MA Democrat Wants Packages Of A Pound Or More Scanned For Explosives

If Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) has his way, everything that weighs a pound or more will be scanned for explosive traces before it's allowed on an aircraft. Markey who's a member of the Select Committee on Homeland Security, says the failure to screen small packages is "an unacceptable security risk that must be immediately remedied."

Speaking to reporters at Boston's Logan Field, Markey said of small cargo, "It is unseen and unscreened. It is taken right off these trucks and it is loaded right on to passenger planes right under the feet of passengers who have just taken off their shoes to have them screened."

Markey points to the so-called shoe-bomber, Richard Reid, who carried less than ten ounces of explosives in his tennis shoes in December, 2001, when he boarded an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami (FL). That small amount of explosives, the government says, would have knocked Flight 63 out of the sky. Markey also pointed to the explosives that blew up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, killing 170 people. That little package, he said, contained 11 ounces to a pound of Semtex plastic explosives.

Still, the smaller packages aren't screened. That decision has been based, in part, on research done by the US Postal Service. Transportation Security Administration spokesman Brian Turmail said small U.S. mail packages are not screened because federal studies have concluded that less than a pound of explosives in the cargo area "is not going to bring an aircraft down or threaten passengers."

There is a price tag attached to Markey's demands. The TSA said it would cost $500 million to buy the necessary scanners and train the necessary people to screen all small packages.

FMI: www.tsa.gov