Airport Security

IN VIEW of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, I think our security officers and screeners let us down. They were asleep. But what can you expect from felons who make $5.25 an hour. The airline industry hired the cheapest contract-guard outfits they could find to save a lot of money. The attacks never would have happened had they done their jobs. I was at Reagan National Airport in May. My suspenders set off the alarms. Two screeners checked me, one Asian and one Hispanic. I couldn't understand a word they were saying.

Some of the extraordinary security measures imposed on the nation's airports at the outbreak of the Persian Gulf war are about to end, the government said yesterday. But even though Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner acknowledged that "we think the threat is less today than when the war broke out," security still will be tighter than it was last year. In particular, Skinner said, there are no plans to reduce the extremely high level of security for international flights and at international airports, which are most likely to be targeted by terrorists.

'ANYBODY wanna volunteer?" That's how an amiable old gentleman greeted passengers at a boarding gate at Philadelphia International Airport last week. The man, an officially designated security screener, was lightheartedly conducting "random" checks. He giggled. I scowled. He then yanked me out of a group of some 50 passengers to do his bit to fight terrorism. The elderly buffoon rifled my carry-on bag and pawed my water bottle. You never know what we short young women of Asian descent traveling alone with small briefcases stuffed with newspapers, Dramamine, chocolate-chip cookies and store-bought beverages might be plotting.

HEY, STU, Great column about airport security. I see nothing wrong with questioning or retaining anyone who fits the profile of someone more likely to commit any criminal act. I'm not sure how it is in other countries, but Americans should start getting used to having their feelings hurt and their egos bruised if it's for the good of the nation. We've become way too sensitive and drunk on entitlement. Now if we can only find a way to convince the lawyers that it's not about them.

RE YOUR editorial "Airport Security: 'Junk' Science": Each day, at airports across the country, the lives of millions of air travelers depend on the professionalism and vigilance of Transportation Security Administration officers. The vast majority of the traveling public knows that the TSA officers carry out an essential job for their country and appreciate their efforts. These days, the importance of a world-class transportation protection workforce is all too apparent. As heightened security procedures are put in place, the key is to remember that TSA officers are there to secure air travel and protect the traveling public.

LET'S SHOW some brotherly love for Steve Brill as he tries to speed Philadelphia air travelers through the post-9/11 security maze. Brill is a smart guy and a successful entrepreneur. The Yale-educated author is also the founder of American Lawyer magazine, Court TV and the ill-fated Brill's Content. Now, he has focused on a subject close to my heart - airport security. While we don't agree on the subject of profiling (he's a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union)

When Bonnie Sweeten fled to Florida with her 9-year-old daughter, using the driver's license of a friend to get through airport security, did the airline or document checkers at Philadelphia International Airport drop the ball? The FBI and the Transportation Security Administration, whose job is checking passengers' government-issued IDs, say no. Sweeten had a valid Pennsylvania driver's license with a photo that closely resembled her. "It was a real driver's license, so it had all the security features that a real driver's license has," FBI Special Agent J.J. Klaver said.

Five soldiers on their way home from Iraq arrived at Philadelphia International Airport yesterday afternoon hoping to catch a flight to Kansas City but ended up having their journey delayed because of security concerns raised by the war on terror. Those concerns were raised about 5 p.m., when the soldiers were passing through Terminal C. Transportation Security Administration screeners picked up images of a Beretta handgun, a grenade, three rounds of ammunition, and a number of knives inside their carry-on baggage, FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi said.

AIRPORT SECURITY. The federal government will begin testing new airport- security procedures later this year at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, employing as a model measures being used at U.S. nuclear-arms facilities. The plan includes using more sensitive detectors for explosives, controlling access of aviation employees to sensitive airport areas, and using closed-circuit monitors to quickly judge situations. Communications will also be improved so that security forces can respond more quickly to any threat.

It looked like the worst line in the history of lines. Like 1960s-era Soviets waiting for bread, passengers created a near-endless queue at the security checkpoint in Terminal D of Philadelphia International Airport at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Dismay had its place in line, as did panic and anger. If unhappiness were rain, a monsoon would have soaked the blue carpet. If frustration were heat, human flesh would have melted. "This is the most incompetent airport in the world!" moaned Judy Albert, a Voorhees woman entertaining the ever-diminishing notion that she would be taking her 8-year-old granddaughter on a plane to Sarasota, Fla. "We'll miss our flight.

WASHINGTON - The CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said Monday. The plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger's underwear, but this time al-Qaeda developed a more refined detonation system, U.S. officials said.

Misconduct charge rattles military WASHINGTON - The top U.S. military officer said Monday that the nation's military leadership was embarrassed by allegations of misconduct against at least 10 U.S. military members at a Colombia hotel on the eve of President Obama's visit over the weekend. "We let the boss down," Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon news conference. He said he regretted that the scandal, which also involved 11 Secret Service agents accused of cavorting with prostitutes at the hotel, diverted attention from Obama's diplomacy at a Latin America summit.

CHICAGO - Some air travelers over the age of 75 will soon get a break at airport security checkpoints under a test program announced Wednesday that could allow them to keep their shoes and light jackets on and skip pat-downs. The new guidelines from the Transportation Security Administration, which take effect Monday at four U.S. airports, are part of an effort to move away from its one-size-fits-all security procedures and speed lower-risk passengers through while focusing on those who may need more scrutiny.

Ending a two-week screening process, lawyers on Monday chose a retired nurse and an airport security guard as the final alternate jurors for the conspiracy and child-sex-abuse trial of three current and former Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests. The 10 alternates will join six male and six female jurors in the courtroom during the trial. Opening statements are scheduled to begin March 26. Msgr. William J. Lynn, a former administrator for the archdiocese, faces endangerment charges for allegedly recommending abusive priests for assignments that gave them access to children.

WASHINGTON - A new passenger screening program to make check-in more convenient for certain travelers is being expanded to 28 more major U.S. airports, the government said Wednesday. There will be no cost to eligible passengers, who would no longer have to remove their shoes and belts before they board flights. The airports include the three used by hijackers to launch the terror attacks in September 2001: Washington Dulles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and Boston's Logan International Airport.

The outrage over the latest humiliating airport security pat-down incident is understandable, but don't blame the screeners who searched an elderly woman. The Transportation Security Administration stirred public wrath again last week after forcing a 95-year-old, late-stage cancer patient to remove her adult diaper. The incident was an embarrassing indignity to the woman, who was traveling from Florida to Michigan to spend her last days with relatives. Her daughter has filed a complaint with federal officials.

Bermuda authorities arrested three people Wednesday who are believed to be part of a narcotics smuggling ring operating through Philadelphia International Airport, Bermuda officials said. U.S. and Bermuda airport and airline employees "utilized their positions to circumvent airport security and federal inspection procedures to smuggle narcotics," according to a news release from the U.S. Consulate in Bermuda. Bermuda police did not release the names of those arrested. - Mike Newall

By Adam Benforado What is the single most frustrating thing about the airport? Most people would agree that it's the security line, which presents us with a terrible tandem of unpredictability and uncontrollability. Each airport is different. Some separate expert travelers from novices; others provide priority lines for those with first-class tickets. Latecomers who are going to miss their flights will be readily shuttled to the front at a few airports, while many others stand firm in the face of tears and tantrums.

As tales of bizarre screenings kept coming from the Philadelphia International Airport, my biggest question was: Is this a Philly problem, or is the TSA troubling passengers everywhere? With help from congressional investigators, I can finally say we are not alone. Staffers with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform have combed through 9,500 pages of documents they requested from the Transportation Security Administration, and examined 3,500 complaints of misconduct between January 2009 and last June.