the new aviation security bill requiring that all checked baggage be screened for explosives, the agency’s head said Tuesday, prompting an immediate rebuke from top Democratic congressional leaders.
At issue is a requirement that all checked bags be screened for explosives by X-ray, trained dogs or some other suitable means by mid-January. The order is only provisional, since X-ray machines are not foolproof for bomb detection.
Congress also has mandated screening all checked bags with specialized explosives-sensitive scanners by December 2002.
But Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta on Tuesday said it is unlikely that the January requirement will be met, and he stressed that there would be difficulties in meeting the more significant December 2002 deadline.
He said the equipment and personnel — even the dogs — are simply not available to do a proper job within the allotted time.
"The question about bomb detection equipment is probably the most vexing and serious one we’re facing," Mineta told an aviation security conference. "There aren’t enough people — there aren’t enough bomb-sniffing dogs — to be able to do the job. … Our primary goal right now (is) trying to ramp up the capability of detecting explosives going into aircraft."
The Transportation Department often fails to meet congressional deadlines, but Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri quickly fired back at Mineta, the lone Democrat in President Bush’s Cabinet.
"One of the most important aspects of the airport security bill is to increase the confidence level among travelers," Daschle said. "It doesn’t serve our confidence level to know that simply a week or so after we pass the bill, we’re told that the administration can’t comply."
"The American people can’t wait another few months before we begin screening all checked baggage for bombs," Gephardt said in a statement. "Air travelers demand and deserve protection now. "
The controversy overshadowed what Mineta had intended to be a progress report on his department’s top priority: building a new federal Transportation Security Administration to take over the watchdog role from airlines and airports. He promised that improved security would also shorten the wait.
"Our goal in passenger screening is no weapons, no waiting," Mineta said. "We will strive to develop a screening process that prohibits weapons or other banned materials … without requiring a waiting period of longer than 10 minutes at any security checkpoint."
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