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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2143.PDF
^- FARNBOROUGH INTERNATIONAL curity oeing cockpit security packages which lclude the feature. These "subsidies" to US carriers have led le Association of European Airlines and le European Parliament to argue that ational governments or the European nion should be the security provider - if nly to ensure a level playing field in terms f industry costs. The European Council of linisters has not yet ruled on this issue, lit governments are known to be reluc- int - some of them adamantly opposed - ) paying for aviation security. Annex 17 says any ICAO treaty-bound ation is obliged to have a "written nat- >nal aviation security programme", incl- ding provision for checking and auditing s operation. The system includes com- onents such as 100% passenger hand- and old-baggage scanning and 100%) hold- aggage reconciliation (bag-matching). States are required to ensure airport sec- rity and operate systems for security clear- nce of airport employees and contractors lowed airside. This is a tall order and sev- :al recent apparently effortless criminal enetrations of London Heathrow's airside ) steal valuable cargo testify to the fact lat even airports with a reputation for sod security have a long way to go to pass i ICAO Annex 17 audit. • TERRORISM RESISTING THE THREAT USA moves out of harmony AARON KARP / WASHINGTON DC There is a difference developing between the USA and the rest of the world on how to respond effectively to the terrorism threat. It may not be evident yet but, when the dust settles and all the new resolutions that are being incubated at ICAO, the European Civil Aviation Conference and in Asia and Africa are finally put into practice, there is a danger that the US security sys tem will not be in harmony with the "global" one. When the US Congress passed legisla tion last autumn putting the federal gov ernment in charge of aviation security, the move won praise from the US public - and even from US airlines and airports. After the 11 September terrorist attacks, carriers no longer wanted to be in the business of screening passengers and baggage and were more than happy to hand over the responsibility. But. eight months later, airlines and airports are loudly complaining that the federal agency taking over air transport security in the USA is implementing initia tives that only superficially enhance secu rity, while impeding the business of com mercial aviation. Many within the US airline and airport industries fear the situation could grow far worse as the government struggles to com ply with ambitious and logistically difficult year-end deadlines for screening passen gers and checked baggage. At the heart of the problem, say critics, is the aviation security legislation that was hastily written by lawmakers under intense political pressure last November. Following 11 September, debate raged within Congress over how to fix security short comings at US airports. Various factions argued over a number of proposals, but lit tle could be agreed upon other than that major change was needed. Another disaster On 12 November, with still nothing set tled, American Airlines flight 587 went down in a New York residential neighbour hood. Although no evidence of terrorism was found in the Airbus A300-600R crash, another airliner disaster in the USA cast harsh light on the fact that Congress had still done nothing to reform aviation secu rity in the two months since the 11 September hijackings. With members of Congress just days away from leaving Washington DC for their traditional Thanksgiving holiday recess, it became readily apparent that it would be political suicide for legislators to leave town without addressing aviation security. In just three days, comprehensive legislation that revamped the USA's air transport security apparatus was drafted and agreed. Congressional lawyers worked around the clock, staying up through the night to write a bill creating a new federal agency, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which was given control of all com ponents of aviation security and presented with a series of deadlines to meet this year. The most notable of these are the requirements to staff all passenger check points at 429 US airports with federal screeners by 19 November and to scan all checked baggage for explosives by 31 December. Hard-nosed management The US Department of Transportation (DoT) established the TSA on 1 January and recruited former US Secret Service head John Magaw to direct the agency. Magaw has staffed TSA management with hard-nosed law enforcement officials and vowed to meet all congressionally man dated deadlines. Critics say this has created within the TSA what the UK Air Transport Association (ATA) calls a "check-the-box" mentality in which the agency is blindly endeavouring to meet all deadlines, no matter how impractical or poorly thought through the mandates are. They also complain that the TSA is com pletely lacking in either commercial or aviation expertise and has made little effort to solicit the opinions of airlines and airports. American Airlines senior vice-president of government affairs Will Ris says: "It really is that the task [the TSA] has before it is monumental and almost impossible." He adds that the law passed by the Congress gives the TSA "difficult timeta bles" on meeting mandates and "contra dicting" directives. Ris says that the law was written in an "intentionally ambiguous way" so that Congress could pass it quickly. "If you talk to the people who wrote the law, you get different answers from different people [as to what various provisions mean]," he adds. "We need to get rid of some of these regulations to lower the hassle factor. There's no consistency in what's being implemented." The ATA, which lobbies on behalf of US majors, is pushing the TSA to revisit the feasibility of some of the congressional www.flightinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 16-22 JULY 2002 115
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