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New TSA Head 'Hesitant' About Arming Pilots
Josey1
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New TSA Head 'Hesitant' About Arming Pilots
Jeff Johnson, CNSNews.com
Friday, July 26, 2002
Capitol Hill -- The new acting director of the Transportation Security Agency says he is "hesitant" about proposals to train and voluntarily arm commercial airline pilots with deadly weapons to defend against terrorist attacks.
Adm. James Loy, acting Undersecretary for Transportation Security, made the statement to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Thursday morning.
"I need to learn about this and get up the learning curve very quickly," he said of proposals that the TSA screen, train, and arm pilot volunteers to serve as a last line of defense against potential terrorist hijackings. "I can say that on the upshot, I'm hesitant, but I'm also being directed to conduct a review, and I will do that."
Loy said the TSA is currently investigating the potential ramifications of arming pilots and he wants to "be objective" in examining the results of that review.
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., says he's looking forward to Loy's answer, but feels there may already have been too much investigation and not enough action.
"I think some of these cases, whenever we start talking about homeland security, have to be based, sometimes, on gut feeling and common sense," he said. "And I think we'd better start making these decisions right away."
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta lamented the potential cost of training, arming, and retraining armed pilots.
"I don't want to be in the position of having armed pilots and then all of the sudden facing a bill of $850-900 million in terms of the start-up costs, the training, getting the weapons for 85,000 pilots, and then doing the $250-$260 million in annual costs to do quarterly recurrent training," Mineta said. "No one, from what I can see, has really talked about the costs."
Burns quickly rebuffed Mineta's cost estimates.
"I would suggest that you stick around," he said, "because I think you'll find you'll learn we can do it a lot better and a lot cheaper."
Erich Pratt, communications director of Gun Owners of America (GOA), also refutes Mineta's numbers.
"How much training is it going to take to teach somebody to swivel around in his seat, shoot a guy who's breaking down the door five feet away from him, and then swivel back around and continue flying the plane?" he asked.
Based on the figures provided by Mineta, it would cost a minimum of $10,000 to initially arm and train a pilot for the program, and an additional $2,941 a year to re-certify the pilot's training quarterly.
Pratt says Mineta - who has been consistently opposed to arming pilots since before the Sept. 11 attacks, and received an "F-minus" rating from GOA while serving as a member of Congress - is presenting the program in the worst possible light because of his anti-gun bias.
"They're not even talking about re-certifying the air marshals quarterly," Pratt cited as an example, adding that it is also unrealistic to believe that all 85,000 FAA-licensed pilots would volunteer for the program.
But even if the $900 million initial and $260 million annual cost estimates were accurate, Pratt says the program is still viable.
"It would be a bargain compared to the billions of dollars for that whole agency, which primarily focuses on looking for the 'needles in the haystack,' to keep guns and explosives off of planes," he added, "which by the way, has not resulted in any better security for those who are flying because up to 50 percent of firearms and explosives are still getting through when they've conducted tests."
Mineta told the committee that he would consider all of the evidence before advising President Bush on whether or not to veto any legislation mandating that the TSA train and arm pilot volunteers with handguns.
Copyright CNSNews.com
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/7/26/54925.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Jeff Johnson, CNSNews.com
Friday, July 26, 2002
Capitol Hill -- The new acting director of the Transportation Security Agency says he is "hesitant" about proposals to train and voluntarily arm commercial airline pilots with deadly weapons to defend against terrorist attacks.
Adm. James Loy, acting Undersecretary for Transportation Security, made the statement to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Thursday morning.
"I need to learn about this and get up the learning curve very quickly," he said of proposals that the TSA screen, train, and arm pilot volunteers to serve as a last line of defense against potential terrorist hijackings. "I can say that on the upshot, I'm hesitant, but I'm also being directed to conduct a review, and I will do that."
Loy said the TSA is currently investigating the potential ramifications of arming pilots and he wants to "be objective" in examining the results of that review.
Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., says he's looking forward to Loy's answer, but feels there may already have been too much investigation and not enough action.
"I think some of these cases, whenever we start talking about homeland security, have to be based, sometimes, on gut feeling and common sense," he said. "And I think we'd better start making these decisions right away."
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta lamented the potential cost of training, arming, and retraining armed pilots.
"I don't want to be in the position of having armed pilots and then all of the sudden facing a bill of $850-900 million in terms of the start-up costs, the training, getting the weapons for 85,000 pilots, and then doing the $250-$260 million in annual costs to do quarterly recurrent training," Mineta said. "No one, from what I can see, has really talked about the costs."
Burns quickly rebuffed Mineta's cost estimates.
"I would suggest that you stick around," he said, "because I think you'll find you'll learn we can do it a lot better and a lot cheaper."
Erich Pratt, communications director of Gun Owners of America (GOA), also refutes Mineta's numbers.
"How much training is it going to take to teach somebody to swivel around in his seat, shoot a guy who's breaking down the door five feet away from him, and then swivel back around and continue flying the plane?" he asked.
Based on the figures provided by Mineta, it would cost a minimum of $10,000 to initially arm and train a pilot for the program, and an additional $2,941 a year to re-certify the pilot's training quarterly.
Pratt says Mineta - who has been consistently opposed to arming pilots since before the Sept. 11 attacks, and received an "F-minus" rating from GOA while serving as a member of Congress - is presenting the program in the worst possible light because of his anti-gun bias.
"They're not even talking about re-certifying the air marshals quarterly," Pratt cited as an example, adding that it is also unrealistic to believe that all 85,000 FAA-licensed pilots would volunteer for the program.
But even if the $900 million initial and $260 million annual cost estimates were accurate, Pratt says the program is still viable.
"It would be a bargain compared to the billions of dollars for that whole agency, which primarily focuses on looking for the 'needles in the haystack,' to keep guns and explosives off of planes," he added, "which by the way, has not resulted in any better security for those who are flying because up to 50 percent of firearms and explosives are still getting through when they've conducted tests."
Mineta told the committee that he would consider all of the evidence before advising President Bush on whether or not to veto any legislation mandating that the TSA train and arm pilot volunteers with handguns.
Copyright CNSNews.com
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/7/26/54925.shtml
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878