No airports "balked" at the baggage-screening deadline with which Congress encumbered the
Transportation Security Administration ("Airport Security, 14 Months Later,"
editorial, Nov. 19).
From the outset, airports have
been asking for -- and denied -- the right to move ahead on putting security
solutions into effect.
Until only recently, they were
often met with hostility, then ignored, then informed that they would be told of
the "appropriate" solutions.
Airports object to
unreasonably rigid adherence to these deadlines. At several airports, the T.S.A.
cannot meet its 100 percent baggage-screening deadline without
major service disruptions and associated new security problems. In some places,
lack of space precludes these "interim solutions" entirely.
Flexibility just approved by Congress will allow the T.S.A. to do the
job the right way.
DAVID Z. PLAVIN President, Airports Council International-North America Washington, Nov. 20, 2002
Document 6 of 81. 