LIEBERMAN
SALUTES AVIATION SECURITY AGREEMENT
Contributes Amendment Funding Faster, More
Effective Baggage Screening Technology
November 16, 2001
WASHINGTON - Governmental Affairs Committee
Chairman Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., applauded
passage of far-reaching aviation security
legislation just in time for the peak holiday
travel season. The measure includes an
amendment, authored by Lieberman and Senator Dick
Durbin, D-Ill., that greatly expands the use of
technology to improve the security of airports,
airplanes, and air passengers.
"Flying will be safer than it's ever been
before and it will be as safe as it possibly can
be because of this agreement," Lieberman
said. "But this bill does more than
protect the flying public. Ultimately, the
long-term recovery of air commerce - and the
economy as a whole - will require nothing less
than ironclad confidence in the safety of our
airports and air carriers. This bill is the
first step toward achieving that goal.
The legislation, approved by Congress Friday,
requires all passenger and baggage screeners to
be federal employees within one year. They
would have to be U.S. citizens, undergo criminal
background checks, and would not have the right
to strike. Within 60 days, bags would have
to be checked for explosives, manually searched,
or matched to a passenger onboard the plane, and
by 2003, all checked bags would have to be
screened by explosives detection machines.
The Governmental Affairs Committee held
two hearings, on September 25 and November 14,
that underscored the need to reform current
aviation security practices. Department of
Transportation Inspector General Kenneth Mead,
for example, testified that less than 10 percent
of checked baggage nationwide is being screened
for explosives, that most explosive detection
machines are not in continual use, and that
screeners are undertrained, underpaid and
overworked.
For too long, and with too many warnings,
we lowered our guard and allowed weaknesses to
persist in our aviation security that created the
vulnerabilities the terrorists took advantage of
with dreadful consequences on September 11,
Lieberman said.
The Lieberman-Durbin amendment, adopted by the
full Senate and included in the House-Senate
compromise, expands the deployment and use of
security technology, including baggage screening
machines, that already exist. It sets aside
$50 million in each of the next five years for
research and development of new technologies to
improve aviation safety and $20 million for
research and development of long-term security
improvements, including biometrics, advanced
weapons detection, and improving systems for
sharing information among law enforcement
entities. The amendment further requires
improving the security of airport areas barred to
the public.
This bill is an extraordinary step forward
in assuring the protection and well-being of the
American people and it sets a standard for what
we must do regarding our other critical
infrastructure, Lieberman said. We
have learned the lessons of September 11.
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