Transportation Security Chief Foresees More Efficient Airline Passenger Screening
Press & Happenings
September 27, 2007
In the not-too distant future, passing through airport security will be a calmer, more efficient process, Kip Hawley, administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, said Wednesday.
That largely will be the result of improved screening technology and more advanced intelligence on whether passengers are potentially dangerous, he told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel during a swing through Miami.
"I think the process can be a lot calmer and smoother than it is today," he said "And I see that as a near-term objective."
For now, he doesn't see an end to passengers taking off their shoes at checkpoints — because terrorists are still trying to sneak weapons or bombs in them.
"It's probably the No. 1 issue, customer-wise, that we hear feedback from," he said.
Hawley, who was nominated by President Bush to take over the TSA in the summer of 2005, said more advanced X-ray machines already are being used on a test basis at seven airports, including New York's JFK International and Reagan Washington National Airport. None are in use at South Florida airports.
The machines display multiple views of objects in carry-on items, giving screeners a better chance of spotting weapons or improvised explosive devices, which still present the greatest threat to aviation. The TSA plans to buy 100 more of the AT X-ray machines within the next year, Hawley said.
"They are well advanced from the current, simple X-ray," he said.
The TSA also hopes to soon implement Secure Flight, a system that will draw on information provided by the airlines and which will then be cross-referenced with government-maintained watch-lists to identify potentially dangerous passengers, Hawley said.
Hawley said the screening process already has improved sharply in the past two years because the nation's 43,000 screeners, or transportation security officers, are better trained. He said they now look for behavioral clues that might identify potential terrorists – and place less emphasis on trying to find dangerous objects.
He said that is because the TSA's prohibited items don't stop terrorists from trying to blow up airplanes.
"In the real world, we know the terrorists know what our checklist is," he said. "We can't assume there won't be any other attacks like that."
