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Airport security officials to weed out 'stupid' ru
Josey1
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Airport security officials to weed out 'stupid' rules
By BRYON OKADA
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
IRVING - Aviation security measures are being put through a "stupid-rule review" to cull those that improve security from those that simply hassle passengers, Deputy Secretary of Transportation Michael Jackson said Friday.
"We're looking at all our rules to make sure we have balanced appropriate security with common sense," said Jackson, who was in Irving to attend a transportation summit. "What was appropriate and necessary in October of last year may not be appropriate right now."
Jackson said that James Loy, the new chief of the Transportation Security Administration, has been assigned to review the security measures. He also said that new policies may be implemented as part of the review.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the aviation industry hastily tried to close gaps in security by banning more carry-on items, restricting parking near airport terminals, and checking passengers and crew members more closely.
But some of the measures - or the way in which they were applied - angered or offended travelers.
One of the more controversial rules involves a ban on non-factory-sealed bottles filled with liquid. Bottles of breast milk were exempted from the rule. But in April a woman was told by a security worker at John F. Kennedy Airport that she had to drink from three bottles of her own breast milk to prove that the liquid was harmless before being allowed to board a flight from New York to Miami.
The rule was imposed because such bottles could hold hazardous liquids that could be combustible, said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.
"The rule's not bad," he said, "but there was no common sense applied."
The rule is also flawed because it doesn't protect against factory-sealed containers that may be injected with dangerous liquids, Stempler said.
On Friday, he said, a passenger was allowed to store insulin bottles in a cockpit. The passenger did not want them to be put in luggage that could be lost, said Stempler, who did not identify the airport or the airline involved.
"Now, if it was a dangerous liquid, why would you put it in the most vulnerable spot on the plane?" he said.
One of the most common complaints travelers make is that they were fondled by security officials of the opposite sex, according to statistics from the Transportation Security Administration. Others complain they are targeted because of their race. Many criticize the way that some of the rules have been applied.
Sherrie Maxey, 85, of Irving was in a wheelchair last Christmas waiting to board a plane at Love Field in Dallas when she was asked to submit to a secondary screening.
Security workers - one male, one female - removed her shoes, asked her to stand so the wheelchair could be inspected, and frisked her.
The inspection was courteous but unnecessary, she said.
"But by the time you have gone through the security, it should have been complete," Maxey said. "They pre-board handicapped people. I had been waiting for some time."
Maxey, who was relocating to the Metroplex, was singled out because she had purchased a one-way ticket, which is red-flagged under new security procedures.
Airline executives have criticized prolonged searches of flight crews and restricted parking at hub airports. The "300-foot-rule" is intended to thwart car bombers by restricting parking near terminals. At Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, the rule eliminated 2,700 garage spaces normally used for one-hour parking. The rule fits the "stupid" category, airport officials say, because a suicide bomber could just as easily drive to the nearby curbside, bypassing the garage.
To get a partial waiver of the rule, D/FW had to agree to patrol its parking garages 24 hours a day, an expensive and manpower-intensive alternative.
Loy said last week that he would review D/FW's situation.
Some industry analysts say travelers should expect some security-related hassles.
"The people I've heard from - and I don't think I've heard from any terrorists yet - they all think that somehow that they should be exempt from security because they're not terrorists," said Terry Riley, a California psychologist specializing in corporate travel and a contributor to the errtravel.com Web site.
But several airline executives, including American Airlines Chief Executive Don Carty, have described doubled screenings as adding to the hassles of air travel without significantly improving security.
Carty and Stempler have advocated a "trusted traveler" identification card to streamline the security process.
But budgetary constraints at the Transportation Security Administration - and a directive in the agency's emergency supplemental budget from Congress to delay implementation - have probably put the idea on hold until fiscal 2004 at the earliest, Jackson said.
"We're going to postpone some work with other security measures in aviation and other transportation modes we just don't have the funds for," he said.
Department of Transportation officials said they plan to ask the Bush administration to submit an amendment for additional money for the Transportation Security Administration in the 2003 fiscal budget.
Bryon Okada, (817) 685-3853 okada@star-telegram.com
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/3888264.htm
"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
By BRYON OKADA
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
IRVING - Aviation security measures are being put through a "stupid-rule review" to cull those that improve security from those that simply hassle passengers, Deputy Secretary of Transportation Michael Jackson said Friday.
"We're looking at all our rules to make sure we have balanced appropriate security with common sense," said Jackson, who was in Irving to attend a transportation summit. "What was appropriate and necessary in October of last year may not be appropriate right now."
Jackson said that James Loy, the new chief of the Transportation Security Administration, has been assigned to review the security measures. He also said that new policies may be implemented as part of the review.
