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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 26, 2003

AFTER TSA FIRES 16,000 AIRPORT SCREENERS, NEW SCHUMER STUDY FINDS 950,000 PEOPLE FLEW TO/FROM NY ON PLANES WITH UNSCREENED CARGO AND MAIL

As summer travel season begins, Schumer says 22 percent of all passenger flights in New York airports carry air cargo and airmail that undergoes no security screening

Schumer outlines three-point plan to increase passenger travel safety by implementing new procedures to screen thousands of tons of airmail and air cargo

Schumer says that Department of Homeland Security fired 16,000 airport screeners this month: Schumer asks TSA to rehire screeners to begin screening process

With an estimated 3.9 million Americans traveling by air this Memorial Day – the unofficial start of the summer travel season – US Senator Charles E. Schumer today released a new study finding that over 950,000 people a month fly into or out of New York City-area airports on airplanes that are also carrying mail or cargo that was never screened. Despite the Administration's knowledge of similar national statistics, the Department of Homeland Security laid off 16,000 airport security screeners nationwide, including 767 at New York metropolitan airports and has asked Congress for cut their budget further next year.

"I am the first person to pat the White House on the back when it does right for New York, but I'm going to hit 'em a little harder when they don't," Schumer said. "The White House is in the midst of a massive episode of homeland security schizophrenia. Firing airport security screeners when one out of every five planes coming into or out of New York airports is carrying unscreened mail and cargo makes no sense and puts us all in danger."

Schumer, who chairs the Democratic Task Force on Homeland Security, today released a new study showing that over 950,000 passengers flew into and out of New York airports on almost 11,000 flights that were carrying unchecked mail or cargo in March of this year – the last month for which information is available. Specifically:

• 282,000 John F. Kennedy International Airport passengers flew into or out of New York on 2,523 flights that were carrying unchecked mail or cargo.
• 330,000 Newark Liberty International Airport passengers flew into or out of New York on 4,107 flights that were carrying unchecked mail or cargo.
• 308,000 LaGuardia Airport passengers flew into or out of New York on 3,446 flights that were carrying unchecked mail or cargo.
• 33,200 Islip Macarthur Airport passengers flew into or out of New York on 698 flights that were carrying unchecked mail or cargo.
• Overall, 953,200 passengers flew into or out of New York on 10,744 flights that were carrying unchecked mail or cargo.

Unscreened cargo and mail are carried on 22 percent of all passenger planes, according to a study of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Transportation Security Administration by the non-partisan US General Accounting Office. Schumer said that the Transportation Security Administration – a division of the Department of Homeland Security – announced earlier this month that it was planning on firing 16,000 airport security screeners, including 767 at New York metropolitan airports, because the agency is facing a budget shortfall and feels that it hired too many airport security screeners. Specifically:

• John F. Kennedy International Airport is losing 396 of its 1,793 screeners leaving only 1,397 – a 22 percent cut.
• Newark Liberty International Airport is losing 273 of its 1,305 screeners leaving only 1,032 – a 21 percent cut.
• Long Island MacArthur Airport is losing 62 of its 118 screeners leaving on 56, a 53 percent cut (and one of the highest percentage cuts in the US).
• LaGuardia Airport is losing 36 of its 819 screeners, leaving only 783, a four percent cut.
• Overall, these four airports are losing 767 of their 4,035 screeners, a 20 percent cut.

Schumer said that while re-hiring the fired TSA screeners would be a good first step in addressing the problem of unscreened cargo and mail, it alone would not be enough because because the screeners would not have the training or tools examine the cargo.

Schumer therefore outlined a three-point plan to address the problems with Specifically, Schumer proposes that the US:

Screen all mail carried in passenger planes immediately. Because US Mail is handled by government employees from pick-up to delivery, it would be far easier to put into place effective control measures for it than for other cargo. Schumer proposes establishing screening and control mechanisms to be used by US Postal Service and Transportation Security Administration personnel – including some of the 16,000 former TSA employees who could be re-hired.

Develop a comprehensive cargo tracking system. Under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act passed in late 2001, Congress required all cargo aboard commercial passenger flights to be screened. The Transportation Security Agency has relied on a "known shipper" program to meet the cargo screening requirements of the act. This program allows businesses with a history of working with air carriers or freight forwarders to ship cargo in the belly of passenger jets – but it leaves the verification of the contents of the package to the shipper. Schumer noted that Israel, for example, uses a comprehensive cargo tracking system for cargo that is too large to be screened. The cargo tracking system follows cargo from the moment it is loaded into a package until it leaves the airplane, ensuring that shipping documents correctly detail what is actually in the package and that nothing else has been added along the way. Schumer says that issues of scale – the US is far larger than Israel with thousands if not millions more shippers – require an expert study to see how a similar cargo tracking program could be adopted.

Improve cargo screening technology to bring it on par with baggage screening technology. Current Explosive Detection Systems (EDS)for screening bulk cargo are technologically far less sophisticated than those used to monitor passenger baggage. Current cargo EDS are ineffective, especially for larger cargo loads. Schumer said that adapting and applying technologies that have been developed for baggage screening – particularly since September 11 – could close the gap.

"We need manpower and we need machinery. Simply rehiring airport screeners the TSA laid off isn't enough, but with everything we've already invested in training these personnel, they would be ideal for beginning the work of screening US Mail carried in planes while we develop a comprehensive cargo tracking system and apply new technologies from baggage screening to cargo screening,"Schumer said.

Schumer was joined by Rafi Ron, who is the former Director of Security at Israel's Airport Authority and Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport and an expert on aviation security. Mr Ron explained that the Unabomber case is a well-known example of the danger unscreened cargo and mail poses to air travel.

Theodore John Kaczynski mailed or delivered sixteen package bombs to scientists, academicians, and others over seventeen years, killing three people and injuring twenty-three. He used air mail to send some of his packages and even forced an airplane to make an emergency landing when one of his bombs exploded in its cargo hold.

On November 15, 1979, twelve people suffered smoke inhalation after a Kaczynski bomb exploded in the cargo hold during an American Airlines flight, forcing an emergency landing at Dulles International Airport near Washington. On June 24, 1993, Yale University computer expert David Gelernter was injured in his office by a Kaczynski bomb. The package was postmarked in Sacramento and shipped by plane. On December 10, 1994, advertising executive Thomas Mosser was killed when a Kaczynski bomb exploded at his New Jersey home. The package was postmarked in San Francisco and shipped by plane.

Schumer said that the Senate unanimously passed legislation before it left for Memorial Day recess that directed the Department of Homeland Security to begin addressing air cargo problems by:

• Developing a strategic plan to ensure the security of all air cargo;
• Establishing an industry-wide pilot program database of known shippers;
• Setting up a training program for handlers to learn how to safe-guard cargo from tampering; and
• Inspecting air cargo shipping facilities on a regular basis.

"We're not going to fix our nation's air cargo security problems in one fell swoop, but before anything of importance can happen, we'll have to see a change in direction from the Administration. Firing airport screeners and asking for less Homeland Security funding next year were precisely the wrong things to do, and we need to see an about-face and a new seriousness about combating terror here in the US before things are going to get better," Schumer said.

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