Airport screening improvements sought

Amidst growing terrorism threats, airport screening improvements sought by Homeland Security head

Jeanne Meserve of CNN News reported Wednesday, March 5, on Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s statements to Senate leaders on improvements to airport screening methods.

The Senate panel learned Transportation Security Administration leaders have been tasked with reporting next month on proposed ways the airport screening process could be “re-engineered.”

"Is there something that we have done in the past that we might eliminate or modify because, net-net, we have reduced the risk and something that originally has a purpose may no longer have a purpose?" he asked rhetorically during testimony.

He said his department is already testing technologies that "will be better and more efficient" than equipment currently deployed at airports.

He specifically mentioned millimeter wave technology, which scans a person's body to detect contraband. It is undergoing trial testing at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The administration is proposing to Congress that new equipment be purchased with revenue from a user fee.

Under a Chertoff proposal, airline passengers would pay a temporary surcharge of 50 cents per leg of travel, with a cap of one dollar for each one-way trip.

He said this would provide additional money to purchase and deploy the next generation of screening equipment, such as explosive-detection machines and in-line baggage screening systems.

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