Editorial: Retain the urgency of air laws

Monday, Sept. 9, 2002 | 8:35 a.m.

It's been nearly a year since Sept. 11 and still there are reports coming out that people are getting past airport security checkpoints with items that could be used as weapons. The latest report came from the New York Daily News, which sent reporters to 11 airports over Labor Day weekend, including McCarran International, with bags containing small knives, box cutters, pepper spray, corkscrews and razor blades. The reporters made it through the security screenings and onto the planes, weaponry undetected. Shuddering.

Clearly, airports must do better. CBS News also sent reporters through security checkpoints recently, not with weaponry but with lead-lined film bags in their luggage that could have contained weapons. Lead blocks X-rays and the film bags should have raised suspicions as the scanners revealed containers whose contents could not be seen. And they did raise suspicions -- but only 30 percent of the time. In the other 70 percent, the reporters could have boarded with deadly weapons.

Training is certainly one answer to increased security. The people manning the electronic scanners must become more alert to suspicious items and more willing to order hand searches if they have any doubts at all. Moreover, increased training should not be limited to people manning security checkpoints. A comprehensive and uniform training program should be developed for flight attendants who may be called upon to defend themselves and their passengers. Congress passed a law in November requiring training for flight attendants, but the training varies from airline to airline. The Association of Flight Attendants says its members are no more prepared now than they were on Sept. 11.

In the weeks after Sept. 11, Congress urgently passed airport security laws that today need review. Many need better enforcement and many, such as the law requiring that all checked baggage be screened by explosive detection machines by Dec. 31, need realistic adjustment of their deadlines. None of the laws, however, should lose their sense of urgency as time passes.