Copyright 2002 The Washington Post

The Washington Post
September 5, 2002 Thursday
Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A18

LENGTH: 637 words

HEADLINE: TSA Chief May Relax Screening Deadline

BYLINE: Sara Kehaulani Goo, Washington Post Staff Writer

BODY:


Recognizing that promised airport security improvements are behind schedule, Transportation Security Administration chief James M. Loy and a key senator agreed to propose select delays in the Dec. 31 deadline to screen all passengers' checked luggage for explosives.

Their measure is one of several pertaining to airport security that lawmakers are considering as additions to legislation creating a Homeland Security Department. Yesterday, Sen. Robert C. Smith (R-N.H.) offered an amendment authorizing pilots to be armed, and supporters said they hoped to begin debate on the issue in the Senate as soon as today.

Separately, the TSA is reviewing more of what Loy has called its "Stupid Rule List," such as the requirement that passengers flying out of Reagan National Airport remain in their seats for the first and last 30 minutes of each flight.

An aviation and transportation security law passed in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks called for a series of tough deadlines by which new federal screeners would replace private-sector screeners at airports and sophisticated machines would screen passenger luggage for explosives. But as the deadlines near, and airports protest that the luggage-screening requirement would create three-hour waits for passengers, members of Congress and the TSA are looking for some wiggle room.

The House passed legislation that would delay the deadline for one year. Senators have been more reluctant to throw their support behind a similar bill sponsored by Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), for fear of appearing soft on airport security shortly before the November elections.

"Everybody is afraid if they do something and there's a terrorist attack . . . someone can point to what you did," Ensign said. "Doing nothing is the politically smart thing to do."

In the meeting yesterday with Loy, Ensign said the TSA agreed to help craft legislation that would allow 20 to 40 airports an exemption from the deadline. He said details are still being worked out but he intends to propose that the measure be included in homeland security legislation.

"Technically they will be meeting the deadlines, but not with the machines -- [with] the use of dogs and the use of other things so that no airports will become a target," Ensign said. He said he did not know which airports, other than Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport in his home district, would be exempted.

TSA spokeswoman Heather Rosenker declined to comment on the meeting. Loy is scheduled to testify before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Sept. 10, and airports and lawmakers expect to get more details of the plan then.

"I think they're talking about . . . some kind of waiver authority, where TSA would give themselves the right to take additional time at those facilities," said Todd Hauptli, chief lobbyist for two airport groups that support extending the Dec. 31 deadline.

Loy, who took over as chief of the TSA in July, said recently that not every airport will be able to meet the deadline, and he has been working on other initiatives to help airport security make more sense to passengers.

Loy is reviewing a series of five restrictions imposed on airports or travelers that the new agency director believes create more hassle than security.

He has already targeted one of the rules, announcing last week that airline check-in agents could stop asking passengers who had handled their luggage. He also announced that passengers could carry coffee cups through security checkpoints. The other items up for reconsideration, according to sources, include:

* The long list of items banned from carry-on luggage.

* The prohibition against parking within 300 feet of a terminal building.

* Random gate screening.

Staff writer Greg Schneider contributed to this report.

LOAD-DATE: September 5, 2002