Access Control
& Security Systems

When flights resume at the nation's airports, passengers won't be able to check their bags at the curb in front of the terminal, they will be subjected to random checks and they will see more uniformed security officers throughout the airport, The Associated Press reported.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said he is acting to augment airline security after Tuesday's terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, which began with the hijacking of four commercial airliners.

"There will be higher levels of surveillance, more stringent searches," Mineta told The AP. "Travelers may experience some inconveniences, but we ask for your patience. We must do whatever it takes with safety as our highest priority."

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Diane Spitaliere said other security enhancements would be implemented as well. Many will not be noticed by passengers, she said, but did not elaborate.

The FAA also increased airport security after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.

But a series of reports by Congress' General Accounting Office and the Transportation Department's inspector general found that plenty holes remained in the aviation security net.

The GAO and inspector general found problems with low-paid airport security screeners, who must check passengers and carryon baggage, and with equipment designed to detect bombs in luggage.

"Serious vulnerabilities in our aviation security system exist and must be adequately addressed," the GAO warned in April 2000.

Inspector General Kenneth Mead reported in January that the FAA needed to improve training for airport security screeners and increase the use of bomb-detection machines. The inspector general's office said last year that airport operators and airlines often did not conduct required background checks of employees.

Spitaliere said the agency would be issuing new standards for training screeners.

Rep. John Mica, chairman of the House Transportation aviation subcommittee, said Tuesday he has been "concerned that we do not have in place the adequate emphasis on the right type of security nor the deployment of the right type of equipment."

FAA officials said they would be reviewing security procedures, but they would not go into details.

In July of this year, the FAA implemented stronger airport security measures to employees, increasing fines up to $11,000 for violating regulations. Previously, the FAA could only fine the airport or airline for employee security violations. But the updated guidelines were not to take effect until November.

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• More from September's issue