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Newspaper reporters were able to get past airport security with weapons in their carry-on baggage
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NEW
YORK
, Sept 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A U.S. newspaper
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
, exposed glaring holes in airport security after its reporters
managed to carry potentially lethal weapons onto 14 separate flights -
a week before the September 11 anniversary.
The
New York Daily News said that none of its reporters, carrying items
such as box cutters, razor knives and pepper spray in their carry-on
baggage, were prevented from boarding the flights which covered 11
different
U.S.
airports and six major airlines.
The
newspaper investigation was carried out over the Labor Day weekend,
with airport security already on high alert in the run-up to the
September 11 anniversary.
"Not
a single airport security checkpoint spotted or confiscated any of the
dangerous items, all of which have been banned from airports and
planes by federal authorities," the newspaper said.
The
airports included
New York
's Kennedy and La Guardia, as well as
Boston
's
Logan Airport
,
Washington
's Dulles International and international hubs in
Los Angeles
,
Chicago
and
Los Angeles
.
All
the tickets bought by the reporters were one way, which usually raises
security suspicions.
The
Daily News said security screeners X-rayed and hand-searched its
reporters' bags, asked them to remove their shoes and checked photo
identifications, but did not find the banned items, reports news
agencies.
The
paper had carried out a similar exercise with the same results in the
month after the September 11 attacks.
While
security measures have been significantly beefed up in the interim in
terms of technology and trained personnel, the newspaper concluded
that the changes "amounted to nothing more than a big show."
The
Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) - the federal agency that
has been gradually taking over checkpoint security at airports since
mid-February - admitted that much remained to be done.
"We
have a lot of work to do," Leonardo Alcivar, a spokesman for
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, told the News.
"Clearly
there's a long way to go with security," said TSA spokeswoman
Heather Rosenker. "It can never be 100 percent, much as we would
love it to be."
However,
Rosenker stressed that substantial progress had been made in recent
months and cited the confiscation of nearly 600 firearms by airport
security since mid-February and the surrender of more than two million
items, including 600,000 knives and 24,000 box cutters.
Rosenker
said the main difficulty lay in the training of X-ray screeners, who
are already required to log 40 hours of classroom time and 60 hours of
on-the-job training.
"Their
job is not easy at all," she said. "Even after they've
qualified, we continue to provide three hours of training per
week."
CBS
News crews conducted a similar test last week, although without
weapons. Carrying bags lined with lead to block X-rays, they sailed
past about 70% of screeners at several airports nationwide, reports
news agencies.
"They're
impossible to miss, and yet they just continually let it go,"
said Steve Elson, a former security investigator for the Federal
Aviation Administration who helped with the CBS investigation.
Rosenker
also pointed out that the investigation carried out by the News was
"illegal."
A
United Airlines spokesperson, Chris Nardella, told the News:
"That is a violation of federal law that you guys knowingly took
those items on an airline."
Another
TSA spokesperson, David Steigman, could not immediately say Wednesday
whether charges were expected against the reporters.
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