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TSA Security Breach Has Baltimore Connection.....



 
 
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Old October 18th, 2003, 03:31 PM
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Default TSA Security Breach Has Baltimore Connection.....

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Box Cutters And Taunting Notes Found On Two Southwest Planes

FBI questions Md. man, says incidents were meant to prove point on
security

By Laura Sullivan (Sun National Staff)
Originally published October 18, 2003


WASHINGTON - FBI officials are questioning a North Carolina college
student from Montgomery County in connection with the discovery of box
cutters, bleach and other potentially dangerous items on two Southwest
Airlines planes in New Orleans and Houston, law enforcement officials
said.

The officials said they did not believe that the items, which were
found in bags in the planes' lavatories, were part of a terrorist
threat. Rather, they said, the incident seemed intended to send a
message. They said the items were found with taunting notes about the
inadequacy of U.S. airport security two years after the Sept. 11
terror attacks.

Nevertheless, the discovery of the box cutters in particular was a
disturbing reminder of the Sept. 11 hijackers, who are thought to have
used the devices to take control of four planes. Yesterday, the
government ordered an immediate search of the nation's roughly 7,000
commercial airplanes.

The 20-year-old man, who was not identified and had not been charged,
was questioned by FBI agents in Baltimore, officials said.

In a statement last night, the FBI said the man is "believed to be
responsible for the matter." A federal court proceeding is expected to
be conducted Monday in Baltimore.

Because the man was known to have flown out of Baltimore-Washington
International Airport at least once, law enforcement sources said the
airport was being reviewed for possible security breaches. A third
Southwest plane, which the man was believed to have boarded recently,
was searched by federal agents yesterday after it landed at BWI, the
sources said.

It was not known whether the suspicious items, which also included
matches and clay, went through security checkpoints. At the least,
their discovery represented a blow to the perception of improved
airline security. It led to calls from aviation analysts to further
strengthen safety measures and close any holes in the system that
could allow dangerous items onto planes.

However, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III said: "I think it's safe
to fly. There's no imminent threat."

"To assure the safety of the flying public," Mueller said, the
searches are "being done in an excess of caution to make certain that
we've covered all the bases."

Employees of Southwest, the dominant carrier at BWI, found the bags
Thursday night in the planes' lavatories while conducting routine
maintenance inspections.

One bag was found on a plane in Houston that had arrived from Austin,
Texas. The other was discovered on a plane during a layover in New
Orleans on a San Diego-bound flight from Orlando.

The clay, officials said, could have been an attempt to mimic
explosives because it is often used to wrap them or adhere them to
different surfaces.

Southwest officials notified the Transportation Security
Administration, part of the Department of Homeland Security, which
then ordered thorough searches of all commercial jets in the United
States. Officials said the searches did not cause any delays in air
travel.

Southwest also inspected its fleet of 385 aircraft but found no other
suspicious items.

"Airlines routinely conduct searches" of their planes, said Brian
Roehrkasse, a spokesman for the Homeland Security Department. "But we
asked them to conduct an even more comprehensive search into hidden
areas and compartments and other difficult-to-see areas."

Law enforcement officials said they focused their inquiry on
passengers and on people who would have had regular access to the two
planes - maintenance workers, cleaning personnel, baggage handlers,
food service employees and airline crew members - before deciding to
question the 20-year-old student.

A report on CNN quoted a TSA official as saying that the man was
tracked down, in part, through an e-mail sent to the TSA.

Authorities said the man is staying at his parents' home in Maryland.
They did not specify its location.

Officials said the motive did not appear to be a desire to spread
fear, as is often the case with bomb threats, but rather to issue a
warning about airport security.

Airline security specialists said the incident proved that the TSA and
other government agencies lack reliable means to keep dangerous items
off aircraft.

Charles Slepian, an airplane security analyst and chief executive
officer of the New York-based Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center, said
it was "ridiculous" that passengers must endure time-consuming
security lines, body searches and baggage checks, only to find out
that the same items used in the September 2001 terror attacks could
still wind up on airplanes.

"This underscores that we have accomplished very little," Slepian
said.

The government, he said, has failed to close a dangerous loophole that
gives airport workers access to aircraft without proper screening.

"There are literally tens of thousands of people who work at the
airports or on the airplanes every day that are not checked," Slepian
said. "Not only are they not being background-checked, but nobody is
screening them as they get on the planes."

Roehrkasse, of the Homeland Security Department, said the incidents
will likely lead to changes in security procedures after authorities
establish how the bags got on the planes.

The incidents are only the latest trouble for the Transportation
Security Administration. In recent months, it has received a critical
report from the General Accounting Office on its failure to detect
prohibited items in security tests, as well as criticism from Congress
for trying to save money by cutting back on the program that puts air
marshals on planes.

Yesterday, James M. Loy, the top official at the TSA, told a
congressional committee that his agency has made significant progress
- notably transferring all security screening operations to the
federal government - but acknowledged that much remains to be done.

Appearing before the Aviation Subcommittee of the House Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee, Loy said: "You have my assurance that
TSA will continue to reach out to all elements of the aviation
transportation and security communities, public and private, as we
move forward.

"Our goal remains reasonable and effective security, efficiently
applied," he said.

Speaking yesterday before the discovery was announced, Rep. John L.
Mica, a Florida Republican, said he was "disturbed" by recent
problems, including revelations that most of the money Congress set
aside for security research and development paid TSA employees'
salaries.

"It is disturbing to me that today we are not one iota closer to
routinely screening passengers and carry-on baggage for explosives,"
Mica said.
 




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