Nothing should prevent real airport security from becoming the law of the land. With the busiest travel day of the year approaching, Congress needs to send the message that airport security needs more than tinkering at the edges. It means make flying not just safer, but as safe as it can be. Airport security is as clear an issue of national security as you'll find, and it requires a force that takes its responsibilities seriously. Security must be the only bottom line, protecting citizens - not profit margins - the only objective. We know from history there are some things only the government can do - maintaining security is one of them.

That is precisely why we don't contract out the security of the president, or allow the Army, Navy or Air Force to be subject to the whims of market forces. With lives on the line, Americans wouldn't want the chaos of hundreds of different, unaccountable private security firms patrolling our ports and waterways. They insist on the 34,000 members of the U.S. Coast Guard performing search and rescue operations, drug interdiction, environmental enforcement and marine safety inspections. It's time to insist on the same high standards of security in every airport in this country.

The only way we can guarantee the highest quality security at our nation's airports is if we have direct federal accountability. To keep terrorists off airplanes requires close coordination between intelligence communities and federal and state law enforcement agencies. Airport security personnel must be a full partner in that network.

The Senate's version of the airport security bill will strengthen the entire system, top to bottom - making it the responsibility of the federal government to ensure the safety of our skies and air passengers, ending the days of poorly trained security screeners who receive $ 6.25 an hour and replacing them with highly trained, frequently tested, federal employees. Better pay and better training are critical to improving the performance of security screeners.

Critics need to put aside their ideological fears over whether this new federal work force will be a union work force - an irrational critique that seems almost to begrudge the dedication of the firefighters and police officers who responded so heroically on Sept. 11 simply because they belong to a union - and focus on creating the best security team our airports have ever known.

Also critical is better coordination of intelligence information among federal agencies, harnessing state of the art technology to give security personnel the latest information on passengers, creating databases and sharing information so workers at the gate have ready information about potentially dangerous passengers. The Senate bill would achieve all of this.

A true overhaul of aviation security must make the screening of checked baggage a top priority. Under current practices, the FAA will not achieve 100 percent screening of checked baggage until 2017. This is unacceptable, but every day that goes by without legislation signed into law delays needed reforms. Installing more - and more sophisticated - screening equipment quickly will only occur through an aggressive funding of federal research and development, especially in the field of aviation security.

Technology can be a potent ally in the fight against terrorism, and the technology is already available to match names and faces to federal terrorism and immigration watch lists through video surveillance and through the authentication of identification presented at check-in. A pilot program involving facial recognition technology produced by a Massachusetts company soon will begin at Logan International Airport.

Similar technology employing biometrics may help prevent would-be terrorists from entering secure areas such as baggage handling areas or even the tarmac - and should be deployed nationwide.

The technology exists to authenticate the identification that every passenger must already present at check-in - and we need to deploy it. With smarter use of technology, we can keep potential terrorists off our planes. There is no time - and no need - to wait.

Ensuring homeland security requires more than words - it takes actions, commitment and leadership. We know what it takes to make America's airports not just safer, but as safe as they can be. The only question remaining is whether politics - the politics of ideological rigidity and delay - will be allowed to trump the security needs of our nation. To win a war on terrorism and keep our citizens safe, leadership must prevail.

Sen. John F. Kerry is the junior Democratic senator from Massachusetts.