WASHINGTON (AP) - The government does not
routinely screen airline passengers or their carry-on bags for explosives.
It does not have enough equipment to test how well screeners can identify
threatening items carried by travelers themselves or in their luggage.
In addition, only 18 or 20 airports will get federal money to permanently
install machines that detect bombs in checked baggage.
All those weaknesses are the result of budget problems, the federal
official in charge of airport security told lawmakers Thursday.
But James Loy, head of the Transportation Security Administration,
declined to tell the House Transportation and Infrastructure's aviation
subcommittee how much more he thinks the agency needs than the $5.2 billion
Congress has set aside this year. That figure includes money for federal air
marshals.
"We cannot provide world-class, effective security on the cheap," Loy
said.
Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, the top Democrat on the subcommittee, said
Loy had to come clean with the agency's budget needs or withstand criticism
for its failures.
"We need to know honestly what you need," DeFazio told Loy. "If you need
more money or people or expertise, technology, investment - you've got to
tell the administration or us."
During the hearing, Loy acknowledged that explosives cannot be identified
by the airport metal detectors that travelers walk through or by the X-ray
machines that examine carry-on luggage. He said $60 million for developing
equipment that could find bombs on air travelers had to be spent on other
needs.
The subcommittee chairman, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., said he was
disappointed the money went to salaries.
"We are not one iota closer to routinely screening passengers and
carry-on baggage for explosives," Mica said.
Lawmakers noted long security lines had returned to some airports and
they questioned whether the agency has enough workers. The agency has cut
6,000 airport screener jobs since April after Congress ordered the
reductions.
Loy said the agency has enough screeners - 48,000 now - and plans to have
the equivalent of 45,000 full-time employees by Oct. 1.
Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., led the effort to reduce the number of screeners.
"Some people think we ought to spend every cent we can beg, borrow or
steal in the name of homeland security," said Rogers, chairman of the House
Appropriations' subcommittee on homeland security.
Rogers praised Loy as an effective administrator trying to do an
impossible job. But he questioned why the agency could only give 18 or 20
airports money to permanently install the bomb-screening machines because
Congress had appropriated $1.9 billion to do so since Sept. 11.
Having that equipment in place saves time and could free up money for
other security measures because screeners do not have to load luggage into
the machines by hand.
Congress and the White House are focusing on the possibility of
terrorists using portable rocket launchers - known as MANPADs, or Man
Portable Air Defense Systems - to shoot down planes.
Loy told the committee that the intelligence he received indicated the
rocket launchers pose little risk in the United States.
"There are no immediate threats with respect to MANPADs today," Loy said.
