Federal Air-Security Bill Clears Congress; Measure to Tighten Baggage Screening at 450 U.S. Airports With Public Employees
Juliet Eilperin and Caroline E. Mayer
11/17/2001
The Washington Post
FINAL
Page A12
Congress approved an overhaul of the nation's aviation security system yesterday to put the federal government firmly in control of airport safety operations.
The legislation, which President Bush is expected to sign Monday, is designed to lure a jittery public back to air travel. But aviation experts said the new policies could, at least initially, cause substantial delays and more confusion.
Yesterday's overwhelming vote -- the House approved the bill 410 to 9 and the Senate adopted it by voice vote -- ended a month-long debate over how to guard against terrorist attacks on airplanes.
The legislation would replace the private baggage-screening system with a 28,000-person federal workforce that will inspect passengers' luggage. The bill also would mandate strengthened cockpit doors, put federal sky marshals on flights and grant wide authority to a transportation security chief who will implement the new measures.
Many of the provisions will not take effect for months and will not be easy to implement. "The changes are not going to be bam-bam and we'll have security tomorrow," said Sen. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.), co-author of the Senate bill. "This is going to be a very difficult task."
The Senate passed a bill last month to create a federal screening force, while the House approved a bill to give the president the option of hiring public or private screeners. Bush backed the House version but indicated he would sign whatever legislation Congress sent him.
House Republicans said a fully federal system would be unwieldy and inefficient, but concluded that they had little choice but to concede, given the public pressure to resolve the dispute quickly.
"Our members realized we may have lost the debate before it even started," said Chief Deputy Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.). "The Senate was not going to budge, and we weren't prepared to go home for Thanksgiving without a resolution."
Under the compromise, all airports would adopt a federal baggage-screening system within a year of the bill's enactment. A year after that, five airports could hire private contractors to screen luggage. After three years, all airports would have the choice of hiring either private or public screeners.
Negotiators adopted most of the House bill on other security matters. Those included requirements for background checks on individuals and vehicles with access to secure areas, and the installation of a system with which flight attendants could notify pilots of a problem.
House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) said in an interview that those elements were the critical part of the bill, adding that many airports might choose private screening when they have the chance. "We'll find out three years from now who was right," DeLay said.
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta estimated that the security measures could cost $2.5 billion, although some lawmakers said the cost could be twice that. Some of the cost would be covered by a $2.50 fee per passenger-plane boarding, up to a maximum $5 fee for a one-way trip. The airline industry would also contribute.
Administration officials said they would begin soon to implement parts of the bill that call on airlines to ensure that within 60 days they will screen all checked and carry-on luggage. The deadline is intended to quickly increase security, but could result in longer lines, aviation experts said.
Currently, there are only 140 machines used to screen checked luggage for bombs at 47 of the nation's 450 airports. Government officials have said that at least 2,000 machines are needed to examine all checked baggage in the United States.
As a result, aviation officials said, many passengers may have their luggage searched by hand until more machines are installed. "I would not be surprised if the outcome in the short run would be longer lines," said Mic Dinsmore, chief executive of the Port of Seattle, which oversees Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
"This requirement is probably the most challenging thing in the entire legislation from a procedural standpoint," said Stephen van Beek, senior vice president of the Airports Council of North America.
"In some ways, it's a triumph of hope over logic because the institutional infrastructure isn't there right now. The only way it can possibly be met in the short-term is to inspect by hand, which is a much slower process," Van Beek said.
Lawmakers suggested that National Guard members, who have been deployed to the nation's airports, could help search bags. Federal Drug Enforcement agents and Treasury employees also can be used as screeners for a time.
Under the new law, all airports are to have the electronic screening machines by the end of 2002. But Sergio Magistri, head of InVision Technologies, which supplied all but two of the 140 machines in U.S. airports, said the company probably would not be able to manufacture the 2,000 required by the deadline.
When the machines do become available, airport executives said, passengers should expect a different kind of inconvenience: construction in airports as they are installed.
The measure provides for alternatives to hand searches or bomb-detecting machines, such as bomb-sniffing dogs. But industry officials said there are not enough dogs, and that the animals are effective for only about 20 minutes before their detection ability fades and they need to rest.
Airlines also might use a bag-match program, in which no checked bag is put on a plane unless the passenger who checked the bag is also on board. But many airlines said their computer systems are not yet capable of running such a program.
Currently, a limited number of bags are matched to passengers. "To go from limited screening to having everyone's bag checked is a big jump," a government aviation official said.
The importance of reforming airport security was underscored at Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport yesterday when a man ran through a checkpoint, forcing authorities to evacuate the terminal.
The disruption stranded Sen. Max Cleland (D-Ga.), who was on his way to a news conference in Savannah on aviation security. A few hours earlier, Cleland predicted that yesterday's action by Congress would help protect passengers visiting relatives over Thanksgiving.
"As families prepare for the biggest travel day in the nation, they can feel assured that airport security will be strengthened nationwide the very moment the president signs this landmark legislation into law," Cleland said.
Under the bill, all baggage screeners would have to be U.S. citizens, although the citizenship requirement would apply only to newly hired screeners. Foreign screeners would not be fired during the transition, but some security companies said they expect many employees to leave soon because of the uncertainty over their jobs.
Mineta said yesterday that the federal government might consider raises for employees during the transition to minimize disruptions. "We've got to find some way to work with the airports and screening companies to hold then in place," he said.
Meanwhile, the largest union of federal employees was upset that the bill did not guarantee the right of federal screeners to unionize. But the union nonetheless welcomed the fact that Congress created a new federal workforce of 28,000 people.
"There is no plausible justification for denying federal employee screeners the rights and benefits afforded to other federal employees," said Bobby L. Harnage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees.
The bill would leave entirely to Mineta's discretion whether to grant the employees health insurance, retirement benefits, workers' compensation and whistle-blower protections, Harnage said.
Staff writer Ellen Nakashima contributed to this report
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