Skies could
be safer for $1 billion
Airline security
overlooks potentially disastrous loophole
By Greg Barrett
Skies could
be safer for $1 billion
By Greg Barrett
Study: Ground
zero workers still dealing with demons
By Greg Barrett
Federal aid for
9-11 recovery plentiful, but N.Y. waiting for checks
By John Mahachek |
| |
Two years after terrorist attacks stunned
the nation and changed the world, a six-day series by
The Journal News considers the impact on the past, the
present and the future. (Opens in new window) |
| |
 Coming
later today
 From
WUSA-TV in Washington, D.C.: Watch streaming
video of events commemorating the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
|
| |
More headlines
(Links open in new windows)
Photo
gallery: 9-11 remembered two years later
From USATODAY.com
Tears of 9/11 rush back as children read names
From USATODAY.com
Bush keeps remembrance low-key
From USATODAY.com
Media
devote extensive coverage to commemoration ceremonies
From USATODAY.com
Trade Center survivors rebuild lives at their own pace
From USATODAY.com
As
tragedy's anniversary nears, 9-11 events begin
From USATODAY.com
Six fronts in the war to fight terror
From USATODAY.com
Closure
elusive for families of many 9-11 victims
From USATODAY.com
Interactive documentary: Stories from those left behind
From USATODAY.com
Interactive graphic: 9-11 by the numbers two years later
From USATODAY.com
Emotional
impact of 9-11 blunts as world changes
From The Arizona Republic
Why
no answers yet? 9-11 widows persist in asking questions
From the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press
Reminders of 9-11 everywhere
From the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press
From
gray ash of landfill, families seek proper burial of 9-11
victims
From the (Bridgewater, N.J.) Courier
News
9-11
led some to follow dreams
From The (Morris County, N.J.) Daily
Record
Memorials
offer families quiet place to contemplate
From The (Morris County, N.J.) Daily
Record
Extra
security alters work force, way we live
From The Indianapolis Star
Experts see gaps in efforts to guard U.S. food supply
From The Des Moines Register
Recalling 'Surreal day on Pennsylvania field'
From the Battle Creek (Mich.) Enquirer
Commentary: Secrecy clouds our liberty
From the Battle Creek (Mich.) Enquirer
Musical
Flash montage of 9-11 images
From the Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times
9-11 headline put feelings into sharp focus on that awful day
From The Detroit News
Public
tragedy, private pain for Delaware family
From The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
Kids
still remember unforgettable day
From the (East Brunswick, N.J.) Home
News Tribune
Baseball takes time out for 9-11
From USATODAY.com
Official
list of the victims of the World Trade Center attacks
From USATODAY.com |
By GREG BARRETT | GNS
WASHINGTON —The softest spot in airline
security could be strengthened for $1 billion. Millions of
packages weighing less than 1 pound are loaded daily into
the cargo holds of passenger jets without any check for explosives,
even though technology to screen this airmail is available
and the Department of Homeland Security is aware of the threat.
But homeland security officials do not deem
the risk great enough to warrant additional wholesale purchases
of Explosives Detection Systems, or EDS, devices, the mammoth
million-dollar X-ray machines being installed at airports
nationwide to screen checked luggage.
“There is no single silver bullet with cargo
security,” said Suzanne Luber of the Transportation Security
Administration, the largest of 22 agencies run by homeland
security. “We want to make sure we have the safest cargo program
in place - but without wasting taxpayer money.”
TSA believes 99 percent of airmail is “legitimate
cargo,” Luber said, and it currently relies on its “known
shipper” program to filter out the suspicious 1 percent. The
program is based on establishing the trustworthiness of shippers
through a track record of safe mailings.
But about 80 percent of airmail falls through
an unscreened crack that gives a blind pass to cargo weighing
less than a pound.
Most passenger-jet airmail is packaged in
crates that can pass as easily as luggage through the EDS
machines, said David Pillor of InVision Technologies, the
California-based manufacturer that supplies the federal government
with the machines. He estimates that 1,000 EDS machines, totaling
$1 billion, would cover all 429 commercial airports in the
country.
About three-fourths of the airports are
so small that one EDS machine would suffice, he said. Larger
airports, such as O’Hare in Chicago and Hartsfield in Atlanta,
would need about 20 machines.
“We haven’t sorted out all the logistics
of screening the cargo, but you could put (EDS devices) in
the back of the airfield where the freight forwarding companies
deliver the cargo,” Pillor said.
Airmail typically arrives at the airports
during the predawn, he said, and could easily be screened
before the passenger jets begin pulling back from the gates
at midmorning.
“So the bulk of the cargo problem could
be eliminated today with current technology,” he said.
But it’s not cheap.
During a May 20 congressional hearing, Rep.
Edward Markey, D-Mass., a member of the House Select Committee
on Homeland Security, challenged Homeland Security Secretary
Tom Ridge to ask Congress for additional funding. Markey has
written legislation that would require the screening of all
air cargo loaded onto passenger jets.
“The technology is there that can screen
this cargo,” Markey told Ridge, according to hearing transcripts.
“That’s exactly right,” Ridge answered.
“So will you make a recommendation for the
funding to screen all cargo going on passenger planes in the
United States?” Markey asked.
“If we need additional funding, congressman,
to achieve that goal, I’ll be the first one to recommend it,”
Ridge said.
No request has been made.
“We are in the midst of a comprehensive
cargo study that is looking at a way to pursue new technology,”
Luber said this week. “TSA is deeply committed to cargo security
and its ultimate goal is to screen 100 percent of suspicious
cargo.” |