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the aviation industry hastily tried to close gaps in security by banning more carry-on items, restricting parking near airport terminals, and checking passengers and crew members more closely.
But some of the measures - or the way in which they were applied - angered or offended travelers.
One of the more controversial rules involves a ban on non-factory-sealed bottles filled with liquid. Bottles of breast milk were exempted from the rule. But in April a woman was told by a security worker at John F. Kennedy Airport that she had to drink from three bottles of her own breast milk to prove that the liquid was harmless before being allowed to board a flight from New York to Miami.
The rule was imposed because such bottles could hold hazardous liquids that could be combustible, said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.
"The rule's not bad," he said, "but there was no common sense applied."
The rule is also flawed because it doesn't protect against factory-sealed containers that may be injected with dangerous liquids, Stempler said.
On Friday, he said, a passenger was allowed to store insulin bottles in a cockpit. The passenger did not want them to be put in luggage that could be lost, said Stempler, who did not identify the airport or the airline involved.
"Now, if it was a dangerous liquid, why would you put it in the most vulnerable spot on the plane?" he said.
One of the most common complaints travelers make is that they were fondled by security officials of the opposite sex, according to statistics from the Transportation Security Administration. Others complain they are targeted because of their race. Many criticize the way that some of the rules have been applied.
Sherrie Maxey, 85, of Irving was in a wheelchair last Christmas waiting to board a plane at Love Field in Dallas when she was asked to submit to a secondary screening.
Security workers - one male, one female - removed her shoes, asked her to stand so the wheelchair could be inspected, and frisked her.
The inspection was courteous but unnecessary, she said.
"But by the time you have gone through the security, it should have been complete," Maxey said. "They pre-board handicapped people. I had been waiting for some time."
Maxey, who was relocating to the Metroplex, was singled out because she had purchased a one-way ticket, which is red-flagged under new security procedures.
Airline executives have criticized prolonged searches of flight crews and restricted parking at hub airports. The "300-foot-rule" is intended to thwart car bombers by restricting parking near terminals. At Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, the rule eliminated 2,700 garage spaces normally used for one-hour parking. The rule fits the "stupid" category, airport officials say, because a suicide bomber could just as easily drive to the nearby curbside, bypassing the garage.
To get a partial waiver of the rule, D/FW had to agree to patrol its parking garages 24 hours a day, an expensive and manpower-intensive alternative.
Loy said last week that he would review D/FW's situation.
Some industry analysts say travelers should expect some security-related hassles.
"The people I've heard from - and I don't think I've heard from any terrorists yet - they all think that somehow that they should be exempt from security because they're not terrorists," said Terry Riley, a California psychologist specializing in corporate travel and a contributor to the errtravel.com Web site.
But several airline executives, including American Airlines Chief Executive Don Carty, have described doubled screenings as adding to the hassles of air travel without significantly improving security.
Carty and Stempler have advocated a "trusted traveler" identification card to streamline the security process.
But budgetary constraints at the Transportation Security Administration - and a directive in the agency's emergency supplemental budget from Congress to delay implementation - have probably put the idea on hold until fiscal 2004 at the earliest, Jackson said.
"We're going to postpone some work with other security measures in aviation and other transportation modes we just don't have the funds for," he said.
Department of Transportation officials said they plan to ask the Bush administration to submit an amendment for additional money for the Transportation Security Administration in the 2003 fiscal budget.
Bryon Okada, (817) 685-3853 okada@star-telegram.com
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/3888264.htm
"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
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By REBECA RODRIGUEZ
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
DALLAS - Fifteen airports across the state will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars to improve efficiency, safety and security, Gov. Rick Perry announced Saturday morning at a news conference at Love Field.
The grants, totaling almost $37 million, will help airports such as Dallas/Fort Worth and Fort Worth Meacham extend runways, acquire additional security equipment and install fencing around airport perimeters.
"As a state with numerous ports of entry, including an international border that exceeds some 1,200 miles, we must take every measure, every precaution, to keep our citizens safe and to keep Texans traveling, whether that travel is business or pleasure," Perry said.
Perry received a symbolic check for the grant from U.S. Deputy Transportation Secretary Michael P. Jackson.
"Protecting and improving our transportation infrastructure is of central importance to all Americans," Jackson said. "These grants will help Texas airports maintain the highest levels of safety, security and efficiency in the years ahead."
Jackson said other states will also receive grants, but Texas will get one of the largest.
Love Field is one of five airports across the country that checks each piece of luggage that passes through. After the news conference, Perry and Jackson visited with Love Field security guards manning an X-ray scanning machine.
Perry headed to Tyler on Saturday afternoon to unveil some new construction at Pounds Field Airport.
ONLINE: www.dot.gov
Rebeca Rodriguez, (817) 390-7754 rrodriguez@star-telegram.com
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/3888265.htm
"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