Editorial: Making security a priority

Friday, Dec. 21, 2001 | 4:10 a.m.

Last month Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said he didn't think the airlines would be able to screen all checked baggage by Jan. 18 -- a deadline imposed by Congress under the new airport security law. Members of Congress understandably were upset over Mineta's comments, especially since security experts believe that failing to screen checked baggage is an Achilles' heel in airline safety that terrorists could exploit. The public's confidence in airline security also wasn't helped by Mineta's remarks a short time later that airport security should pay the same attention to an elderly white woman from Vero Beach, Fla., as a young Muslim man from Jersey City.

The holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year for airline travel, so people are even more concerned about security this weekend. For that matter, Mineta's lack of gumption about airport security fell far short of the kind of commitment that the federal government should be providing in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings that killed more than 3,000 people. Fortunately for Mineta -- and the Bush administration -- the man nominated by the president to be the undersecretary of transportation for security, John Magaw, has a no-nonsense, take-charge attitude when it comes to airline security.

Magaw, in his confirmation testimony before Congress last week, said airport security wasn't getting the kind of attention it should have before the terrorist attacks. "It was lack of focus. There's no lack of focus now," said Magaw, the former director of the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Magaw also had this to say about the impending deadlines for airport security, including those for checked baggage: "We must meet those deadlines and we will make every effort to meet them."

It is comforting that Magaw is committed to the checked baggage deadline of Jan. 18, especially since the airline industry had been seeking a 30-day delay. Don't forget that the Department of Transportation has been a cheerleader for the airline industry, a role that should have ended years ago. Now there is even more urgency to end the cozy relationship, and it appears that the Bush administration has selected the right man for the job to make sure air travel isn't vulnerable to terrorism.